Year A
Daniel 7:1-3,15-18
Psalm 149
2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17
Luke 20:27-38
May the words of my mouth O God\u2026 speak your truth\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Can God create a rock so heavy\u2026 that God could not lift it\u2026 this question is a convoluted contradiction about divine omnipotence\u2026 about being all-potent\u2026 because if God can create a rock that God cannot lift\u2026 then God is not omnipotent\u2026 and if God cannot create a rock so heavy that God cannot lift it\u2026 then God is likewise not omnipotent\u2026 so according to this particular question\u2026 omnipotence is self-contradictory\u2026 and God cannot be omnipotent\u2026 so in response to the question\u2026 can God create a rock so heavy that God could not lift it\u2026 the quick answer is No<\/em>… but it’s more important to understand the explanation of why this is so\u2026 instead of knowing just the answer itself\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n The question is based on a misunderstanding about what words like ‘almighty’ or ‘omnipotent’ mean\u2026 and they don’t mean that God can do anything\u2026 instead\u2026 they describe the amount of God\u2019s power\u2026 and power is the ability to effect change\u2026 to make something happen\u2026 God has unlimited power\u2026 and the Bible affirms this in passages like Job Ch. 11:7-11 which establishes God’s limits as higher than Heaven\u2026 and deeper than Sheol\u2026 a measure longer than the earth\u2026 and broader than the sea\u2026 or in Ch. 37:23\u2026 which describes El Shaddai<\/em>\u2026 God Almighty\u2026 as unattainable\u2026 great in power and justice\u2026 abundant in righteousness\u2026 and One who does not torment\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n And so God can do whatever is possible to be done\u2026 but God cannot do that which is actually impossible\u2026 and that’s because true impossibility isn’t based on the amount of power one has\u2026 but is based on what is really possible\u2026 and since the truly impossible is not made possible by adding more power\u2026 impossibility means the same thing whether or not God is involved\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n In fact\u2026 the Bible itself lists things God cannot do\u2026 like lie\u2026 or deny God’s own faithfulness\u2026 these things are not in God’s nature\u2026 and God cannot do\u2026 what is not actually possible to be done\u2026 like creating a two-sided triangle\u2026 or a married bachelor\u2026 just because words can be strung together in this way\u2026 doesn’t make the impossible possible\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now what about that rock\u2026 a rock would have to be infinitely large to defeat an infinite amount of lifting power\u2026 but an infinite rock is a contradiction since material objects cannot be infinite\u2026 only God is infinite\u2026 there cannot be two infinites\u2026 so the underlying question itself\u2026 is really asking whether God can create a contradiction\u2026 and God cannot\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n As we begin our seven-week Advent today\u2026 looking ahead with anticipation to the fulfillment of God’s plan each one of us\u2026 and for all of creation\u2026 looking ahead to why the Incarnation happened at all\u2026 we also briefly\u2026 look back in the week to All Saints’ Day and the reading from Daniel\u2026 as Pamela Cooper-White\u2026 Professor of Pastoral Theology at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, GA reminds us\u2026 All Saints’ Day is a day to honor the priesthood of all believers\u2026 the saint-hood of all believers\u2026 this is emphatically not a day to venerate a select number of superstars of the faith\u2026 which was Church practice before the Reformation\u2026 but a time to recognize that all of us as Christians together\u2026 both the living and the departed\u2026 are saints of God\u2026 that Great Cloud of Witnesses referred to in Hebrews 12:1\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n In our Jewish scripture reading\u2026 we become insiders\u2026 confidants to Daniel’s dream\u2026 which is full of apocalyptic images\u2026 eschatological images\u2026 and in our own time\u2026 our attention often moves from the huge to the insignificant and back\u2026 as our world turns\u2026 and our seas churn\u2026 we hear the great beat of monsters rising from our seas\u2026 from environmental concerns\u2026 to racism and white supremacy\u2026 to our political divisions\u2026 from things said to our therapists\u2026 or things we can barely say to ourselves… yet we can ask these monsters what it would take to quiet and soothe them\u2026 and we can ask God for open ears and hearts\u2026 to hear their replies\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n And so Jesus is asked a question by the Sadducees… members of a Jewish sect\u2026 who denied the resurrection of the dead\u2026 the existence of spirits\u2026 and the practice of an oral tradition\u2026 but who emphasized acceptance of the written Law alone\u2026 now we ought not make blanket assumptions about every Sadducee\u2026 Pharisee\u2026 or any of the various Jewish religious and political groups\u2026 but they were\u2026 as John Shea writes\u2026 by and large not Jesus’ friends\u2026 not companions sitting around a campfire who entertained themselves with trivial banter\u2026 they were people of significant political and religious influence who were skeptical and concerned about Jesus\u2019 provocative ministry\u2026 and considering their line of questioning\u2026 we might be wary of their underlying intentions\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n And we might be reminded\u2026 that at that time\u2026 belief in a resurrection of the dead was a relatively new feature within Judaism\u2026 only several hundred years old\u2026 the Sadducees were traditionalists\u2026 confining themselves to the books that Moses wrote and admitting to little else\u2026 but although they had a rationale\u2026 it was based in some fallacious assumptions\u2026 one reason they couldn’t accept the resurrection of the dead\u2026 was because it couldn’t accommodate the command about Levirate marriage which was described in Deuteronomy 25:5-10\u2026 that is\u2026 the obligation of a man to marry his sister-in-law\u2026 should his brother die\u2026 so that his brother’s lineage could continue on\u2026 and the reason they couldn’t accept that\u2026 was because it would lead to polyandry\u2026 the practice of one woman having more than one husband\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n But even further\u2026 because of Mosaic purity laws\u2026 they asked\u2026 perhaps flippantly\u2026 So when the dead are raised\u2026 must they too follow purity laws\u2026 must they be sprinkled\u2026 since they have been in contact with a dead body\u2026 namely their own<\/em>\u2026 but an even more subtle part of their argument raises issues of materialism\u2026 since in the resurrection of the dead\u2026 they saw people as being forced to return to this space-time continuum\u2026 and being subject once more to the laws that are in effect here\u2026 and from which they had been freed in their trans-temporal realm\u2026 and in some ways\u2026 their line of questioning is like the one with which I began this sermon\u2026 their assumptions are wrongheaded\u2026 the question itself is really asking whether God can create a contradiction\u2026 and needs to be unpacked\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n The underlying premise of Levirate marriage\u2026 the underlying motivation\u2026 was the threat of extinction\u2026 and marriage equaled procreation\u2026 the continuance of the clan was an overriding value\u2026 and we must also consider how harsh life was then\u2026 and what the level of infant mortality must have been\u2026 but since resurrected people won’t die\u2026 in the age to come\u2026 marrying and being given in marriage won’t be required\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n But what about those who had already died\u2026 when Moses turned aside to investigate the bush that didn’t burn up\u2026 YHWH was identified as… the God of your father\u2026 the God of Abraham\u2026 the God of Isaac\u2026 and the God of Jacob<\/em>\u2026 and when God said this\u2026 those patriarchs were already dead\u2026 . but we know that God is a God of the living and not of the dead\u2026 so the unavoidable conclusion is that they are alive in God\u2026 that they are living in God\u2026 even though they have left the earth\u2026 and as John Shea writes\u2026 Jesus\u2026 the beloved Son\u2026 knows that God always is\u2026 and those who are of God… always are\u2026 and this is what\u2026 resurrection of the dead<\/em>\u2026 means\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n We are saints\u2026 but that doesn’t mean that we’ve become so holy that we can’t squeeze in any more holiness\u2026 it’s not because every decision we make is perfectly made\u2026 or because every word we utter is perfectly chosen\u2026 we are saints because as 1John 4:19 says\u2026 God loved us first<\/em>\u2026 we are saints\u2026 because\u2026 we are saved by grace through faith\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n We are saints\u2026 because\u2026 when we consider the chaos that Daniel described\u2026 and look at the chaos swirling around us now\u2026 we know in our bones\u2026 deep in our bones\u2026 our need for Jesus\u2026 and all of the Wisdom he embodied\u2026 and true eschatology begins in the moment when we not only understand that\u2026 but perhaps even speak it out loud\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Year A Daniel 7:1-3,15-18 Psalm 149 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17 Luke 20:27-38May the words of my mouth O God\u2026 speak your truth\u2026 Can God create a rock so heavy\u2026 that God could not lift it\u2026 this question is a convoluted contradiction about divine omnipotence\u2026 about being all-potent\u2026 because if God can create a rock that God cannot lift\u2026 then God is not omnipotent\u2026 and if God cannot create a rock so heavy that God cannot lift it\u2026 then God is likewise not omnipotent\u2026 so according to this particular question\u2026 omnipotence is self-contradictory\u2026 and God cannot be omnipotent\u2026 so in response to the question\u2026 can God create a rock so heavy that God could not lift it\u2026 the quick answer is No… but it’s more important to understand the explanation of why this is so\u2026 instead of knowing just the answer itself\u2026 The question is based on a misunderstanding about what words like ‘almighty’ or ‘omnipotent’ mean\u2026 and they don’t mean that God can do anything\u2026 instead\u2026 they describe the amount of God\u2019s power\u2026 and power is the ability to effect change\u2026 to make something happen\u2026 God has unlimited power\u2026 and the Bible affirms this in passages like Job Ch. 11:7-11 which establishes God’s limits as higher than Heaven\u2026 and deeper than Sheol\u2026 a measure longer than the earth\u2026 and broader than the sea\u2026 or in Ch. 37:23\u2026 which describes El Shaddai\u2026 God Almighty\u2026 as unattainable\u2026 great in power and justice\u2026 abundant in righteousness\u2026 and One who does not torment\u2026 And so God can do whatever is possible to be done\u2026 but God cannot do that which is actually impossible\u2026 and that’s because true impossibility isn’t based on the amount of power one has\u2026 but is based on what is really possible\u2026 and since the truly impossible is not made possible by adding more power\u2026 impossibility means the same thing whether or not God is involved\u2026 In fact\u2026 the Bible itself lists things God cannot do\u2026 like lie\u2026 or deny God’s own faithfulness\u2026 these things are not in God’s nature\u2026 and God cannot do\u2026 what is not actually possible to be done\u2026 like creating a two-sided triangle\u2026 or a married bachelor\u2026 just because words can be strung together in this way\u2026 doesn’t make the impossible possible\u2026 Now what about that rock\u2026 a rock would have to be infinitely large to defeat an infinite amount of lifting power\u2026 but an infinite rock is a contradiction since material objects cannot be infinite\u2026 only God is infinite\u2026 there cannot be two infinites\u2026 so the underlying question itself\u2026 is really asking whether God can create a contradiction\u2026 and God cannot\u2026 As we begin our seven-week Advent today\u2026 looking ahead with anticipation to the fulfillment of God’s plan each one of us\u2026 and for all of creation\u2026 looking ahead to why the Incarnation happened at all\u2026 we also briefly\u2026 look back in the week to All Saints’ Day and the reading from Daniel\u2026 as Pamela Cooper-White\u2026 Professor of Pastoral Theology at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, GA reminds us\u2026 All Saints’ Day is a day to honor the priesthood of all believers\u2026 the saint-hood of all believers\u2026 this is emphatically not a day to venerate a select number of superstars of the faith\u2026 which was Church practice before the Reformation\u2026 but a time to recognize that all of us as Christians together\u2026 both the living and the departed\u2026 are saints of God\u2026 that Great Cloud of Witnesses referred to in Hebrews 12:1\u2026 In our Jewish scripture reading\u2026 we become insiders\u2026 confidants to Daniel’s dream\u2026 which is full of apocalyptic images\u2026 eschatological images\u2026 and in our own time\u2026 our attention often moves from the huge to the insignificant and back\u2026 as our world turns\u2026 and our seas churn\u2026 we hear the great beat of monsters rising from our seas\u2026 from environmental concerns\u2026 to racism and white supremacy\u2026 to our political divisions\u2026 from things said to our therapists\u2026 or things we can barely say to ourselves… yet we can ask these monsters what it would take to quiet and soothe them\u2026 and we can ask God for open ears and hearts\u2026 to hear their replies\u2026 And so Jesus is asked a question by the Sadducees… members of a Jewish sect\u2026 who denied the resurrection of the dead\u2026 the existence of spirits\u2026 and the practice of an oral tradition\u2026 but who emphasized acceptance of the written Law alone\u2026 now we ought not make blanket assumptions about every Sadducee\u2026 Pharisee\u2026 or any of the various Jewish religious and political groups\u2026 but they were\u2026 as John Shea writes\u2026 by and large not Jesus’ friends\u2026 not companions sitting around a campfire who entertained themselves with trivial banter\u2026 they were people of significant political and religious influence who were skeptical and concerned about Jesus\u2019 provocative ministry\u2026 and considering their line of questioning\u2026 we might be wary of their underlying intentions\u2026 And we might be reminded\u2026 that at that time\u2026 belief in a resurrection of the dead was a relatively new feature within Judaism\u2026 only several hundred years old\u2026 the Sadducees were traditionalists\u2026 confining themselves to the books that Moses wrote and admitting to little else\u2026 but although they had a rationale\u2026 it was based in some fallacious assumptions\u2026 one reason they couldn’t accept the resurrection of the dead\u2026 was because it couldn’t accommodate the command about Levirate marriage which was described in Deuteronomy 25:5-10\u2026 that is\u2026 the obligation of a man to marry his sister-in-law\u2026 should his brother die\u2026 so that his brother’s lineage could continue on\u2026 and the reason they couldn’t accept that\u2026 was because it would lead to polyandry\u2026 the practice of one woman having more than one husband\u2026 But even further\u2026 because of Mosaic purity laws\u2026 they asked\u2026 perhaps flippantly\u2026 So when the dead are raised\u2026 must they too follow purity laws\u2026 must they be sprinkled\u2026 since they have been in contact with a dead body\u2026 namely their own\u2026 but an even more subtle part of their argument raises issues of materialism\u2026 since in the resurrection of the dead\u2026 they saw people as being 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