He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him. —Lk. 20:38

This world is not our home. What a staggering affirmation it is! From the time of the ancient philosophers one of the weightier issues of "the great conversation^" has been man's relationship to this world. Is the human specie made for this world and is this world its destiny? Does all that we call life end with the grave? Or is there something about the human spirit that transcends this sensible, material existence and becomes a part of a reality beyond this world. Sages have asked whether the soul of man is mortal or immortal, and poets have pondered:

Shall spring ever visit the mouldering urn?

Shall day ever dawn on the night of the grave?

Even if the most illustrious minds of the ages have concluded that the life of man reaches beyond this world, the startling fact is that most people live as if this world is all there is to human existence. There is little evidence that the average person, whether "religious" or not, gives much thought to such questions as What is man?, Whence came he?, Whither does he go? People live as if they were going to be in this world forever, as if there is no God and no judgment to face. This does not seem to change even as people grow older. They still hold on to their possessions and seek to increase them as if their days will go on indefinitely.

We are reluctant to accept the fleeting and transitory nature of life, a truth Ps. 90 seeks to teach when it says, "We finish our years with a sigh," and goes on to say:

The days of our lives are seventy years;

And if by reason of strength they are eighty years.

Then follows one of the great passages of the Bible: "So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." It is an appropriate prayer, for if when we realize the brevity of life we are in a position to get our values in order. That is wisdom, learning that this world is not our home and that we are in this world in order to prepare for the next one.

Accepting this simple but profound truth opens the way to still other truths. If this world is not our home, then there is a reality beyond matter. If there is a reality beyond matter, then there is a God who is in charge and in control. If there is a God who is in charge and in control, then he has a plan for me in this world. If God has a plan for me, I must find out what it is and respond to it responsibly.

Never mind about all the complex philosophical theories, if a person accepted this one proposition, that this world is not our home, it would change his entire outlook upon life. For if this world is not our home, then what is this world and what is the point of it? And if our home is elsewhere, how does that affect the way we live in this world? One soon finds himself at the very heart of religious faith.

In Lk. 20 our Lord encountered folk who had a problem with such matters, for being Sadducees they did not believe in such things as the resurrection and angels — and probably in no such thing as a home in another world. And so they were free to question Jesus with abandon, as if to cast everything to the wind. They did this by confronting him with a tall tale. A man took a wife and then died. In good Jewish tradition his brother married her and he died. The third brother also, and he died, and on it went until seven brothers had her as wife. Then the woman died. They wanted to know whose wife she would be in the resurrection. They were putting Jesus on, an attitude of, ^"Let^'s see him answer that one!" Even though it was not a sincere question, Jesus uses the occasion to say what I am saying here, that this world is not our home.

Jesus magnanimously treats these Jewish sectarians as if they were sincerely seeking truth, and his first point was that there are two worlds or two ages, "this age^" and "that age.^" In "this age^" people marry, Jesus told them, but "in that age and the resurrection" they do not marry. No reason for marriage! That makes the next world distinctly different. "Nor do they die anymore," the Lord added. In this world we die; in the next world we don't. Never die! What a mind-boggling truth! Furthermore, Jesus said, in the next world "they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection." This makes it clear that we will be quite different in the next world. Already we are children of God, but then we will he "sons of God" in the sense that we will be God's family in our eternal home.

Jesus then did an unusual thing, though it was something any rabbi of that day might do. He took a passage of Scripture and gave it a most unique turn. In Exodus 3: 6,15 Moses referred to Yahweh, or the Lord, as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jesus told the Sadducees that this shows that the dead are raised, a conclusion that hardly follows until one adds to it what Jesus added (Lk. 20:38): "For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to him." This makes for a brilliant syllogism, one that could have only baffled the Sadducees. You will notice that Jesus supplies the minor premise, which forces the conclusion he drew.

Major premise: God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (provided by Moses in Ex. 3:6)

Minor premise: God is not the God of the dead. (provided by Jesus)

Conclusion: Therefore, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are not dead but living (and so there is a resurrection).

The syllogism is valid, obeying all the rules of logic, and so the conclusion necessarily follows. To refute the argument the Sadducees would have to challenge the premises, which would be to deny what Moses said about God being the God of the patriarchs or to deny that God is the God of the living and not of the dead. Since this would be untenable they were left with the stunning conclusion that the patriarchs were then and there alive in the presence of God. The earth was not their home! No wonder the account closes with, "But after that they dared not question Him anymore.^"

While Matthew and Mark also tell this story, only Luke includes another startling statement. He records Jesus adding, "for all live to him." This would mean that what was true of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is true of us all. When the patriarchs died they did not leave home but went home. They are now at home with God. The same is true for us all. Death is not the end of life but the beginning of the life that is life indeed. All live unto him, whether in this world or the next, seems to he what Jesus is saying. This makes death unreal, except as the transition from one world to the next.

This all points to one of the greatest promises of Holy Writ: "Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death^" (Jn. 8:51). That promise being true this world is not our home. - the Editor