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St. Stephen's Episcopal Church

215 N. 7th, Terre Haute, Indiana

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A Word: Jesus and the Dishonest Questioners

Sermons · November 10, 2019

When Jesus is confronted in Jerusalem by the Sadducees, they ask a convoluted question about the afterlife. So Jesus changes the conversation.


Hint: there’s no right answer.
Proper 27C
Luke 20:27-38

we keep asking the question hoping for a different answer
All Saints C
Luke 6:20-31

by the Rev. Drew Downs

Jesus and the Dishonest Questioners
Photo by Abby Kihano from Pexels

“Teacher,”

They address him. Perhaps its equal parts honor and direction. They call him teacher so that he knows what hat they expect he’ll wear. As if to say, Teacher, teach us something.

“Teacher, Moses wrote for us…”

So they appeal to him as a teacher. Then they direct him to the Law.

They are going to the rulebook, the tradition, the history, the great teacher who taught the people, who spoke for God in the Exodus. This is not about whether to eat meat on Fridays in Lent. This is deeper than canon law and more central than custom.

“Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies…”

The lead-up to the question is as long as the lead-up to this sermon.

So here is the question in a nutshell. Since they have an old tradition called levirate marriage which could allow a bunch of brothers to marry the same woman to maintain lineage and property, which of them gets to possess her in the afterlife?

Now, we could dig into this tradition, and it would be a lot of fun to do that. But we’re not going to. Because it’s a red herring…


The full text may be found here.

For a limited time, the audio may be found here.

Filed Under: Sermons Tagged With: discipleship, Luke 20:27-40, Passion, Proper 27C, Sadducees

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CONTACT

St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church
215 N. 7th St
Terre Haute, IN 47807

812-232-5165

officeadmin@ststephensth.org

ABOUT

St. Stephen’s is a sacramental community following Jesus’s Way of Love.

We worship on Sundays at 8 & 10.

AFFILIATIONS

St. Stephen’s is a member of The Episcopal Church and congregation of the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis.

St. Stephen’s is a member of the Homeless Council of the Wabash Valley

PARKING

St. Stephen’s is across from Indiana State University. Nearby parking lots are run by ISU and are free after 5pm weekdays and are free all weekend long. 

Five marked spots in the lot directly behind the church are available during the week.

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