January 28, 2021

Day 28, January 28, 2021
Scriptures: Genesis 48-49, Matthew 22
 
 
Matthew 22:32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”
 
Jacob dies at the end of the Genesis reading today. Offering us, in the waning chapters of Genesis, a bit of closure on the Promise given to Abraham. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, these Promise bearers, have now all passed away. Offering their blessings from one generation to the next.
 
The above quote comes from Jesus while he is in the midst of interrogation by the Sadducees, who are sad, you see, because they don’t believe in the resurrection from the dead.
 
Of course, Jesus believes in the resurrection, and He references a quote from Exodus, between God and Moses. When Moses hears this exact phrase, from God, Moses looks away in fear of his own death.
 
If Abraham, Isaac and Jacob all died, how is God, the God of the living? 
 
I think what God is saying to Moses, and what Jesus intends to convey to his detractors is something along the lines of the living hope of the Promise given to Abraham. The God who spoke to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, is still alive and speaking to Moses. And now, he is alive and speaking to the Sadducees, in the person of Jesus. God is the God of the living.
 
I might be wrong on that, either way, what I’m seeing is a whole group of people who are shut down in the conversation and don’t know what to say after Jesus quotes the same thing God says to Moses. To refute the resurrection is to say, now, that the God of Abraham, who had a child in his old age, from a dead womb, God brought life. To Isaac, who was about to die, at the sacrifice with his father, God provided a ram. And Jacob, who had many sons, and grew into a great nation, this Jacob who was Israel, who wrestled with God…well this God is alive, and he was with Moses, and he is with them now, in Jesus.
 
The story is putting together for us the life we can have in the Promise given to Abraham, life in the Kingdom of God.
 
We are told what the greatest way of life is , the greatest commandment, the most important thing is; Love the Lord our God with all of our heart, with all of our soul, all of our mind and all of our strength. And to love our neighbor as ourselves. That’s the whole thing., the whole law, in its summation and purpose. Love God, love others.
 
This teaching, leads us forward as followers of Christ. The practical connection between these chapters and into our every day lives is pretty simple, and vitally important. Do I love others? Do I listen to them, encourage them, support them, give time, energy and resources to them? do I pray for them? Do I treat them kindly, give them attention and concern? Am I patient with them? Do I care?
 
When we get a hold of the greatest commandment, we get a hold of real life. We understand a little more fully that God is the God of the living. His ways bring life.
 
Love the Lord your God.
Jordan