Mark 12:18-27
18 And Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection. And they asked him a question, saying, 19 “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife, but leaves no child, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. 20 There were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and when he died left no offspring. 21 And the second took her, and died, leaving no offspring. And the third likewise. 22 And the seven left no offspring. Last of all the woman also died. 23 In the resurrection, when they rise again, whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife.”
In this text, we are introduced to a group of people called the Sadducees, a religious group that does not believe in the ned times and in life after death. Many of us might have questions about the afterlife and the Sadducees were not curious about heaven but rather was there to challenge the idea of a life after death. The Sadducees were saying that the resurrection doesn’t make any sense by giving Jesus a scenario of what could happen when a woman is married to seven brothers as in the case mentioned above.
Jesus got to the point not by answering the question but by pointing out the theological error of the question. As with questions thrown around today by many skeptics, we must discern if the question is problematic or not. A problematic question needs to be questioned before we give an answer to what Jesus did with the Sadducees.
24 Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor 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 And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the 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 God of the dead, but of the living. You are quite wrong.”
In Jesus’ answer we see some truth that the Christian faith believes in:
a. we believe in the resurrection of the dead. (Job 19:25-27, Psalm 16:9-11, Daniel 12:2)
b. we believe that in heaven, nobody is married. So Thammie won’t be my wife in heaven, she will be one of my sisters in heaven.
c. God is not a God of the dead but of the living. He is a God who is eternal as He mentioned that He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Lord, thank you because you have prepared a place for us in your kingdom. I can’t wait to be in heaven with you. But as I await that day, may I have the passion to know you more while I’m here on earth. Amen.