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Mark 12:18–27 (ESV)
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.” 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.”
This is one of my favorite passages to share with people who are struggling with grief and loss. This passage comes on the heels of Jesus’ confrontation with the Pharisees, who sought to trap Him with His words. Now it’s the Sadducees’ turn.
The Sadducees lived near and cared for the Temple in Jerusalem, and while Jewish, they were different from the Pharisees. They were a conservative group both politically and theologically, and they didn’t believe in resurrection (during Jesus’ day, they also collaborated with the Romans). They thought that resurrection was a dangerous idea and denied that it was taught in the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible (Genesis through Deuteronomy). For them, the belief in the resurrection was a threat to their position and power, and they were willing to do anything that they could to stop that idea from spreading. But the truth is that the idea of the resurrection was already popular in Jesus’ day. That belief was supported by the Pharisees, who believed that God would raise His people to new life when God’s kingdom arrived, ushering in the New Age that every Jewish person was waiting for (which they themselves were missing in the presence of Jesus).
The ironic thing here is that the Sadducees tried to trap Jesus with a question about the resurrection. They offer a story of an extreme circumstance to trap Jesus. Of course, Jesus gave them a hard correction in their thinking. First, Jesus corrected them on the resurrection. While the Sadducees didn’t believe in resurrection, they were basing their question on the assumption that the resurrection meant the dead return to the same kind of physical existence and life, but Jesus let them know that life in the resurrection will be different. No one has experienced this resurrection life. It is a transformation into a different state that is recognizable but one that can only be guessed at on our part. Jim Edwards, in his great commentary on Mark’s Gospel, put it this way, “We can no more imagine heavenly existence than an infant in utero can imagine a Beethoven piano concerto or the Grand Canyon at sunset.”
Second, Jesus corrected the Sadducees on their biblical ignorance. They had serious false assumptions regarding who God is and His power. God is the God of the living and not the dead, Jesus tells them. The Sadducees thought that we would be nothing more than ghostly figures, but we will have new life, as God is life.
Jesus concluded His lesson to the Sadducees by saying that they were quite wrong in their thinking, and in Greek, the language carries the meaning that they were way off base in their thinking.
The point in all of this is the consideration of what happens after we die. What comes next? Nothing? Something? What? We who have entrusted our lives to Jesus have the promise of something amazing, a new life in Him, and a hope for the future. A promise that is attested to by Jesus Himself when He rose from the dead. Jesus didn’t just teach about the resurrection; He Himself is the resurrection.
For us, we must wait and see. We don’t know every detail about the resurrection; in fact, I would be hard-pressed to give details about what life with Jesus will look like after death, but I know that it will be incredible. We will see God face to face, and it will be awesome because our God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.
So, for those of us who have suffered loss and wrestle with grief, we have a living hope in Jesus.
I often think of the passage below when I think of this passage from Mark. Jesus is speaking to His disciples after sharing very difficult things with them, and then He tells them…
John 14:1-7 (ESV)
14 "Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 4 And you know the way to where I am going." 5 Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?" 6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him."
God bless you, and know that you are constantly in my prayers!
Scott
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