When Jesus responds to the Sadducees conundrum and the Levirate marriage, he insists that in “the age to come”, there is no more giving and receiving in marriage (Luke 20:27-40). This may leave us with a few pastoral questions and implications.
First of all, there was the immediate pastoral implication for people in that context. Jesus’ point was that the Sadducees conundrum was a red herring. The levirate laws were designed to deal with the problem of death but in eternity, the enemy of death has gone. So at a minimum, the particular practice of having kinsmen standby to represent the deceased partner goes out the window. The whole point of levirate marriage was to provide the widow with security and status as well as to hopefully provide the deceased man, especially where he was the primary heir with descendants and heirs of his own. Of course, we do not have the same customs today but there is a reminder here more broadly, and taken up in Jesus’ comments about the burning bush, that we are in the business of life, not death and this should drive all aspects of our pastoral care.
Secondly, this is good news for single people. We can at times over hype the place of marriage. Remembering that marriage is good but for a finite time not eternal, getting that in perspective helps us to recognise the good and positive reasons for being single too. Paul saw his singleness as an opportunity to serve the Gospel, to keep his focus on the greater joy ahead. Single people in church help us to remember that our primary relationship and eternal relationship to one another
Thirdly, it is important to emphasise that the way in which Jesus says that we are like the angels is specifically that we will not die. This is important because sometimes people read into this that the likeness is in terms of us being spirits. However, note that if it was angelic beings that desired human women in Genesis 6, then their nature as spirits did not prevent either sexual desire or procreation. More importantly, Scripture is clear that we will experience a bodily resurrection. This protects us from a Gnostic type presumption that spirit is good and matter/physical bodies bad.
Fourth, there are pastoral implications for married people and widows. This may open up a lot of questions about how we will relate to one another in eternity. It’s important to emphasise that eternity will not undo or take away from the reality of our relationships here on earth. We will know each other and I’m sure there will be no diminishing in love for those we loved in the here and now, perhaps an increased capacity to love others to the same degree, the closer that we are to the infinite source of love. However, the relationship there will be different. Perhaps that should encourage believers to cultivate that eternal relationship now. These verses help to let widows and widowers know that they are free to remarry should they choose, though they are also under no compulsion. This should also help us to encourage a health attitude to life after bereavement. There is pain in the loss but life is not over, there are good things to look forward to in life. Furthermore, when a spouse goes ahead, this should not change our own longing and hope. Our first hope and longing is to see Christ not to be reunited with our loved one.
Faithroots 