A WORD FOR TODAY, November 5, 2025
Peggy Hoppes
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Blessings. Peg
A WORD FOR TODAY, November 5, 2025
Lectionary Scriptures for November 9, 2025, Twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost: Exodus 3:1-15; Psalm 148; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-8, 13-17; Luke 20:27-40
“Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good work and word.” 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17, WEB
A few years ago I received an email from a woman doing research about her family heritage. She was distantly related to our family through our mother and she was interested in knowing more about the history of our family and their immigration to America. I didn’t have much information but shared my mother’s last living brother’s information so she could get talk to someone who could give her details. A few years later, I received a message from a young man curious about the same familiar ties. He was the great-grandson of my mother’s sister. I still did not have much information, and all the siblings were gone. I was able to give him some photos, including some from a picnic where his grandmother and my brother were children.
These encounters made me curious about our history, especially since we seemed to have such little information. So much information is available online, but the best sites require subscriptions to use the services. I was not able to delve as deeply as I would have liked because I couldn’t afford the membership, and quite frankly, I didn’t want to get caught up in the time that it takes to jump from one “leaf” of the family tree to another. I managed to find a website that had a picture of the tombstone of some family. I couldn’t really put together the connection, but it was interesting to catch a glimpse of my ancestors.
I recently found another website, a free one with more information. With the help of a family bible from my father’s mother, I was able to confirm that most of their information was accurate. I spent too many hours clicking through connections and discovered that my father’s family went back to 15th century Germany. The history was a bit different than I expected, but I really did not have time to go as deeply as I wanted. The more you search into the past, the more branches there are on the tree to click through. My father’s ancestors immigrated to America in the mid-eighteenth century and settled in New York. In one story, my ancestor’s brother and his daughter were slaughtered by a rogue group of loyalists and natives during the time of the Revolutionary War. There is apparently a historic sign somewhere near Albany with their names.
When I worked on my mother’s family, I still did not find as much information as I wanted. I did discover that my great grandparents immigrated from England and Wales in the mid-nineteenth century, and I found an interesting article about the death of my mother’s father, who was a constable that was killed by a train while serving his community. I spent too much time chasing after the branches of my family tree, but I enjoyed reading the stories about my ancestors. I would like to do more, and perhaps someday I’ll spend the money, and the time, chasing on one of the subscription sites.
Human beings like roots. Our identity is often caught up in our history. Matthew begins his gospel with a list of the genealogy of Jesus. This was vital to the Jewish community to which Matthew was writing. The genealogy established the rights of Jesus to claim the throne of Israel through the line of David. Matthew even takes the genealogy back to Abraham, typical of a Jewish family tree. Luke’s genealogy is slightly different, defining Jesus as the Priest King whose line goes all the way back to Adam. These genealogies established for the first believers Jesus’ role and define his position and authority as the Messiah of Israel.
Most of us are not so dependent on our heritage when it comes to our lives. I doubt that very many of us have the job we have because we were born into it. In our world, people are less likely to even stay near family. We are a mobile and transient society, choosing to live according to our interests and abilities. I live nearly two thousand miles from my hometown, having landed here as the wife of a military man. Despite the distance, we still like roots. We may not be able to define generations of ancestors, but we do look to the future. We hope that our children will continue the life begun in the past so that we will live on through them. For some families, there is a desperate need for a male heir so that the family will live on.
What I found interesting in my research is that it is sometimes difficult to be certain about the connections because names often change. As I clicked through the centuries I discovered that my father’s surname had more than a dozen spelling variations. Families coming to America often changed their surname because the one from their homeland was too difficult to pronounce or spell. Others changed it to avoid persecution. Sometimes the name was changed because a scribe made a mistake when recording the information. Language changes, so ancient names evolved with the language. Other names are translated from one language to another.
The Sadducees were concerned about the type of eternal life that is founded in procreation. A person lived forever because they begat offspring to carry the family name and estate into the future. They did not believe in an eternal life that came after death. When a person died, they were dead unless they had children. To them, the idea of resurrection was just foolishness and easily ridiculed. They thought their logic was solid enough to make a fool out of Jesus with their questions. After all, resurrection of the dead made no sense because it caused all sorts of problems in the afterlife, such as this situation presented to Jesus.
Jesus would not allow them to make a fool of Him. He answered them with two points. First of all, the eternal life that comes with the resurrection of the dead is not like the world in which we live. It is different. It is new. It is not defined by the laws or practices of the earth. There will be no marriage, no need for procreation. Eternal life is not dependent on heirs. So, Jesus told them that the question itself is ridiculous because it assumed that nothing would change. Then He used scripture to prove that eternal life is something that comes after death, that death was not the end of one’s life but just the beginning. He said, “Now he is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for all are alive to him.” God told Moses to tell the children of Israel that He is, “the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Since Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were dead in flesh when Moses stood before the burning bush, then they must have still been alive.
We can certainly take an interest in our past and have a hope for our future. We can give our kids solid roots and tools to do well in this world so that our life will have had meaning and purpose and even a future. Yet, our position in God’s kingdom is not founded in our genealogy and our hope for the future does not rest on our children. We are children of God by faith and by faith we will live forever.
My family research was made easier because of the Internet. When I heard from the woman, and later heard from the young man, I couldn’t find the resources to do a good study. However, the information grows every day as people input details and create new and better websites.
The Internet has made things very easy for us. In just a matter of minutes we can sit down at a computer, do our banking, pay our bills, purchase our Christmas presents, and send hundreds of people an email. I can easily look up background information for my studies and devotions, accessing the writings of theologians and historians to put more depth into the work. What used to take hours pouring through books and encyclopedias or running to the library. We get so much more done in less time. I love to use the internet to shop or plan trips. I often use it as a resource for my arts and crafts. It is amazing how easy it is to accomplish so much in very little time.
Unfortunately, the Internet has also given criminals a new outlet for their illegal behaviors. We have to be especially careful when dealing with our personal information online. I have received emails over the years that appear to be from national, recognizable companies. These emails have official looking logos and email addresses. The emails are designed to look like the real thing. The links in the email look normal, but if you check out the code you find that it directs you to a completely different site. These emails are phishing for information. They deceive you into believing that the company needs you to update your account. Many of these emails aren’t even from companies with which I do business, banks where I do not bank or stores where I’ve never shopped. However, these scammers send the email to millions of people, expecting that at least one or two will fall for the deception. It is so easy to click a button, and the cost is minimal, so it only takes a few fools to make them rich.
Quite frankly, we all think we can’t be deceived. We believe we ae too intelligent or observant to fall for the deception. However, these false emails are very convincing. Some of the online scams are so obviously false that only the most foolish people will fall for it. The design is less professional; the text is filled with error. I even got one that had the name of the company misspelled in the subject line. However, some of them appear so real that even savvy people can be misled.
Paul’s second epistle to the Thessalonians addresses an issue that most of us would rather not discuss: the end times. The language of eschatology is difficult even for theologians. Which images are literal, which are figurative? When should we be concerned about the prophecies? Were the apocalyptic texts written for our generation or has it all come to pass in a way we did not recognize? Who is the man of lawlessness? Was he a character in the days of Paul or is he someone yet to come? Will the coming of Christ be a physical return or spiritual? While there are those who insist that they have all the answers, there are perfectly acceptable arguments from many different points of view. We argue about what is true. We even argue about the definition of the terms. I suppose that is why it is so confusing to the average Christian, and why it is something that most Christians would rather not discuss.
Paul wrote in this letter the message that really matters: God loves you and He chose you to be fruit, sanctified by the Holy Spirit, and called by the Gospel to obtain the glory of Christ. Paul also reminds us that though it is God who chooses, sanctifies and calls, we have a responsibility for our salvation: faith in the truth. We are called to stand firm in the Christian faith we have been given, no matter the circumstances we face. Jesus might return this very minute, or He might not return for a thousand years. We may be totally surprised by the way things play out in this world in which we live, but we do not have to be surprised by the outcome. We have been given faith and by God’s grace we have a hope that reaches beyond the mystery of the eschatological promises of God.
I always wonder about the images we have of that life. Will we really spend the rest of eternity worshipping God? I remember that as a youth I used to get bored with an hour of worship, easily distracted by my thoughts. I’m not that much different today. My mind still wanders. I still think about the busy-ness of tomorrow and replay the events of the past. If we can’t possibly sit through one hour of worship, how will we do it for eternity?
The point that Jesus makes in today’s Gospel lesson is that it will be different. Imagine if it had been you on the mountain instead of Moses? How would you have reacted? How would you have answered His call? Moses was in the presence of God Himself, hearing His voice and witnessing a form of His glory. “Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God.” Despite Moses’ fear, he was even more afraid of what God was calling him to do. He had many excuses. He was not eloquent enough. He was not important enough. He was not informed enough. “How can I do this? What should I say?” God answered with a promise, “Certainly I will be with you.”
It was not easy. Moses faced a people who had become comfortable in their discomfort. He faced people who had more power than he did. He was proposing the impossible to both the Israelites and Pharaoh. Why would anyone follow him? And yet, even today, we remember Moses for his faith and for his obedience to God’s call. Moses established a lasting legacy. But do we remember him because of his own work and righteousness? Do we remember him because he left behind the Pentateuch and the Law? Or do we remember him because he humbly followed God’s word and acted as God’s chosen one despite his own fears and uncertainty?
We all want to leave a lasting legacy, something that will keep our memory alive for a long time. We seek to have that eternal life that comes with having an impact on the world. I am sure most parents see that in the lives of their children, just like the Sadducees, but Jesus points out that eternal life is something much different. A picture of our tombstone may appear on the Internet. We might become part of an ancestry website. We might be remembered for a long time for the things that we have done, but that’s not the promise of God. I always hoped that one day some of my paintings would appear in a museum. Unfortunately, once we are dead, we will never know if any of that will be true. We won’t know what has been written about us or whether our work will be on display for the world to see. We won’t know if our words are quoted or if our tombstone epitaphs have eroded away. However, we will know is the joy of standing in the presence of God, the blessing of standing on holy ground and hearing God’s voice with our own ears, seeing His glory forever.
We might not look forward to the end of days because the promise of the end is frightening to those of us who still live and want to have an impact on the world. There was a dying woman who liked to hang out in an internet chat room I frequented. We did not know she was dying; she never revealed her pain or suffering. She simply shared the Gospel with people. As her days drew short, she became desperate. She was changed by her fear, and it was like she was trying to reach a quota. Instead of sharing the message of mercy and grace, she became threatening those who would not change to her point of view with a warning of impending danger. She was angry. She was so passionate about her “ministry” that she risked harming the relationships she had built over the years to accomplish her goal. We did not understand what happened until after she was gone and her family informed us of her death.
Fear is rampant in our world today. People feel frightened about so much; sometimes they do not even know what frightens them. We are afraid of illness, terrorism, poverty, and oppression. We are afraid of our neighbors because we disagree about everything. We have too many people on our prayer lists dealing with cancer. We struggle with the possibility of other diseases, known to us only by the commercials for drugs that promise to make us better. It seems like the weather is worse today than in any past generation. We watch the news and see violence in our streets, confusion in our youth, hatred between people. It doesn’t help that every generation has some prophetic “voice” claims that this is happening because we have come to the end of all days.
We have so much about which to be afraid of, but even with the threats we face, the scriptures tell us not to be afraid. The reality, whether we want to admit it or not, is that we are enemies with God and it is Him that we should fear. We are enemies because we sin against Him. Even the smallest infraction on our neighbors is an offense to His holiness. He has the power to destroy us, for He is the One who created us. His judgment is right, and His wrath is just. And yet, it is God Himself who is our refuge. He sent Jesus to take His wrath upon Himself and all judgment fell on His own shoulders as He hung on the cross. By His blood, God makes us His children rather than His enemies and He protects us from all that might bring us harm.
We will face fearful things in this world. Sickness and war threaten our lives. We might even run into a gang of criminals or find ourselves surrounded by hoodlums. We might make a mistake by answering that email from a scammer. The fear we experience can paralyze us. Some people are so afraid that they are unable to live daily in this world because of their worries. Fear can make us reject, persecute, or avoid others. Fear can make us hate, kill, or lust after things which are not ours. Life in fear is not life; it is bondage. Yet fear in God is true life because it frees us to live in the salvation, He has provided for us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. God is our refuge and our strength, not because He is a kind and loving God, but because He is more fearsome than our worst enemies. We need not live in fear of the things in this world that might hurt us. Instead, let us live with fear and trembling in the shadow of the Most High God because that is where we will find peace in the face of our enemies. Sometimes our greatest enemy is ourselves, as we try to hold on to the things that do not matter, letting go of the thing that matters most.
The most important thing about faith is that God is the God of the living, not the dead. He is worthy of our fear and trembling, there we will find His grace and His peace. He calls us to live the life of faith in this world. Sometimes that life will seem like a contradiction, especially to those wishing to make us look foolish. However, God is with us. He will see us through. Our hope rests not in this world but in the life He has promised for us through Jesus Christ. This God who is with us now and forever is worthy of our praise.
The psalmist wrote “Praise Yah! Praise Yahweh from the heavens! Praise him in the heights.” We are called and gathered by the Holy Spirit to join with the entire creation to sing praises to God our Father. He hears our praise wherever we are, because everything He has made sings along with us. Yet, there is something very special when Christians raise their voices together to glorify God in the here and now. When you consider the entire creation, the heavens that reach far beyond our imagination, the microscopic organisms that could destroy a population of humans, the redwood trees that reach so high we can’t see the top, the depths of the sea that are too deep for our technology, it is easy to see the greatness of God. It is also easy to see that we are not much in the entire scheme of things. It is humbling to realize our place in this world. Yet, He has created us to be the crown of His creation. Should we not want to glorify Him together with one voice of praise above our own legacy? He gave us the heavens and the earth. He gave us the sun and the wind and the rain. He gave us the animals, birds, plants, and trees. Most of all, He gave us other people to love in ways that glorifies Him.
Several years ago, there was a story about two men in Australia who decided to get rich quick. They created the perfect one-million-dollar bill (American dollars) and took it to the bank to be deposited. They thought that by using a counterfeit American dollar in a foreign bank, they would be long gone before the bank knew it was not real. Unfortunately for the men, the bank teller was smarter, and they were arrested for trying to pass off a denomination of dollar bill that did not even exist. The American Treasury department does not produce a million-dollar bill.
Satan is much more intelligent than those two guys in Australia. He does not counterfeit that which does not exist. Rather, he takes the truth of God and adds a twist, and though it appears real, it is not, the way the internet scammers try to fool the people they email. God did not set the world into motion and then step back to allow it to move on its own. God is amongst His people. He is still changing lives. He is still creating and redeeming His people. He still paints the sunrises and forms the babies in the womb. He is still speaking through His chosen ones so that the world will know He exists. He continues to have mercy on sinners. And He promises that the day will come when He will be present in a very real way, in a way we will be able to see and hear with our own resurrected bodies. He promises that we’ll be with Him for eternity, dwelling in His presence forever.
For now, however, we are called to live in faith in this world. It is up to us to create a legacy that matters, not one that will make us remembered in museums or on the internet, but one that will share the promise with the generations to come. Children might help keep our name alive forever, but that’s not the reason we have children. We procreate because God has created us in His image, as creators. We are blessed with children so that we can pass our faith to them. Our place in God’s kingdom is not founded in our genealogy from the past or in the future. Our hope does not rest in any legacy we can create. We are children of God by faith and by faith we will live forever by His grace. We can rest in the reality that Jesus has the answers to all our arguments. He comforts us and establishes our work that will leave the greatest legacy: a life that glorifies God.
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