The Sadducees Ask About the Resurrection

 

 

 

Mark 12:18-27

 

The Sadducees Ask About the Resurrection

And Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection. And they asked him a question, saying,  “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife, but leaves no child, the man^[e] must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.  There were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and when he died left no offspring.   And the second took her, and died, leaving no offspring. And the third likewise.  And the seven left no offspring. Last of all the woman also died.   In the resurrection, when they rise again, whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife.”

 Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God?   For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.   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’?  He is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are quite wrong.”

In the Holman Study Bible on page1788 they state the following about the Sadducees; they came about in the second century B.C. during the Maccabean revolt.  They were closely associated with aristocratic and priestly classes, accepted only the book of Moses {the Pentateuch} as Scripture, denied the bodily resurrection, future judgment, the existence of angels, demons, and spirits, and affirmed human free will. (verses Acts 23:6-8)

 

The Sadducees came about during a revolt, and today the United States of America is also in a time of revolt, but it has been happening longer than most of us realize according to  Dr. Jack Devere Minzey, born 6^thof October 1928, died April 8, 2018, was the Department Head of Education at Eastern Michigan University as well as a prolific author of numerous books, most of which were on the topic of Education and the Government role therein. (Editor's note) This was the last of his works: (Civil War: How do civil wars happen?)  

Our revolt has been taking place for a long time; listen to what Dr. Minzey has to say; 
“Two or more sides disagree on who runs the country.  They can't settle the question through elections because they don't even agree that elections are how you decide who's in charge.  That's the basic issue here, who decides who runs the country?  When you hate each other but accept the election results, you have a country.  When you stop accepting election results, you have a countdown to a civil war.”

Could it be we have many in the church and in our government that has the mindset of Sadducees?  I always look for the bottom line, and when Jesus speaks that should be the end of a matter.  Jesus said when addressing the Sadducees, “He is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are quite wrong.”  I can only hope you heard the reason they were quite wrong; “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God?   

 

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice