Luke 20:27-38
22nd Sunday after the Pentecost
November 9, 2025
Williamstown, MA
Scripture: Luke 20:27-38
A footnote to begin. I generally use the revised common lectionary, a three-year cycle of scripture readings for every day, including Sundays. I was struck by this morning’s text which addressed eschatology and an op-ed piece in the NY Times this past week which addressed the end of the neo-liberal economic order. Coincidental or evidence of cosmic forces beyond our understanding?
In a nutshell, eschatology is the study of the end-times, the last things. It comes from the Greek eschatos, meaning “last” and logos, meaning “word.” The eschaton, the end-times, can be understood as both personal and cosmic. It is closely linked to soteriology, also known as salvation.
One common understanding of the eschaton on a personal level is the end of mortal life. For an overwhelming number of Christians, afterlife is life in heaven for all eternity. That belief, however, is not universal. While I believe that all who die will have an afterlife with God, the Christ, and the Holy Spirit for all eternity, others believe that such an afterlife is predicated upon our personal conduct. Recently, President Trump mused, “I don’t think there’s anything that’s going to get me into heaven. I think I’m not maybe heaven-bound.”[1] Depending upon his religious advisor, he doesn’t need to be so pessimistic.
Cosmically, the eschaton affects the world. From a Christian perspective, a simple, common understanding of the eschaton is the reign of God on earth. It would be the time of God’s peace, shalom, the wholeness of life. Life where justice infused with love prevails.
Theologically and philosophically, eschatology has many definitions and understandings. Though this story from Luke was Jesus’ confrontation with the Sadducees over levirate marriage, it offered only a very tiny window into the multiple understandings of the eschaton.
This confrontation took place after Jesus entered Jerusalem on what we now know as Palm Sunday. Tensions were high. The civil and religious authorities sought to execute him, which would silence him and quell any possible unrest, and by asking this question, the Sadducees sought to entrap him. They were fundamentalists who believed the law was only what was written. Jesus dismissed their question to evade the trap.
Though eschatology is a significant theological thread in Christianity, it is not exclusive to Christianity. Judaism has many understandings of eschatology. To give you an idea, my Bible dictionary has 19 pages on Jewish eschatology. It has 13 pages on Christian eschatology. Eschatology also exists in Islam and Buddhism. It exists across multiple religions because afterlife answers the question, “What happens after we die?” Alternatively, we can frame it as “What happens when “whatever it is” is over?”
The end-time implicitly has two questions, “What is now?” and “What is to come?” Typically, the present is a time of turmoil and tribulation. In the gospels, when Jesus said, “When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said, ‘As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.’” (Luke 21:5-6) this was the mini-apocalypse, an end-time for the temple and the life connected to it. Eschatology claims a better time will follow.
Eschatology is not exclusively religious. There are secular examples, too. On a personal level, the eschaton from an unbearably crummy job would be a new job which is more stimulating and fulfilling. It could also be the end of something vastly grimmer such as living in a war zone or fleeing oppression to gain freedom. The eschaton is the end of the awful present for something better, even though we don’t know definitively what that new beginning will be or when it will occur.
In 1989 Francis Fukuyama wrote an essay “End of History” in which he argued that with the Berlin Wall demolished, humanity reached its endpoint of ideological evolution. It was the triumph of liberal democracy and capitalism. He clarified that he did not mean the end of events. Rather, it was the end of the ideological struggle over the ideal form of human governance. The rise of authoritarianism since then has rendered his pronouncement premature.
In the essay I read, its author, Sven Beckert, argued that what we’re experiencing today is another shift in capitalism’s history. The neoliberal order, which began in the 1970s, defined our economic assumptions. This order “emphasized deregulation, freer trade, central bank independence and globalized production chains.”[2] However, (noting that Tesla recently approved Elon Musk’s $1 trillion compensation agreement over the next decade) rising inequality, stalled productivity growth in major economies, a devastated manufacturing economy in many places, and the environmental limits of a civilization built upon fossil fuels have made clear its foundation is broken. As such, we have entered a period of rising authoritarianism and an increased willingness to accept more aggressive economic intervention by the government.
In a way, today we are living in our own mini-apocalypse. While we know we cannot return to the past, we also don’t know what is to come. We live in this turbulent time, a time of uncertainty and instability, a time of trial and tribulation. We live with anxiety and, probably, a good dose of fear.
Eschatology reminds us that what we have now is not permanent. It will pass, and what will come will be a brighter future, a hopeful one. Beckert asked at the end of his essay, “As the compulsive worshiping at the altar of the market ends, we can ask ourselves new questions: How can we organize an economy that lets all Americans flourish? How can we make sure that the spectacular wealth of our society benefits everyone? How can we pass on to our children and grandchildren an environmentally sustainable economy? If A.I. should result in significant productivity growth, how do we make sure that more than a tiny minority of oligarchs will profit?”[3] Sounds vaguely familiar?
Jesus dismissed the Sadducees’ question because it was the wrong question. The eschaton for Jesus was not about levirate marriage. The eschaton was far larger. It was the realm of God, heaven on earth. It was a world in which the blind will see, and the lame will leap for joy. It was a world in which the powerful will come down from their thrones as the lowly will be lifted up. It was a world where the hungry will be filled with good things, and the rich will be sent away empty.
We live in this moment when people cannot buy food or heat their homes because government assistance is not forthcoming. People are stranded at airports because air traffic controllers are not getting paid. Children can’t get the support they rely upon from Head Start. All of this because our federal government is completely and utterly dysfunctional
Though we don’t know when this will end or how it will end. Eschatology reminds us that it will end, and not to lose hope because God, the Holy Spirit, is at work. As the psalmist wrote: (Psalm 17:6-7a)
I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God;
incline your ear to me; hear my words.
Wondrously show your steadfast love,
[1] Peter Baker. Trump’s Search for Eternity: Heaven? Maybe Not, He Says. Monuments? Absolutely. The New York Times. October 30, 2025, updated November 1, 2025. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/30/us/politics/trump-heaven-legacy.html
[2] Sven Beckert. “The Old Order is Dead. Do not Resuscitate” New York Times. November 4, 2025 https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/opinion/davos-neoliberalism-trump-tariffs.html
[3] Ibid.
