Same Old, Same Old

Same Old, Same Old
Job 11: 1-20

As I write it is Holy Week, and last Sunday we read the passion story from Matthew with its exotic account of tombs opening in Jerusalem so that people came out and wandered around after Jesus’ death and in anticipation of his resurrection. It’s an eyebrow-raising and perhaps scary story, but it presupposes an important perspective. These are Jewish people who as such belonged to God; Matthew calls them “holy ones,” the word often translated “saints” elsewhere in the New Testament. It is the word for people who belong to the church, people who are disciples of Jesus. The implication of the story is that people who have died do not simply go out of existence. Somehow they stay in being. People who belong to God but who die are awaiting a day when they will be raised from death, a day that will come about through Jesus’ death and resurrection...