Emmanuel Lutheran Church

May 2024

More Answers to Puzzling Questions

Last month, I offered to answer some of the questions you have about verses in the Bible. Recently when I was preparing a Bible study on Genesis, I read about the Jewish tradition that if a married older brother died, his brothers would marry the widow and have sons for the brother. There is more about this in Deuteronomy, but I discovered the practice in Genesis.

In the New Testament, the Pharisees also ask Jesus this question-if seven brothers have married the same woman and each has died, whose wife is she in the resurrection? Jesus’ answer may seem short, but it’s important to remember why the question is being asked. Jesus is being quizzed on Jewish law and tradition, earthly creations of man. Jesus’ answer is given by the Son of God, who can see through death to eternal life.

Some people have had wonderful, loving, life-long relationships as married couples. I’ve seen how heartbroken they are when their loved one dies, and they wonder if they will ever meet again. This is what I think.

Marriage vows contain the words “until we are parted by death.” Those words are there because we can only make promises for a lifetime. We have to trust God in Christ to handle eternal life for us. I think we will recognize those whom we’ve loved in our earthly lifetimes, and they will know us.

My dad had a near death experience when he was having his tonsils out at age 11. The doctor said, “We gave him too much” and he woke up in a beautiful field of wildflowers. He was never afraid of death after that. I’m glad he told me that story. It’s a farmer’s dream that heaven is a field of wildflowers.

I have a few opinions you may or may not share. We don’t know for certain:
Our earthly bodies will remain. Our spirit rises with Jesus.
I think cremation or burial are personal decisions, neither is wrong.
I believe that hospice treatment returns dignity to the dying. If Jesus healed on the Sabbath to save a woman from suffering one more day, why wouldn’t we relieve suffering given the medical treatments we have available to us?

My hope is that my spirit will rise and live with Jesus. I hope that I will return to the happy child I was so long ago, that I will be loved and hugged and valued and cherished by the Jesus who has walked with me my whole life. And I hope to meet family who still remain in my heart at a big, beautiful family reunion!

Peace,
Pastor Dawn