November 10, 2019: How Many Angels Can Dance On The Head of A Pin
November 10, 2019 Rev. Rhonda Blevins, DMIN
How Many Angels Can Dance on the Head of a Pin?
Luke 20:27-38
Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to him and asked him a question, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married, and died childless; then the second and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her.”
Jesus said to them, “Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.”
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How many Baptists does it take to change a light bulb? At least 15. One to change the light bulb, and three committees to approve the change.
Episcopalians? Eight. One to call the electrician, one to pour the sherry, and six to say how much they liked the old light bulb better.
Charismatics? One, since his hands are in the air anyway.
Methodists? Undetermined. Whether your light is bright, dull, or completely out, you are loved— you can be a light bulb, turnip bulb, or tulip bulb. Church wide lighting service will be next week. Bring a bulb of your choice and a covered dish.
Presbyterians? None. Lights will go on and off at predestined times.
T.V. Evangelists? One. But for the message of light to continue, send in your donation today.
Lutherans? CHANGE?????
Amish? What’s a light bulb?
Interdenominationalists? None. We don’t want to make the bulb feel unwanted or uncomfortable.
It’s good to laugh at ourselves sometimes and make light our differences. Here at our interdenominational church, we have people from dozens of Christian traditions. I thank God for a seminary professor who helped me appreciate all denominations and made a convincing argument that each denomination has its specific job to do within Christendom, in the same way that the colors of the rainbow are simply different manifestations of the same light. The kin-dom of God is so deep, so long, so high and so wide that we need each denomination so that all of God’s children might have a home. Part of the beauty of being an interdenominational church is that we don’t reject the various denominations; rather we embrace the richness, the diversity of each person’s denominational background, and we find a way to bring the best of the traditions together into one church under the headship of Christ.
It’s a beautiful thing that we must not take for granted, for every age sees a new conflict emerge among people of faith.
In fact, conflict is the backdrop of our scripture reading from Luke today.
The Jews in Jesus’ day were divided. The hot-button issue? Resurrection. Would there be a resurrection of the dead? The Sadducees who confronted Jesus in this text were opposed to the idea of the resurrection of the dead. They presumed Jesus had an opposing view.
So the Sadducees confront Jesus with a ridiculous argument—in Latin a reductio ad absurdum—an appeal to the extremes, to win their argument. For their argument to make sense to modern ears, it is helpful to understand the arcane Jewish law of Levirate marriage. You see, many if not most women were property in this patriarchal culture. Marriage was a transfer of ownership—a legal transfer of property between men. A father would transfer ownership of a woman to a man who would become her husband. The husband became responsible for her care. If the husband died, a woman would likely be destitute unless she had a male son who would care for her. If she didn’t have an adult male son, the Jewish law of Levirate marriage required the deceased husband’s brother to then “marry” her, assuming ownership along with the requirement to house and feed the woman.
Quick poll: ladies, how many of you like this setup? No one? If we think we still have a way to go to attain true equality, I suppose we should be thankful that at least we’re not property! And the poor woman in this absurd story had to marry seven brothers! How creepy is that?!?
So the Sadducees use this crazy story of a woman who marries and outlives seven brothers to ask Jesus, “Who will be her husband in the resurrection?” Remember: THEY DIDN’T BELIEVE IN THE RESURRECTION! The ultimate “gotcha” question.
Sermons based on this text can get into the weeds about Levirate marriage and questions of angels and the afterlife—will there be a bodily resurrection or merely a spiritual life after death? My thought is if you ask two Christians, “What happens after death?” you’ll get at least three different opinions. If you ask those same two Christians, “What do you believe about angels?” you’ll get four answers. I, for one, grow weary over debates like this. To me, debating these subjects is like arguing over how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. Pointless.
Aren’t you glad that we don’t argue over silly stuff anymore? OK. You caught me. I actually believe that we live in an era of maximum pettiness, brought to you (in part) by social media. It’s so easy to get sucked into arguing about something that just doesn’t matter.
I know a little something about arguing over silly stuff.
Many of you know I have a 7th grade son who has grown to be a good 3-4 inches taller than me. His voice has gotten deep, his Adam’s apple is pronounced—the boy is becoming a man! He is beginning to care about his appearance (on occasion). One morning this week, we did the crazy, hectic morning routine: drag the kids out of bed, stuff food in their mouths, wash off the boy grime, make sure they’re not naked and that you don’t melt if they happen to breathe on you—and because my oldest is growing up—do something about those, as we call it in my house, “stanky pits.” Grab up the 100,000,000 papers strewn all over the house, stuff them in the binder, and dash out the door with no time to spare. We drop his little brother off at Kindergarten, and I look over at this boy/man in the passenger seat—he hadn’t brushed his hair. No problem! Super-mom here happens to have a half-dozen combs in the car for just such an occasion. When I pulled up to a stoplight, I got out one of the combs and reached over to comb his hair. He moved away. “C’mon, let me comb your hair.” “It’s fine, Mom.” “No, you look like a werewolf in a hurricane. Let me comb it.” “It’s fine.” “Then you do it.” “No. I don’t want to.” Back and forth we went until I threatened him with the loss of video games. He relented and combed his hair.
I won. Or did I? Was combed hair really worth a fight, a strain in the relationship, with someone I love? Probably not.
The text today reminds me that I’m not alone in arguing over inconsequential stuff.
The big argument among the Jews wasn’t about combed hair, but something less relevant, less tangible—resurrection of the dead. What most commentators miss is that when Jesus responds to the ridiculous argument brought by the Sadducees, Jesus subtly discounts the very argument over the resurrection, while just as subtly naming something of actual consequence—a system that makes women the property of men. Listen again carefully: “Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage.” In other words, oppressive systems don’t exist in the age to come—relationships are restored. That’s good news for women and for men. He’s basically telling the Sadducees, “You’ve got this all wrong.” Stop arguing over how many angels can dance on the head of a pin and get busy doing the work of justice—of bringing God’s kin-dom to earth as it is in heaven.
Over 20 years ago a helpful little book was written by Richard Carlson entitled Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff. The subtitle gives away the point of the book . . . And It’s All Small Stuff. This little book is a treasure, and full of many nuggets of wisdom about not sweating the small stuff:
· Choose to be kind over being right and you’ll be right every time.
· Learning to stop sweating the small stuff involves deciding what things to engage in and what things to ignore.
· The key to a good life is this: If you’re not going to talk about something during the last hour of your life, then don’t make it a top priority during your lifetime.
· We can disagree, even on important issues, and still love one another.
· We need to break the habit of overreacting because of our speedy assumption and judgments.
· When you let go of your expectations, when you accept life as it is, you’re free. To hold on is to be serious and uptight. To let go is to lighten up.
· Stress is nothing more than a socially acceptable form of mental illness.
Here at the Chapel, we try not to sweat the small stuff. We don’t do a lot of arguing about how many angels can dance on the head of the pin. We don’t fuss about the best way to be baptized—we have folks sprinkled as a baby and folks dunked as grown adults. We don’t fight about the Virgin birth—we have folks who take it literally, some who take it metaphorically, and some who don’t take it at all.
Doctrines and creeds are all man-made, so we don’t get too worked up about much of it.
We’d rather be kind than be right.
We’d rather encourage than rebuke.
We’d rather love than judge.
We’d rather be together than alone in our correctness.
We’re not perfect—we’re all just children of God trying to find our way. We believe that coming together helps us do just that. Together, we try to focus on what really matters:
· Loving the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.
· Loving our neighbor as ourselves.
Everything else? Angels dancing on a pinhead.