The Question about the Resurrection

Armistice Day is on 11 November and is also known as Remembrance Day. It marks the day World War One ended, at 11am on the 11th day of the 11th month, in 1918. Since Remembrance Day is next Monday, I would like to offer a prayer, at the end of the sermon on Sunday, to remember the people who have died in wars.

In the Gospel reading for this Sunday, we hear about an escalation of the tension and opposition that was in the relationships between Jesus and the religious authorities of the day, the Pharisees, or as in today’s reading, another group, the Sadducees. Like the many challenges the Pharisees posed to Jesus when seeking the opportunity and means by which to kill him, Jesus is now invited into a trap by the Sadducees, with a question about the resurrection.

Jesus took time to establish the validity and certainty of life after death. He was teaching that through faith, his listeners would have eternal life.

This Gospel reading is really about resurrection and whether the life in God has any meaning in the present. We are living in God’s presence. So, how then shall we live? Living our faith is most important.

God of love and liberty,

We bring our thanks this day for the peace and security we enjoy, which was won for us through the courage and devotion of those who gave their lives in time of war.  We pray that their labour and sacrifice may not be in vain, but that their spirit may live on in us and in generations to come.  We ask that the liberty, truth and justice, which they sought to preserve, may be seen and known in all the nations upon earth.  This we pray in the name of the one who gave his life for the sake of the world, Jesus Christ our Lord

Amen

Yours in Christ,

Debra