Saturday, June 22, 2013

Mark 12:18-27

Passage

This time, it is the Sadducees who come to Jesus and try and test Him.  They ask Jesus about the resurrection of the dead.  Of course, the Sadducees didn’t believe in the resurrection of the dead.  They quote Deuteronomy 25:5, which says that if a man dies without producing an heir, the man’s brother is to take her and produce offspring for her.  The Sadducees make up a story about a woman who goes through seven brothers without producing any offspring.  They want to know whose wife she will be in the resurrection.  Jesus tells them that the reason they are wrong is because they know neither the scriptures nor the power of God.  Jesus says that when the resurrection of the dead occurs, people will neither marry nor be given into marriage.  Instead, they will be as the angels in heaven.  Jesus further goes on to correct the Sadducees in saying that God is not the God of the dead but the living.  Jesus condemns them again, declaring that they are wrong.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

The Sadducees were a group of Jews who accepted only the first five books of the Bible: The Pentateuch.  If a doctrine could not be proven from one of those books, they did not believe it to be true.  Therefore, they had rejected belief in the soul, angels, demons, life after death, and even judgment.  It is out of this perspective that they comes to Jesus.  It is out of this perspective that they try and trap Jesus.  Yet, we see that Jesus clearly believes in all of these things.  He speaks of God being the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  He speaks of angels.  He talks of the resurrection.  Jesus would refute their teaching all around regardless of whether they came to Him to trap Him or not.

What does Jesus show us here with respect to telling the truth in spite of the assumptions made by others?  What would life be like for you if you followed a religion that didn’t believe in an afterlife, the resurrection, or anything like that?

Second Thought:

Jesus tells us that there will be no marriage in heaven.  The point of heaven is not marriage.  The point of heaven is being in the presence of God.  When we are in the presence of God we will be fully complete.  When we are in the presence of God we will find full satisfaction in life.  When we are with God, there will truly be no need for anything else.

Can you imagine complete satisfaction?  What do you think it will be like?  Can you imagine feeling fully complete?  What do you think that will feel like?  How does each of these questions point us to a lack of a need for marriage in heaven?

Third Thought:

Jesus makes a point about death at the very end.  He claims that God is not the God of the dead but the living.  Most people miss the point that Jesus is making.  We like to think of death as the end.  We talk about the dead as if existence has ended.  We talk about the dead as if life has ended.  However, Jesus’ point is that their life has not ended; it has simply transformed!  Those who are dead have not ceased to exist; they have simply ceased to live in the form that we know now.  They continue to live.  They await judgment.  Those who are judged righteous under the blood of Christ will then enter into eternal life.  We shall never cease to exist.

When you think about death, what do you think?  How subtle is the point Jesus is making here?  How might Jesus’ point change the way that you talk about death?


Passage for Tomorrow: Mark 12:28-31

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