Mark 12:18-27 — The Reason You Are Wrong



Jewish cemetery on Mt. Olivet

 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 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.” (Mark 12:18-27)

Comments:

Verses 18-23 present the Sadducees' best situational conundrum in their attempt to debunk Jesus’ talk of the resurrection and eternal life. My focus today is specifically on Jesus’ response to them.

In v. 24, Jesus answered and said to them, "Are you not therefore mistaken, because you do not know the Scriptures nor the power of God?"

Verse 24 outlines the problem of the Sadducees. They lacked knowledge of two very important things—the Scriptures, and the power of God. True knowledge of either goes hand in hand with the other. Oh, how important it is that we know the Scriptures and the power of God! We don't study the Bible just to study it, or so that we can present a more persuasive argument, but to know the Lord and his power! 

If we fail to study the Bible or if we study for the wrong reason, I suppose that any of us could end up like the Sadducees—liberal scholars with a limited view of both the canon of Scripture and of the power of God (denying the supernatural). Here in this pericope Jesus was approached by the Sadducees with a hypothetical question which they intended to use to show the irrelevance of the laws of marriage (and perhaps justify their not obeying it) and to show that the resurrection was unlikely (one of the key points of their doctrine which would justify their living life for what they could get now). The question asked of Jesus was so far-fetched as to be absurd yet it was presented as though it had really happened.

Jesus answered their question directly if briefly. Jesus was not evasive—as some would have us believe—he was pervasive. Jesus did not waste much time on such a foolish question but moved in to deal with their real but unspoken question—“Is there a resurrection?”

They believed that the Pentateuch (Genesis—Deuteronomy) was the only really authoritative Scripture, so it is interesting that Jesus quotes from something that they would accept to show that “resurrection” is a great Old Testament truth.

v. 26-27 "But concerning the dead, that they rise, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the burning bush passage, how God spoke to him, saying, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. You are therefore greatly mistaken."

Jesus’ use of the great "I AM" passage in Exodus 3:14 is important as he would soon invoke "I AM" in reference to himself. Could his use of that term at his trial have given him new hope and faith in his own coming resurrection? The faithful dead are not dead but live! God is a God of the living! I wonder how many of us today might be at risk for making the same mistake that the Sadducees made. 

Would the Holy Spirit whisper to our hearts that we have those two gaps in our knowledge? Do we need to have everything so figured out and analyzed that if we can't understand, explain, or control it we deny its existence?

 

O Ever-living Lord, keep us from the great mistake of the Sadducees. May we have the faith and the honesty to see beyond our pet theories and man-made doctrines to the great truths of the Scriptures and the power of God which is at work even today! To God be the glory!

 

The Garden Tomb