The Gospel Lesson                                                                  Luke 23:39-43

One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom.” He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

1 Corinthians 15:35-49

          But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” Fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And as for what you sow, you do not sow the body that is to be but a bare seed, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen and to each kind of seed its own body. Not all flesh is alike, but there is one flesh for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. There are both heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one thing, and that of the earthly is another. There is one glory of the sun and another glory of the moon and another glory of the stars; indeed, star differs from star in glory.

So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the physical and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, made of dust; the second man is from heaven. As one of dust, so are those who are of the dust, and as one of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the one of dust, we will also bear the image of the one of heaven.

Sermon Text

We all die. That is something as obvious to us as our own birth. We do not often make it far into life without experiencing death. Whether it is of a family member, a friend, an animal, or even an overwatered plant, we have to face the fact of our limited lifespan at some time or another. We are some of the longest-lived creatures on earth, with only turtles and a few marine animals beating out our seventy some years of life. Yet, the slow degradation of our withering bones makes us face the end eventually. A final breath on one side of eternity bringing us into the other.

The question I was asked for our first question of our series is simply what we should expect when we die. Are we instantly taken up into Heaven? Do we enjoy a reunion with our loved ones? What is that like, and what can we expect in the future?

The Church has always proclaimed the teaching that there is a future date, far ahead of us, when we are going to enjoy a resurrection like what Jesus had. Our bodies will be raised up, our flesh made whole, and everything about us perfected. This transformation is like Jesus’s own resurrection was, and we will talk about that more fully in a moment.

However, until that moment when we are resurrected and enter into eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven, what do we do? According to Revelation and the wider canon of scripture, the resurrection is something that happens at the end of everything – when the current Heaven and Earth pass away and are reborn, so shall we be. That means there is something that in between now and then that we must take part in that is not the final resting place we all enjoy in the New Heaven and New Earth. This is a concept which is called, theologically, “The Intermediate State.”

This is talked about in the New Testament as the “Bosom of Abraham,” and as “Paradise,” the place where the righteous wait for God to set the world straight and initiate the New World. This is considered to be part of the general “realm of the dead.” In the Hebrew Bible it was called Sheol, in the New Testament it is called Hades, but generally speaking there is an idea that when we die, our souls leave our bodies and rest in a state not quite in Heaven but definitely not of earth. It is, essentially, a foretaste of what that final reunion of Heaven and Earth will be like. For those who will enjoy Heaven there is the presence of God and the feeling of peace, for those who were wicked there is the anticipation of Hell and perdition.

It is my opinion that this is what death means for us. Our soul leaves our body, our body becomes inert. We enter into the intermediate space, a waiting room for Heaven, and there we experience Jesus and the Communion of the Saints, though not in the fullness that we will at the end of history. Whether this intermediate state sees us in some sort of Heavenly Realm as we wait for the resurrection, or else some other place, I do not know, but I know that we are immediately with God, and with all the other righteous. I know this because Jesus promised the thief he would see him, “this day,” in Paradise. After all things are settled and Christ returns in final victory, Heaven, Earth, and our bodies will be reborn in a final and eternal resurrection, and we will enjoy the fullness of God’s blessings and eternal life.

We as Methodists have few documents that relate to what the intermediate state is truly like, indeed we are quick to point to the mystery of God when pressed about the question. However, John Wesley himself was clear in pointing to an intermediate state. Wesley spoke of the dead being fully present with God, and therefore being in Heaven, but also put the emphasis forward toward the coming reunion of the two worlds. The dead were able, in this between state, to continue to grow in love beyond what they achieved on earth. Death erased the last traces of sinful impulses in a person, but the renewed Spirit still was able to grow in love.[1]

            The intermediate state is an advantageous belief because it allows us to better see the continuity of God’s salvation, but it is also a distinction so slight in most cases that it is not worth agonizing over it. Those who die in the love of God go to be with God, and are therefore rightfully spoken of as being, “in Heaven.” Yet, we should hold onto a reunion with them that transcends death or life and is found only in the new creation of God. Those two ideas, more than any concept of terminology or theological maneuvering stand out above all others…

[The second question of the day is how we will recognize one another in the age to come. Paul is clear in our scripture that our resurrection is like that of Christ’s, and so anything we know about the resurrection we have to take from him and a few of his teachings. Jesus was recognizable to his disciples, but usually only after some event triggered their memory. For the disciples on Emmaus it was the breaking of bread, for the twelve it was the giving of peace and the catching of fish. Jesus was changed enough that it took some time to recognize him, but he was still very much Jesus.

Jesus carried with him the memories of his disciples, his love for them, the individual relationships he had with them. Jesus showed us that relationships went beyond the pall of death and into the eternity of God’s resurrection. In other words, there is a future we will have together in Heaven. There are some caveats to that though. Jesus is clear, for example, that marriage ends in death. We specifically have in our vows, “till death do us part,” because someday we will find ourselves cut off from our beloved and separated. Christ tells us that that separation makes us, no longer spouses, but fellow members of God’s eternal family.

Now, as I said we still retain our memories and life experiences and relationships. Therefore, I echo the sentiment of a liturgics professor I had once, who said, “In Heaven we are as angels, who do not marry, but I’m saving a seat for my husband right beside me even still!” Our relationships are transformed in resurrection, but they can never be erased. However, that works I am not worried, because I know I’ll be around those I love one way or another.

Heaven will, all the same, be populated with a countless multitude of people. We will be with saints from all time and space and from places we have never even heard of. All languages will be represented, all cultures, a diversity and numerousness we cannot begin to imagine. That means that we will not be in a room only of people we know, the whole of the New Jerusalem, of the new Heaven and Earth, will be opened up to us.

That means that the image of an immediate or organized reunion on the other side of this life is never mentioned in scripture. There is no singular, definite description of the saints we know sitting down together on the other side of this life. Yet, it seems impossible to me that God would keep people apart, or that in all of eternity we would not find one another again. If we want to give a quick and easy answer about how the Bible talks about what we will do, “When we all get to Heaven,” we will not find it. Yet a few things are clear.

God brings the dead to life, and God will have us all together in the new creation one day. This new life will include one another as a communion like what we know on Earth, albeit somewhat altered. We retain our personality in this new life, and given infinite time, it would be impossible to think we will not see each other again. Is there a welcoming committee in paradise of all our loved ones? I cannot say, but I know they are waiting for us, praying for us, and we will one day feast at the same table as them once more. That, in itself, is enough for me. – Amen.][2]

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[1] John Wesley. Letter To Miss B-. The Works of the Rev. John Wesley. (New York, New York. J. & J. Harper.) 1827

[2] The latter part of this sermon is adapted from an early message, given on 08/21/2022