As It Will Be: Life Above Luke 20:27-38

Sixty years ago, a song was written which examined the differences and the relationship between life in this world and life in the next. In this song, there is a clear distinction made between how we are to live in this world, and the expectation of how we will live in the next. The song acknowledges that we need some help in this life, help which will not be necessary in the next, since we will no longer have to deal with suffering and pain.

This song has been translated into several languages, and was even the basis for a festival-winning film. It was a song apparently ahead of its time, serving as a kind of precursor for many of our praise songs today. The lyrics are simple, the tune is catchy, and the motif is repeated as many times as necessary to engage the people in singing and creating community. And while I don’t know that I have ever heard it sung in a church before, it is my understanding that it is still a popular song on many college campuses.

Because of our gospel reading today, and the celebration of our saints who are now dwelling in the next life as members of the Church Triumphant, I would like to now share with you the lyrics of this song: In heaven, there is no beer, that's why we drink it here and when we're gone from here, our friends will be drinking all the beer.

Did I forget to mention that this is a polka drinking song, and not a church hymn? Even so, I must confess that this song confuses me. It seems to imply that there is no need for beer in heaven, which I speculate could mean that there is no need for drinking beer since we will be in the joyful presence of God. I find that to be an acceptable proposition about life in heaven. But by that measure, it would also seem to imply that drinking beer in this life is an acceptable way to approximate being in the presence of God.

This confuses me because, as the son of a functional alcoholic who was fond of saying that he had paid for several bars even though he didn't own any of them, I have never equated the aftermath from drinking beer with being in the presence of God. My experience with people drinking is nothing at all like my experience with being in the presence of God.

My confusion is compounded by something we pray every week. In the Lord's Prayer, one of our petitions is for God's will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. If it is the will of God that there is no drinking beer in heaven, as posited by our 60-year old song, then it must also be the will of God that there shouldn't be any drinking of beer on earth.

But then, when I was studying prayer as part of my doctoral work, I came across the Prayer of St. Brigid. Brigid was a 5th century Irish saint, born a slave, baptized by Patrick, and the founder of the monastery at Kildare. Her prayer begins, “I'd like to give a lake of beer to God. I'd love the heavenly Host to be tippling there for all eternity.” The prayer begins with inviting God and all the angels of heaven to hoist a few forever.

The prayer continues with an imagery that suggests a cheerful barmaid keeping everyone’s glass full so that all can dance and sing and be merry. A “vat of suffering” is kept nearby for folks who feel good by feeling sad. And then the prayer ends with, “I'd sit with the men, the women, and God there by the lake of beer. We'd be drinking good health forever and every drop would be a prayer.” This prayer at least has an internal consistency, with beer drinking both on earth and in heaven. But I am confused by that last petition. What would be the need to drink to someone’s good health in a place where there is no pain or suffering, where everyone is made whole, and where everyone lives joyfully forever with God?

But even if we can put aside this objection as merely practicing a ritual in heaven, I still have my doubts about the absolute goodness and need for beer in this life. While beer and ale are not mentioned specifically, the epistles in the New Testament all recommend limiting the amount of wine that should be consumed, lest it bring dishonor to our witness. And in the Book of Revelation, the only wine mentioned in heaven is the wine of God's wrath.

So how are we supposed to know if there is beer in heaven or not? Or, for that matter, if there will be golf in heaven, or baseball – as many Christians seem to think there must be, or they don’t want to go? And what about different colored robes, as the Swedenborgians believe; or different sized mansions, as some other Christian groups believe? These are questions that have bothered people for hundreds of years!

Depending on your existential preferences, you may believe that heaven is a place which provides men with 72 virgins. Heaven may be a place where men get their own worlds to rule. Heaven may be a place where men are waited on hand and foot as they are treated with absolute deference.

I was being intentional about emphasizing the popular benefits of heaven for men, as most descriptions of heaven assume women will only be there to serve men. While I haven't done a survey on the issue, I am pretty sure that this would not be the image of heaven for most women. And with the election this Tuesday, I don't think anyone wants to participate in a poll this morning just to clear this up.

All of this is just to point out that there are a lot of opinions, both within and without the church, about heaven, and what it will be like, and even if it exists. And while some people like to tweak the church about heaven, declaring that they don’t believe in it, and that you can be a good person even without the promise of heaven, this really isn’t anything new.

The Sadducees were a group within Judaism at the time of Jesus, along with the Pharisees, Essenes, Herodians, and Zealots. One of their distinctions is that they believed that this life is all that there is. They believed there wasn't any heaven, there wasn't any hell, and there wasn't any reason to delay gratification. Keeping the Law was about ordering society so that it functioned well, and not a system for screening persons for the afterlife.

What this understanding of the Sadducees means is that Jesus bothered them. Jesus came from heaven, and Jesus would return to heaven – which they believed didn’t exist. Jesus was going to rule from heaven, and he was going to break down the gates of hell – which they believed didn’t exist. Jesus talked about humility and service as the way to please God in heaven, which seemed to run counter to their existential desire to win at this life. Jesus talked about loving their neighbors, which seemed unnecessary to them if it didn’t directly affect the order of society.

Jesus bothered the Sadducees so much that they proposed an argument, which when taken to its absurd logical conclusion, they believed would expose the fallacy of heaven. To see how they tried to do this, as well as how their argument falls apart, we need to know a little about the levirate law. In the application of this law, women were considered to be less than fully human, less than the image of God, and as little more than property. That is why the father is asked “who gives this woman?” in a marriage ceremony. It was considered a property exchange. And while we don't believe this about women, nor do we ask this question in the United Methodist liturgy, we still see a carry-over of this in our society, in that the wedding license is available from the Recorder of Deeds.

This understanding of women as less than fully human is also why a man in the Old Testament could have more than one wife. It was for the same reason that a man could own more than one field or one farm. Having more than one wife allowed the man to increase his “harvest.” A woman couldn’t have more than one husband because then there would have been a question about which man would receive the “harvest.”

Under levirate law, which was designed to help maintain a man’s legacy, if a man died without a son to inherit his property, the next oldest brother was to marry the widow and their first son would legally become the heir of the deceased brother. This second brother could then divorce the woman, once his legal obligation was fulfilled, if he so chose to do. If he kept the woman, any resulting children would legally be his.

If the woman was not kept, she would then revert to being the property of her father, if he were still living. If no other man wanted to marry her, the woman might become a widow of the Temple – essentially an indentured servant of the priesthood, where she stayed until she died. And then, in the afterlife, she would continue to serve men forever.

The Sadducees made the argument in which the woman was married to the oldest of seven brothers, who dies without harvesting an heir. The second brother marries the widow in order to produce an heir for the first brother, but then he dies. It is now up to the third brother to produce an heir for both the first and second brothers, but he dies. The fourth brother has to produce heirs for the first three brothers – and on it goes until the seventh brother has to produce heirs for the six older brothers, and he dies as well.

And then we get the pay-off question the Sadducees clearly believed would make believing in heaven illogical: “Whose wife will she be?” Everybody knows that a woman can’t have more than one husband, and yet she has been married to seven. It is clear to the Sadducees, as they believe it should become clear to Jesus, that a woman can't have seven husbands. If there was such a thing as heaven, then this woman would have to have seven husbands, which is against the Law of Moses; so obviously, heaven can't be real.

That would be a wining argument, except for the one thing the Sadducees didn’t want to admit could be true. Jesus gives us a glimpse of heaven as someone who has been there. And he takes the Sadducees argument apart, piece by piece.

Because God is the God of the living, as it clearly states in the Law upon which the Sadducees base their argument, when we are part of the resurrection, we live in heaven with God. The argument that there is no heaven goes away.

Because in heaven no one dies, no one needs to get married to have an heir to carry on their legacy in heaven. There is no need for creating children because we are all children of God. The argument that we are nothing unless someone carries on our legacy goes away. Because in heaven no one needs to get married, no one is ever treated as property. This is a good time to remember our prayer for the will of God to be done on earth as it is in heaven. If no one is to be treated as less than fully human, as less than the image of God, or as little more than property in heaven, then no one should be treated as less than fully human, as less than the image of God, or as little more than property in this life. The argument to make people less goes away.

Jesus doesn't tell us, in this answer, much about the other questions we may have about heaven. We don't know if heaven is filled with teetotalers who see no need for beer or if there is a lake of beer for our toasting and refreshment. We don't know the details about mansions or banquets, though we are promised these things. And it may be that we can't know exactly while we are on this side of the veil. It may be that there are no words adequate for describing the indescribable glory of life in the eternal presence of God.

Some things we will just have to wait to find out. But Jesus does tell us a few things we can know about heaven for sure. And these things give us hope and assurance on this Sunday when we remember those who have gone on before us.

Heaven is where God’s will is done with perfect love. Heaven is where those we love will be with God forever. Heaven is where those we love are valued and precious as the children of God. And in God's love which never ends, heaven is where there are no more tears, no more suffering, no more death.

And, even though it bothered the Sadducees, it is good news for us that we can have a foretaste of this joy and glory on earth as it is in heaven, as we live into the resurrection life now. So, let us join with all the saints this morning in a song that is a few generations older than our polka drinking song, as we praise the perfect love of God, revealed in Jesus, enabled by the Holy Spirit, and waiting for us in our eternal home. And then in that love, may we live as the resurrection people now, until that day when we join the Church Triumphant ourselves.

UMH 711 “For All the Saints”