Jesus and the Sadducees

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Title: Jesus and the Sadducees
Keywords: “question” “resurrection”
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Passage: Mark 12:18-27*

18. And [some] Sadducees (who say that there is no resurrection) *came to Him, and [began] questioning Him, saying,

19. "Teacher, Moses wrote for us that IF A MAN'S BROTHER DIES, and leaves behind a wife, AND LEAVES NO CHILD, HIS BROTHER SHOULD TAKE THE WIFE, AND RAISE UP OFFSPRING TO HIS BROTHER.

20. "There were seven brothers; and the first took a wife, and died, leaving no offspring.

21. "And the second one took her, and died, leaving behind no offspring; and the third likewise;

22. and [so] all seven left no offspring. Last of all the woman died also.

23. "In the resurrection, when they rise again, which one's wife will she be? For all seven had her as wife."

24. Jesus said to them, "Is this not the reason you are mistaken, that you do not understand the Scriptures, or the power of God?

25. "For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.

26. "But regarding the fact that the dead rise again, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the [passage about the burning] bush, how God spoke to him, saying, 'I AM THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, AND THE GOD OF ISAAC, AND THE GOD OF JACOB'?

27. "He is not the God of the dead, but of the living; you are greatly mistaken."

Question

There are two ways to ask God a question. We can ask Him with the desire to listen and we can ask Him with the desire to prove our point. Why is the second method so dangerous?

 

Practical help

You can believe in God and not believe he is powerful. You can believe in God and not believe he cares about you. You can believe in God and not believe he is good. But it is important that you recognize that you are not believing in the God of the Bible. Here we have an encounter between Jesus and the supposed religious elite of his day. They are attempting to ask a question that they believe is not answerable with the motive of discounting the existence of God and/or the power of God. Behind this encounter is the attitude of smug self-assurance.

No one who views pornography really believes it leads to a holy or righteous life. What they might believe is that the holy or righteous life is either impossible to live or not worth living because God is impotent or absent. A porn addict might believe that anyone who believes in God is a fool and the right questions certainly will disprove the Christian’s silly faith. But let’s not think for a minute that these questions come from an enlightened intellectual pursuit of the truth. Rather interrogations like this are attempts to justify illness by trying to prove that health is unattainable or not worth attaining.

Hopefully you and I will learn more from this encounter than the Sadducees did for they went on to condemn Jesus and have him executed. But read on a little further and we see the plan ultimately backfires. That’s what happens when we try to outsmart God.

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*"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission."