For centuries, the problem of finding out your longitudinal position had baffled the greatest minds. While it was easy to find your latitude through observing the position of the sun during the day or the stars at night, finding your longitude remained elusive. The greatest scientific minds thought that if one method worked for latitude, it would work for longitude. Despite years of research, they could not find the answer. The solution came from the unlikely source of the English clockmaker John Harrison. Rather than looking for the answer in the relative position of celestial bodies, he found that by accurately measuring time, you could fix your longitude with precision. The misunderstanding of the basis for the calculation meant that it took a complete shift of understanding to bring about the solution.
It is the Sadducees misunderstanding of the resurrection that causes their inability to accept it as a foundational part of our faith. They thought of the resurrection as a “second attempt” at life. Viewing it as a “do-over”, they argued that if a woman had married many men, to whom would she be married in the resurrection? Jesus has to explain to them that the resurrection is not a second go at life but rather a new life in a new creation. That life in the resurrection will be different for the reason that the resurrection body does not wear out, does not decay or disease and that it lives in a brand-new creation; the way God intended it to be.
Jesus is clear that the resurrection involves us being given a new life, in a new body in God’s new creation. Our thinking of the life to come has been shaped by Hollywood and renaissance paintings. Our thoughts of sitting on clouds and playing harps blinds us to the reality Jesus points to after Easter; that there is a new way of life coming, a new creation is coming, one in which there is no more poverty, want, disease or death. We need to look forward to that and commit ourselves to working towards this. We need to show this world how life is going to be through our life and witness that imitates the ministry of Jesus. We need to give hope to this world that there is a better way of life, and it’s coming one day. May we point to this new reality in all we say and do.
(painting of John Harrison with his watch)