Living in the Spirit
November 6, 2022
Scripture Reading: Luke 20:27-38
Jesus said to them, ‘Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. Indeed they cannot die any more, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.’ –Luke 20:34-38
One of the primary reasons for marriage at the beginning of civilization was to raise workers for the field and the housework. I grew up on a farm and jokingly attest to being put in charge of chickens when I was five years old. I fed and watered them each day, gathered the eggs, and opened the building in which they roosted in the morning so they could be, now popular, range-fed chickens. I also counted them making sure they were all there when I closed the door each evening. I at least knew how to count to the number of chickens we had by the time I started school. I started my work at an early age because my older sister was afraid of chickens and thus graduated to milking cows. I have never understood her fear because cows are a lot bigger than chickens. Chickens do peck people. My mother, sister, and I also worked in the garden and canned fruits and vegetables for the coming system. My brother was driving a tracker and sledding hay bales with my dad.
That is not to say that we did not love one another, and we took good care of each other. It was just the way things were in rural Oklahoma immediately following World War II. Making sure one’s brothers had heirs was just the way things were in Abraham’s time. Culture changes, industrial revolutions happen, and technology now abounds. God enabled our progress and was and is with us as we traverse the changes that result. God was then and still is love, and we are still called to love God and our neighbors as ourselves. That is true of our life now and our life into eternity. We can believe different outcomes and even have spirited arguments about them. What we can never do is change God’s love or our calling to love God and others.
Prayer: Lord, center us on love ruling all aspects of our lives. Amen.
All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.