WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO SHUT UP A SADDUCEE?

Mark 12:18-27

¹⁸ Sadducees, who say that resurrection is not possible, came to him and questioned him, saying, ¹⁹ “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving behind a wife but no child, the man should marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. ²⁰ There were seven brothers; the first married and, when he died, left no children; ²¹ and the second married her and died, leaving no children; and the third likewise; ²² none of the seven left children. Last of all the woman herself died. ²³ In the resurrection whose wife will she be? Because the seven had married her.” ²⁴ Jesus said to them, “Is not this the reason you have gone astray,[1] that you recognize neither the scriptures nor the power of God? ²⁵ Because when they rise from the dead, they will neither marry nor be 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 story about the bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?[2] ²⁷ He is God not of the dead, but of the living; you have gone extremely astray.”

when they rise

Jesus and the Sadducees have a fundamental disagreement here over the concept of bodily resurrection. Their disagreement comes from the fact that each has a presupposition about the promise of resurrection, and their presuppositions are diametrical opposites. The Sadducees say that resurrection is impossible, and that such a concept implies ludicrous things – a view they demonstrated with their little hypothetical story to Jesus.

Jesus reveals his presuppositions about bodily resurrection here.

1. The resurrection is not a debate to be fought, but an event to be experienced. It is promised in scripture, and God’s unstoppable power is behind that promise. So, Jesus does not address the resurrection as a hypothesis. He does not say “if they rise,” he says “when they rise.”

2. The resurrection will not be a mere resuscitation to the same corruptible bodies and sinful souls that we have today. God will restore us not to our present status, but to the one he intends us to have for eternity.

3. Resurrection must happen because God has a plan, and that plan cannot be realized among the dead. God’s promise is to all his people, not just his people of the future. His words to Moses were in effect a reminder that he is not through being faithful to those who have died. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had long been dead, but God sees into eternity. He sees them alive in their final perfected state. He sees you there as well.

LORD, show us how to live with the confidence of that great event which will change us forever.

[1] πλαναω (12:24, 27; 13:5f).

[2] Exodus 3:6,15,16.