Then there are two things none of us can avoid, so they say - death and taxation. Here we grumble about the second and don't really know how to handle the first.
We find the subject of death so difficult to handle that, for many, there is a real question what to tell the children when a grandparent dies. Across the years I have heard so many different stories that parents have told their children.
"I saw Grandpa last night", a little boy told me. "Did you?" I said, wondering, knowing Grandpa had died the day before. "Yes, he's that big bright star you can see up in the sky after it's dark!"
Well, is that really Grandpa? No, it's a star! Why comfort a child with a story like that? Grandpa has gone. We won't see him again in this life, no matter how much we look up in the sky.
"Grandma has become an angel", says another child. But that's not quite so, either. In today's reading, Jesus says that those who die are "like angels" - but in the sense that there is no marriage in heaven. Sometimes loving couples say that their marriage is "for ever and ever." As a commitment within this life, that's fine - in fact, it is very commendable! But in reality marriage is "till death us do part". The angels are God's messengers, his servants. We enter heaven, not as his servants, but as his sons and daughters!
What we all have to learn - young and old - is that we are mortal, and this mortal body can't go to heaven. Do you realise that body is wearing out all the time? In fact, our breathing, our eating and drinking, our exercising, and our going to the loo… are all part of a remarkable process which maintains this mortal body in repair and in good working order as long as possible.
Jesus said a lot about "eternal life" and in John 3.16 we learn that "God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son (that's Jesus) so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life." Of course, Jesus says we will not die if we believe in him. He makes no promise that our body will not die. In fact, he warned his disciples that many of them would physically die because of their faith in him. And, so far as we know, the ones who didn't die for their faith in Jesus - by crucifixion, beheading or burning at the stake - ended up dying for some other reason - perhaps by a heart attack, a stroke, a dose of pneumonia… The secret of eternal life isn't to keep on propping up this mortal body for ever and ever.
Don't get me wrong! I believe we are meant to look after our bodies. And I also believe that, when something goes wrong and we are sick, we should seek healing both in medical remedies and in direct prayer to our Creator God. But healing doesn't always come - and we aren't promised physical healings for ever and ever.
Paul was a tent-maker before he became a Christian. Later, as a Christian missionary, he practised his trade from time to time to support himself.
Have you camped out? Does your family ever go tenting? What do you do if wet weather sets in? or if you hear there's a cyclone coming? Usually that's the time to head home! Tents are fun, but there is something very temporary about them.
It's two years since we visited Girraween National Park. The last time we were there we saw a tent in the Castle Rock camping area that looked as if it was almost "on its last legs". It was about as much patch as tent! In our harsh Queensland climate, the ultra-violet light breaks down the water-proofing, but also weakens the fabric. The water-proofing can be re-done and the tears in the fabric can be mended - up to a point. But somewhere along the line the only solution is a new tent.
Paul wrote, "For we know that when this tent we live on - our body here on earth - is torn down, God will have a house in heaven for us to live in, a home he himself has made, which will last for ever" (2 Cor.5.1). Not another tent, but a house!
How's your tent going? With some of you I can see that your eyes need a help along. Others have trouble with their hearing. In time it may be arthritis or heart-trouble. The younger folk feel immortal - as if they will go on for ever!
Listen to this graphic description from Ecclesiastes - "So remember your Creator while you are young, before those dismal days and years come when you will say, 'I don't enjoy life.' That is when the light of the sun, the moon, and the stars will grow dim for you, and the rain clouds will never pass away. Then your arms, that have protected you, will tremble, and your legs, now strong, will grow weak. Your teeth will be too few to chew your food, and your eyes too dim to see clearly. Your ears will be deaf to the noise of the street. You will barely be able to hear the mill as it grinds or music as it plays, but even the song of a bird will wake you from sleep…" (12.1-4).
That can seem rather depressing, but the older members of the congregation already know it has a measure of truth for them! But life doesn't have to be depressing because we can begin to know God's gift of eternal life now! Not one of us is too young to begin to know God's gift. Not one of us is too old to receive God's gift. Eternal life becomes the key to living now, as well as the guarantee of life forever in the presence of God in heaven!
Nicodemus was confused when Jesus told him, "I am telling you the truth: no one can see the Kingdom of God unless he is born again" (Jn.3.3). There was a problem - he would no longer fit back into his mother's womb to be born a second time (v.4)! But I suspect there was another problem for him - not mentioned in the text. His body was getting older. He himself was getting more and more set in his ways. Any kind of change was becoming more and more difficult.
But - "God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life" (v.16).
Jesus has died for our sins. We say to him, "Jesus, you did it for me! I receive you as my Saviour and Lord."
Paul wrote, "When anyone is joined to Christ, he is a new being; the old is gone, the new has come" (2 Cor.5.17).
He also wrote, "What is mortal must be changed into what is immortal; what will die must be changed into what cannot die. So when this takes place, and the mortal has been changed into the immortal, then the scripture will come true: 'Death is destroyed; victory is complete!' 'Where, Death, is your victory? Where, Death, is your power to hurt?' Death gets its power to hurt from sin, and sin gets its power from the Law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!" (1 Cor.15.53-57).
And old riddle asks, "Why were the Sadducees so miserable?" - the anwser, "Because they were sad, you see!" That, of course, is an accident of the English language and has nothing to do with the origins of their name. And yet, they were a grim lot! with nothing to hope for but keeping a whole collections of rules in this life and then nothing to follow! with total rejection of Jesus as the Messiah that God had promised! with rejection of the gift of eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord!
God's gift is offered to us all! God's gift is for now and we will know it more fully in eternity! Repent and believe the good news!
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