Thoughts for the Day

Some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him and asked him a question, saying, 'Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies, leaving a wife but no child, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. There were seven brothers; the first married her and, when he died, left no children; and the second married her and died, leaving no children; and the third likewise; none of the seven left children. Last of all the woman herself died. In the resurrection whose wife will she be? For the seven had married her.'

Jesus said to them, 'Is not this the reason you are wrong, that 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 story about the bush, how God said to him, "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob"? He is God not of the dead, but of the living; you are quite wrong.'

(Church in Wales Lection, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

Oh dear these Sadducees and their games! Sadducees were wealthy and educated and we have seen them before, though this is the only time they appear in Mark's Gospel. They were members of the high-priestly party, and didn't believe in angels or immortality. Their beliefs rested on the first five books of our Old Testament (the Pentateuch), and the purpose of their question was to ridicule the notion of resurrection. For them both the body and the soul died at death.

In Deuteronomy, Chapter 25 the Law of Moses offered a way for a widow to ensure that her husband's name continued as well as his inheritance by marrying his brother, but this question of theirs was patently ridiculous, and Jesus gives them a scriptural lesson which we should take to heart. He says that Heaven will not be like earth. Many people believe that life in Heaven will be the same as now, but only better. But Jesus says that is not so, Heaven is entirely different. We don't know exactly what it will be like, but we do know that we won't be disappointed. And less we don't believe that our souls continue after death, He quotes the passage of Moses and the burning bush where God says He is the God Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He doesn't say He was! He speaks in the present tense. The Sadducees put so much faith in the Pentateuch, and Jesus turns this back on themselves.

He also says that the relationship between God and ourselves does not cease at death, but continues in some mysterious way into the future.

Heavenly Father,
we thank You that You are the God
of those who live, and those who have died;
and that all who have died are safe in Your hands.
May we live in the confidence that You care for us
beyond time and space,
and offer us a future with You eventually.
Amen.