“Do you not therefore err?” Mark12:18-27
The Sadducees now make their move. They were a movement within Judaism that were primarily in opposition to the Pharisees. They differed in important ways, such as accepting only the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) as God’s word and the rejection of the existence of demons and angels. On this occasion, they chose to highlight the absurdity of the resurrection of the dead.
They present to Jesus the hypothetical case of seven brothers. The first brother took a wife but died before he was able to father any children. According to the Law, the next brother must take the wife and raise up children for his brother through her. But, alas! all the brothers died childless, after each took the wife in succession. Finally the wife died. Now the conundrum: in the resurrection, whose wife is she?
Jesus will not be baited and rejects any thought of a conundrum. The problem is due to the Sadducees’ lack of understanding of both the Scriptures and the power of God. He allows no misinterpretation: “when they rise from the dead…” The resurrection is real. He points out that in the Torah, God declares Himself to be the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – present tense. In other words, these men still exist though they died centuries earlier.
“He is not the God of the dead, but of the living; you are greatly mistaken.”
But Jesus also introduces another thought that continues to disturb us even today: “For when they rise from the dead they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.” What is this? Marriage is such a large part of our life here, filled with blessing and satisfaction. Why would it not be available to us in heaven? Will we not see our beloved spouses there? Was marriage not a good thing after all?
Wait, hold your horses. Remember the vow: “until death do we part.” We should have known this was coming. We must be careful not to make the same mistake as did the Sadducees. It’s too easy to look at the world around us, the lives we lead, the way things seem to be, and assume this is the extent of reality. That this is all there is, all that is meant to be and ever will be. It’s like enjoying a sunny day, rejoicing in the warmth and light, feeling it could go on forever. Then along comes a cloudy day. Oh, well, we think, it’s always been like this and always will be. We don’t know what we’re talking about.
We do not know what it will be like forever. Even if God explained it to us, we would not yet understand it. But we know Him and His ways. Therefore we can trust that what ever He has in store, it will be wonderfully delightful in every way. We’ll never look back.