Sunday 9 November 2025
"Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.” (v. 38)
Background
Luke 20:27-38 presents us with a profound encounter between Jesus and the Sadducees, who challenge him on the question of resurrection. Their scenario – a woman successively married to seven brothers, all of whom die childless – seeks not genuine wisdom but to expose what they see as the absurdity of life after death. Jesus, however, meets their question not with legal arguments but with a vision that transcends earthly categories and points towards the mystery and hope at the heart of the Christian faith.
Jesus’s response is deeply significant. He says: “Those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection.” (vs 35-36) He does not dismiss the value of earthly relationships, but he teaches that the resurrection life is not a mere continuation of the present, but something radically new. The ties and roles that define us here and now are transformed, as we become “children of God, being children of the resurrection.”
This passage is especially poignant today, Remembrance Sunday, a day when we pause to honour and remember those who have given their lives in the service of others – those who, as the poet Laurence Binyon wrote, “shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old.” The grief of loss, and the memory of those who have died in conflict, are ever present. Yet Luke 20 reminds us that God is “not God of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.” (v. 38) In God’s sight, life is not extinguished by death, and love is not ended by the grave.
As we gather on Remembrance Sunday, we do so with the pain of loss but also with hope. The resurrection that Jesus proclaims is not escapism nor wishful thinking, but a promise rooted in the very character of God – the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who, Jesus insists, is God not of the dead but of the living. Our remembering is more than nostalgia; it is an act of faith in a God who holds past, present and future, and in whom every life – no matter how brief or troubled – is precious and ultimately finds its fulfilment.
Remembrance Sunday is marked by silence – a stillness in which we bring before God our memories, our gratitude and our sorrow. In that silence, we also hear the whisper of resurrection hope. The world as we see it is marked by division, conflict and death. But Jesus’ words invite us to glimpse another reality, where the children of the resurrection are held in the eternal love of God. That hope calls us to live differently now: to seek justice, to work for peace and to cherish the dignity of every human life. In remembrance, we entrust our loved ones to the God of the living, and we commit ourselves to embody, in our own lives, that hope which is not conquered even by death. In doing so, we join the countless generations who have trusted that, in the resurrection, God’s love has the final word.
To Ponder:
- If you attended a Remembrance Day service today, did you notice the way that the themes of hope, justice and peace were expressed? If you did notice those themes, how did they make you feel?
- How does Jesus’ vision of the resurrection, in which earthly categories are transformed and all people are alive to God, change the way that we look at the loss of loved ones and how we deal with grief?
Bible notes author: The Revd Dr Adrian Burdon
The Revd Dr Adrian Burdon is Superintendent Minister of the Telford Circuit in the West Midlands District. Adrian has been a presbyter since 1988 and, in addition to Shropshire, has worked in the Oldham Circuit, on the Fylde Coast, in Leeds city centre, the Northeast of England, and as a mission partner in the South Pacific. Adrian is Chair of the Churches Together in Britain and Ireland writing group which writes material for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.