The Rev. Phil Brochard

The sermon reflects on All Saints and All Souls traditions—especially this

year’s ofrenda—as ways of making the hope of resurrection tangible. It

connects the congregation’s questions about the afterlife with the Gospel

story in which the Sadducees challenge Jesus using an exaggerated scenario

about a widow marrying seven brothers. Their real goal is to mock belief in

resurrection.

Jesus responds by meeting them within their own scriptural framework,

pointing to God as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—living beings to

God. His teaching doesn’t describe the mechanics of the afterlife but

emphasizes that we will be known by God and that earthly structures like

marriage cannot contain the fullness of intimacy and joy in the life to

come. The sermon concludes that our identities remain, our relationships

matter, and nothing will hinder the deep communion God intends for us after

death.