Straw Man

A Reflection on the Gospel for November 6th, 2022:
Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Luke
20.27, 34-38

​Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus. Jesus said to them, “The children of this age marry and are given in marriage; but 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 any more, because they are like Angels and are sons and daughters of God, being children of the resurrection.

“And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.”

straw man argument:  the logical fallacy of distorting an opposing position into an extreme version of itself and then arguing against that extreme version

There are questions, and there are questions that are really declarations. The Sadducees weren’t interested in an answer; they were making a point. They didn’t care about the woman or what her afterlife would look like; they felt that now is the only life. And they wanted Jesus to have to admit it. They wanted a straw man to stand between Him and them. They didn’t want to see His truth, to know Him as Truth.

Jesus, I’ve done that. Built a straw man between You and me. Created an argument so convoluted simply to keep a treasured viewpoint or continue in a coveted sin. Every time that You’d take out some of his stuffing, creating a peep hole through which I might catch a glimpse of You, I’d just cram in some fresh straw. The only way to get rid of my straw man was to burn him down. So You sent Your Spirit, the Fire of Love removing the need I felt for the shield of straw. In the stillness that follows the flame I sing:

Humbly I adore thee, Verity unseen,
Who thy glory hidest, ’neath these shadows mean;
Lo, to thee surrendered, my whole heart is bowed,
Tranced as it beholds thee, shrined within the cloud.

Taste and touch and vision to discern thee fail;
Faith, that comes by hearing, pierces through the veil.
I believe whate’er the Son of God hath told;
What the Truth hath spoken, that for truth I hold.*

Regardless of what the Sadducees asked, Jesus answered. This life isn’t all there is; it’s a glimmer of what’s coming — not a ghostly shadow, but a growing glow. Each part experienced now is a chance to increase our capacity to carry His glory, getting ready for the revealing in the resurrection.

Jesus, each time I come to You, please live more in me. Strengthen my heart, my mind, my soul that I might carry more of Your love in and through me. Jesus, each time that I receive You, holding my hand out that I might bring Your Body into my body, burn away more of what blocks the sight of You. In the quiet as You come I sing:

O memorial wondrous of the Lord’s own death;
Living Bread that givest all they creatures breath,
Grant my spirit ever by thy life may live,
To my taste thy sweetness never failing give.

Jesus, whom now hidden, I by faith behold,
What my soul doth long for, that thy word foretold;
Face to face thy splendour, I at last shall see,
In the glorious vision, blessed Lord, of thee.*

The last word is from Him to the Sadducees, you and me:  “… for to [God] all of them are alive.” Not a mic drop, but an invitation to burn our straw men. Let God declare us alive. Explosively alive. 

(* Humbly I Adore Thee (Adoro te devote), OPC Virtual Choir)



Noreen Smith

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