2006-09-10 Communion Dedication – Baldwin Christian Church 

Mark 12:18-27  (Matthew 22:23-33, Luke 10:27-40) 

18 Then come unto him the Sadducees, which say there is no resurrection; and they asked him, saying,

19 Master, Moses wrote unto us, If a man’s brother die, and leave his wife behind him, and leave no children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother.

20 Now there were seven brethren: and the first took a wife, and dying left no seed.

21 And the second took her, and died, neither left he any seed: and the third likewise.

22 And the seven had her, and left no seed: last of all the woman died also.

23 In the resurrection therefore, when they shall rise, whose wife shall she be of them? for the seven had her to wife.

24 And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God?

25 For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven.

26 And as touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto 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 the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err. 

As Paul wrote in Philippians chapter three, our hope is found in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  I use the word “hope” because in that chapter I see that even the Apostle Paul did not consider himself perfected (yet).  Unlike many Christians today, Paul would not claim that he was saved.  Paul had hope in the resurrection, a hope that does not make us ashamed, a hope that does not disappoint (Rom 5:5), nevertheless, a hope that we are free to give up, if we choose.  I hope that in the resurrection, we may all be there to gang up on Paul and tease him about his writing style!  Paul had hope, and he pressed toward the mark, the goal of being part of the first resurrection. 

If you have this same hope, and press toward that same mark, you will undoubtedly be frustrated along the way.  The Sadducees (“the Zadok, the righteous”) were a denomination of Judaism that did not believe in life after death.  They believed in the Law of Moses, but they did not believe in angels or spirits, and they certainly did not believe in resurrection (Acts 23:8).  That’s what makes their “one wife, seven brothers” question so frustrating to me; they don’t believe in a resurrection, but they come up with some long-winded, irrelevant question that assumes there will be a resurrection. 

How did Jesus react to people who brought in false teachings, and tested His patience by wasting precious study time with their irrelevant, hypocritical questions?  These Sadducees could have asked Jesus the same question with only two brothers, but they had to drag it out all the way to seven, thereby betraying their underlying disrespect for Jesus and His disciples.  How did Jesus handle folks who caused disruptions and divisions?  How did He deal with people who asked unlearned questions with the intention of sowing disagreement among those who came to learn? 

The first thing Jesus did (verse 24) was to ask them if they knew they were wrong (there’s no good answer).  He realized they were the kind of folks that Paul warns us about in 2 Timothy 3, those “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away”.  In verse 25, He directly refutes their disbelief in resurrection and angels, and in verses 26-27, He goes on to prove that these Sadducees merely pretended to read the Scriptures, or if they did read, it was through tinted glasses. 

When God introduced Himself to Moses through the burning bush (Exodus 3), He repeatedly said, “I AM the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  These guys had passed away hundreds of years before Moses was born, but the voice coming from the bush said “I AM” their God (present tense).  Why?  Well, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob must still be alive, even though they had breathed their last breaths long before Moses’ time.  What does that mean?  Those three guys are alive!  There is a resurrection!  He is not the God of the dead, but He is the God of the living! 

How could these Sadducees be so blind?  Apparently they didn’t read God’s word much, or they only read it together as a group, deceiving themselves.  Jesus said they were ignorant of the power of God because they did not know the Scriptures!  The power of God in your life is directly related to your understanding of His word.  Moses tapped into it, and we should be doing it, too.  Only God can remove spiritual blindness, but He may enlist your help at some point.  You can only do that when you know His word, and know His power.  In Luke’s version of this “seven brothers, one wife” question, that power came forth, and when Jesus finished His answer, none of those religious-types dared to ask Him any more questions that day.  By His Spirit, Jesus has offered you and I power in this life, and victory over death.  Let’s thank Him.