Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Progressive Christian
Adventurous Lectionary Commentary for November 9.

Adventurous Lectionary Commentary for November 9.

Last updated on: November 2, 2025 at 7:50 am by Bruce Epperly

0 Comments

Adventurous Lectionary Commentary for November 9. 2025-11-02T07:50:42-05:00 Bruce Epperly

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Adventurous Lectionary – Twenty-fifth Sunday after Pentecost – November 9, 2025

Haggai 1:15b-2:9
Psalm 145:1-5, 17-21
2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17
Luke 20:27-38

“Now God is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to God all of them are alive,” so ends a cryptic exchange between Jesus and the Sadducees. Resurrection, rebirth, and renewal are at the heart of this week’s lectionary readings. The Sadducees think they have trapped Jesus with a “gothca question,” but Jesus confounds them, asserting that, despite their agnosticism about the afterlife, there is a future and a hope ahead of us, regardless of how low we have sunk spiritually, personally, and institutionally. Where we see death, God sees the possibility of new life. Dry bones can live. Dead spirits can be born again. God is alive, yesterday, today, and tomorrow, and we are in God’s hands, and nothing can separate us from God’s love.

You can’t get a complete systematic theology of survival after death from Jesus’ exchange with the Sadducees. But, you can receive a vision of hope for what lies ahead. Rationalistic in spirit, the Sadducees doubted the concept of resurrection, the restoration of life to the whole person on the last day. Trying to discern Jesus’ theology of the afterlife or rather trap him theologically – and even in the first century, Jewish intellectuals were well aware of the Platonic separation of soul and body and the afterlife adventures of the liberated soul – they ask him a curious question about marriage beyond the grave. Jesus, as often is the case, doesn’t give a definitive answer. He simply places the answer where it belongs, in the context of God’s graceful care for humankind and the cosmos. The dead will live on, God is the God of the living, and we will live on. The details of the afterlife are apparently unimportant; what matters is God’s fidelity and enduring love. God is alive, God is faithful, and it well with our souls.re

This passage may be quite esoteric to many congregants today. Seldom do mainline and progressive preachers talk about the afterlife and conservative Christian visions of heaven or hell lack moral maturity in the separation of saved and unsaved based on a few mumble doctrinal assertions unconnected with concern for the planet or the least of these. Very few progressive Christians have a literal doctrine – or even images – of the resurrection or life after death. Our post-mortem visions constellate on some form of immortality, either in heaven or a journey from life to life, or the accounts of near death experiences. The literal notion of resurrection described in terms of the dead emerging from the ground or being put back together supernaturally if the body has decomposed is the stuff of zombie movies, hardly to be taken seriously. Still, many congregants ponder what will happen at the hour of death, even if they don’t share these questions in church.

While we don’t fully know what Jesus had in mind with his response, his words can be an opportunity to reflect on survival after death and on human hope as it relates to our daily lives and political context. We fear the fate of the earth, the death of our democracy, and the process of dying far more than we fear the reality of death or the afterlife. Few preachers get much traction fanning the flames of hell, even in evangelical congregations. Fear-based and transactional understandings of the afterlife reflect a morally ambiguous vision of God. Yet, if we can consider the possibility of an afterlife, ethics suggest a connection between our actions in this life and our experiences beyond the grave. This need not be couched in terms of heaven or hell, but the reality of unresolved issues and personal identity, not to mention redemption of what has died in us relationally and spiritually in this lifetime.

As I have noted earlier, very few mainline or progressive pastors preach about the afterlife and this allows popular, but often superficial and polarizing, images to dominate their congregants’ visions of life after death. Our concern is this life, but care for this life and the fate of the earth need not preclude healthy and humble reflection on life after death. While no pastor can be definitive about the afterlife, he or she can reflect on various possibilities as they relate to this lifetime and assert that neither Jesus nor healthy Christian theology counsels us to disregard our obligations to care for this lifetime and the world in light of the afterlife. We are here and the world – us and our companions – is saved as much here as in an uncharted beyond. (For more on the afterlife, I suggest my short text, “From Here to Eternity: Preparing for the Next Adventure.”)

The passage from Haggai also gives us an image of hope. The decimated nation will return to its former glory; better than that, injury will be healed, hope restored, forgiveness given, and new beginnings emerge. This will be the work of the faithful and active God visualized by the Psalmist. Thessalonians continues this hopeful vision: the fullness of Christ is on the way, do not be afraid, have faith in God, and all will be well. Our lives are in God’s hands, and so are our deaths, and God is faithful. We may experience cataclysms and threats and we may be apprehensive about the fate of the earth and the survival of US democracy but God is at work silently and persistently to defeat the powers of darkness. God is God and Trump isn’t, and he like Nebuchadnezzar and August will be a page in history, sound and fury signifying nothing in the years ahead. If we stand firm in our trust in God and live faithfully, the future will be filled with hope and not fear. While the author of 2 Thessalonians may have in mind a “second coming,” we can translate this passage to address our own faith in a time in which we experience threat to the predictable order of things and in which the very existence of planetary life is at risk through human folly, war making, and greed. God is not mocked by power hungry and prevaricating politicians and preachers; God will have the final word and that word is Love!

These passages do not counsel us to passivity or to sitting on the sidelines, letting God take care of the future. We are called to be partners with God and agents of our destiny, challenged to live faithfully, to act lovingly, and to care for the earth regardless of what the future brings. Faithfulness is not about a divine rescue operation but about becoming God’s companion through actions to save the world and bring justice and beauty to our companions. Heaven will take care of itself; our task is here on earth, undergirded by the trust that whatever the future brings, we are in God’s hands.

++++

Bruce Epperly is Theologian in Residence at Westmoreland Congregational United Church of Christ, Bethesda, MD (https://www.westmorelanducc.org/) and a professor in theology and spirituality at Wesley Theological Seminary. He is the author of over 80 books including: “Homegrown Mystics: Restoring the Soul of Our Nation through the Healing Wisdom of America’s Mystics” (Amazon.com: Homegrown Mystics: Restoring Our Nation with the Healing Wisdom of America’s Visionaries: 9781625249142: Epperly, Bruce: Books) “Jesus: Mystic, Healer, and Prophet “(Jesus: Mystic, Healer, and Prophet: Epperly, Bruce: 9781625248732: Amazon.com: Books), Saving Progressive Christianity to Save the Planet”( Saving Progressive Christianity to Save the Planet: Epperly, Bruce G: 9781631999215: Amazon.com: Books), and his most recent book, “God of the Growing Edge: Whitehead and Thurman on Theology, Spirituality and Social Change.” (The God of the Growing Edge: Whitehead and Thurman on Theology, Spirituality, and Social Change: Epperly, Bruce G: 9781631999291: Amazon.com: Books The God of the Growing Edge: Whitehead and Thurman on Theology, Spirituality, and Social Change: Epperly, Bruce G: 9781631999291: Amazon.com: Books) His latest books are “A New Pentecost for Progressive Christians.” (A New Pentecost for Progressive Christians: Epperly, Bruce G: 9781631999413: Amazon.com: Books) and “Creation Sings: 40 Days of Spiritual Wisdom from the Non-human World” (Amazon.com: Creation Sings: Forty Days of Spiritual Wisdom from the Non-Human World: 9781625249296: Epperly, Bruce G: Books)

Previous Post

October 26, 2025

Write the Vision, Make It Plain: Lectionary for Pentecost 22

Next Post

November 9, 2025 A New Heaven and A New Earth? - Pentecost 23 - Nov. 16, 2025

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"https://www.antalyaescortsi... siz siz olun gelin"

antalyaescortsizin.com

Caesar or Jesus: A Palm Sunday ..."

"https://www.antalyaescortsi... harikalar diyarı"

antalyaescortsizin.com

Palm Sunday’s Tragic Beauty – March ..."

"Power of love is far more beautiful and effective than the love of power. "The ..."

Dr.Cajetan Coelho

Palm Sunday’s Tragic Beauty – March ..."

"Ash Wednesday, 2026The 40 Days and Three Tests of Jesus in the DesertThe joy these ..."

Joris Heise

The First Sunday in Lent – ..."

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Book Reviews The Adventurous Lectionary Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 December 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz