Why Do We Forget?

November 9, 2025

On Remembrance Sunday, we remember how at the very beginning, when there is talk of war, the leaders fill the air with rhetoric of honor, glory, and the grandeur of victory. On street corners, in bars and gathering places, we sing out jubilant music of marching onto glory.

However, once the war begins and the casualties mount. The list of towns, villages, and cities that are being destroyed, and ravaged grows. In no time the attention of the masses is tuned to survival and the longing for peace again. Even the peace of surrender looks good. Next comes that movement of longing not for glory, but for those who have fought to come home. Please God let them come home alive. 

Then there is the call after the war to remember. Remember the sacrifice of so many of those who fought and died in the front lines. Remember the sacrifice of all those who waited with their faces pressed against the windows for loved ones to come home. 

Even a million, million poppies have not stopped the killing. A million, million poppies have not silenced the factories of war or the politicians who claimed to want peace through acts of aggression. It makes me wonder if our memories are that faulty. No, we do not have faulty memories. We have pictures, movies of the horrors of war, both from real time footage and the dramatization that we see in so many forms. We can’t forget the horrors of war, even if we try. So why, why are we back to building up weapons of war in a time of peace. Could the billions of dollars and the other resources that will be used to make weapons of destruction, not instead be used to alleviate the suffering of the poor; to give houses to the homeless; maybe even focused towards the cure of diseases? Why can’t we direct these resources used to create weapons of destruction toward the very things in our society that destroy life and futures?

I think that the scripture for today actually might give us a surprising answer. It is Jesus’s answer to a question from the Sadducees. The Sadducees like the Pharisees had a following within Israel. And like the Pharisees, they were willing to take on any upstart rural rabbi who is pulling the attention of the masses from their guidance. Like the Pharisees, they used questions to try and trip Jesus up and send him packing. The significant difference between the Pharisees and the Sadducees is that unlike the Pharisees, who believed in life after death, the Sadducees dismissed the theology of resurrection. In the story, we see how easy it is for even people of deep faith to use spirituality or theology as a weapon.

So they ask a question that arises from their understanding of the law of Moses. “Jesus, who does a woman that has been forced to marry seven brothers belong to, if they all die and all end up in heaven?” Unlike the Pharisees or Sadducees Jesus doesn’t attack the character of his questioner. He does not name their question as foolish or ill conceived. Instead, Jesus uses this situation as a teachable moment for them and for us. For Jesus, his faith is grounded in a relationship with a loving and merciful God. This the same God for the Pharisees and the Sadducees except that for Jesus that love calls him to break down barriers not to put them up. It calls him to define neighbours, not in a way that limits his responsibility to others, but makes him mindful to the needs, and celebrations of all. It called him to set people free not to place more burdens on them. So, Jesus begins his answer by describing heaven as unlike earth. The ways of God are not the ways of humanity. That God’s judgement is not like our judgments.

Here is the key. For Jesus heaven is a place where even the lowest on earth would be considered like angels and children of God. The mystery of resurrection is that heaven is a place where those who have been dehumanized will be restored in heaven. Because in heaven there is no sociopolitical strata. In heaven, we are not raised up to continue to be slaves or the eternal victims of abusers. All are set free. We are transformed in more ways than just bodily. 

It is not therefore simply about life after death, but a life that people, particularly those who have not been favored, find respect and equality.

The question asked by the Sadducees fail to have any regard for the woman. She is seen as property and not as a person. Someone or something that is moved here and there and dealt with as if she were less than a child of God. They have not even considered that she would have a say in the matter. The whole point of the question rests on ownership.  And who has the right to another’s body. 

I do not believe that we forget the horrors of war, but I do think we forget the dignity of all life. This can be the only reason that countries still think it is justified to invade another or to bomb from a distance. Somehow, they have the right to another’s land and to their bodies. They have forgotten that the value of life both in their countries and the one being attacked.  If we can dehumanize people them then they can be discarded. Jesus reminds the Sadducees and us that this is not the way of heaven. Every time we pray “thy kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven…” we are asking foir God to help us to recreate or reorientate our societies according to image of heaven that Jesus bears. It requires sacrifice to make this Christ like vision a reality. And the first thing we must change is the false belief that we have more of right to this land than anyone else including the 1st peoples. 

This table within the United Church of Canada is a place where all are treated the same. Young and old, member and stranger, man and woman all find a place around this table with equal access and dignity. And if we are to sacrifice our lives, may it be for any vision, may it be for one that gives dignity, and respect to all. Any vision worth living for is also worth sacrificing for. These men and women knew that, and we are called to remember their sacrifice for a great vision of freedom.  Anything less is not worthy of what was given. As our congregations look into the future may we dream a vision worthy of our sacrifices too.  Amen