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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