Mark 12:18-27
Marriage at the Resurrection
Then the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and have children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died without leaving any children. The second one married the widow, but he also died, leaving no child. It was the same with the third. In fact, none of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman died too. At the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?”
Jesus replied, “Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. Now about the dead rising—have you not read in the book of Moses, in the account of the bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!”
Exodus 3:1-6
Moses and the Burning Bush
Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”
When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.”
“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.
The scriptures and the power of God testify to the hope of resurrection
I was intrigued this week to read about the BBC Panorama programme which sent an undercover reporter into Charing Cross police station. I was interested in the findings, which frankly didn’t surprise me - but I was also interested to read about the editorial discussions in the Panorama office about the appropriateness of such a sting operation.
There had been considerable debate around the ethical issues of a covert operation balanced against public interest; and around the integrity of the reporter who had to lie to friends, family and colleagues about what he was up to, in order to expose the shortcomings of a collection of misogynistic and racist officers. One of the concerns was how much this might be about entrapment - getting the targets to talk openly in the pub and other places about their opinions – and trying to fathom how much those opinions might actually carry through into their working life, rather than just being private thoughts. It was an interesting and of course highly significant sting operation. And today we find ourselves in Mark's gospel witnessing another ‘sting’ operation, another case of entrapment – this time, not through covert journalism, but through apparently innocent questioning by a group of Sadducees.
These stories and episodes in Mark’s gospel are clearly very carefully and deliberately assembled. Today's episode with the Sadducees is actually one of a trio of similar episodes – immediately before this passage, in Mark 12:13-17 we have Jesus being asked by some Pharisees whether or not it’s right to pay taxes to Caesar; and you'll recall he asks to see a denarius coin; then we have today's story of the Sadducees asking about the Resurrection; and then immediately after, in Mark 12:28-34 one of the teachers of the Jewish law will ask him to choose which is the most important commandment.
The motives of that last question in this trio of scenarios may have been honourable; but the other two questions were certainly not, for we read in Mark 12:13 that … they (that's the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders) sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words. This was a sting operation: it was entrapment. Jesus is now in Jerusalem; the authorities are increasingly annoyed at his fresh and vibrant teaching. So they set these traps – the first one, about taxes, being a political snare; and now this group of Sadducees sets a theological snare.
So who were the Sadducees? They were a group of powerful, conservative priests, who regarded themselves as priestly aristocracy; they were archly conservative, and believed that only the Torah was authoritative - that's just the first five books of the Bible - Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. And in particular they discounted the possibility of a resurrection from the dead.
And so they produced this absurd question to test Jesus theologically. In summary it went like this: There are laws in the book of Exodus about family responsibility in marriage after deaths. And we have this situation of seven brothers successively dying without offspring. So at the supposed ‘resurrection’, whose wife will she be?
Did they really want an answer? Were they trying to entrap Jesus into giving an answer that they could declare as blasphemous? Or did they just want to pour scorn on this upstart Jesus?
Well, whatever their intention was, the scorn came back on them. Jesus was having none of their games - he saw straight through their sting and their attempts at entrapment. And so his sharp repost to these priestly heavyweights: You are badly mistaken! 12:27
How then were they mistaken? Actually on two counts - mistaken about the scriptures, and mistaken about the power of God.
Mistaken about the Scriptures
Mark 12:24 Jesus replied, “Aren't you in error because you do not know the Scriptures?”
Torah was their authority, and they smugly quoted Moses from Deuteronomy 25:5 If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband's brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her.
These Sadducees thought they spoke with the full force of Scripture; but in fact they only had half the picture because they denied important chunks of the Hebrew bible. The scriptures are the revelation of God, but they only had half that revelation. Yet they thought they were so smart!
And they jealously guarded their position – they held their party line against the more progressive teaching of the Pharisees who at least read scripture in its entirety. Their minds were closed to the ongoing revelation of God through the later books of the prophets and psalms and so forth, and they stuck to their narrow position against the greater evidence of the whole canon of Old Testament scripture.
Which begs the question of how we treat scripture – is it a set of proof texts, or the living word of God? We must engage with the scriptures and understand and interpret them for our age, in our times. And there are plenty of examples of those who fail to do that – for example the JW’s – who study their scriptures diligently yet are still able to make fundamental errors including the ultimate blasphemy of denying the full divinity of Jesus. And others will quote scripture to justify the worst and most unchristian of attitudes.
Let us remember that, in the words of the Book of Hebrews, ...the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. (Heb 4:12 NIV)
So how do you view scripture? Is it something that excites you, a tool, a users' manual to build your life upon? Do you open your bible and find life and inspiration there? Of course it's not always straightforward, there are bits that we struggle over, bits we really wish weren't in this book - but let us apply our minds and hearts to these living texts.
If you've never done that, I suggest two things: first, get yourself a copy of the bible in a modern translation. All our English bibles are of course translations from the original Hebrew and Greek texts; older translations, such as the wonderful KJV can be more difficult to understand and are sometimes less accurate than those translated through modern scholarship. So get a bible in a version you can easily understand.
And secondly, join a home group – we have a number to choose from, meeting monthly or more frequently. Oliver and I are delighted that more and more of our congregations are getting involved in home groups – a chance to examine bible passages together and discuss and explore what they might mean for us and our daily lives. Have a word with me or Oliver in due course and we can guide you.
But let's not be like the Sadducees, who thought they were so smart, but got it badly wrong: for they did not know the scriptures. But it wasn't just the scriptures; they were also (second heading):
Mistaken about the Power of God
Mark 12:24 Jesus replied, “Aren't you in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.”
Jesus responds with authority (remember, he always had authority). The Sadducees limited God’s power by denying the resurrection. But the God of Creation can do anything - how can man be so presumptuous as to limit God? And others in our day have done the same – they have denied miracles, or tried to explain God’s work away with ‘science’. And if we try to deny God's sovereignty, in Jesus’ words, we are badly mistaken.
But Jesus does now produce a counter-argument, by playing them at their own game. He quotes Moses at the burning bush in Exodus 3:5-6 ‘“Do not come any closer,” God said to Moses. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.’
‘Have you never read that?’ asks Jesus (well of course they had). And they had to listen to this, because Exodus was one of their ‘approved books’. Maybe the impact is lost on us in West, but in essence that Exodus passage is about God aligning himself with Man – no longer just ‘I AM’ but ‘I am the God of …’ as if he somehow ‘belongs’ to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
There’s a unity, a joining together with God. If there is unity with God who is clearly living, then Abraham, Isaac and Jacob can only also be alive to be united with him. God cannot just be the God of dead heroes. Those to whom God allies himself share with him his characteristic: eternal life, resurrection! So Sadducees, you are indeed badly mistaken!
So there we are: this entrapment, this sting failed because the perpetrators did not know – or at least understand – their own scriptures, or the power of God. And Jesus simply dismisses them with a rebuke.But let's not leave it there. Because resurrection isn't just an interesting sideline to our faith. Resurrection and eternal life were big on Jesus' agenda – why else would they have gone for that particular jugular in order to take him down.
Jesus tells us that to know God means to have eternal life: John 17:3 Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
Confident about the Resurrection
When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. (v25)
Jesus doesn’t go into detail: he knows the Sadducees are merely trying to snare him, and have little interest in the truth. But he drops in a comment about angels just to irritate them, as they don’t believe in angels either! So this is not a passage that teaches much about Resurrection. For that we would need to look elsewhere, and it’s a sermon series in itself.
But Scripture offers lots of glimpses of eternity. Paul says (1 Corinthians 15): Listen, I tell you a mystery: we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.'
You see, this life, as I seem to comment so many times, is but the start. It's the overture. It's the title page of a great volume of eternity. Eternity, life after resurrection, is the real goal – that is what we were created for. Because it's in eternity that we shall finally see God; that's where we'll join that angelic chorus of praise to God, where we shall be part of that ... great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb... crying out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” (Revelation 7:9-10)
That's why Jesus died for our sins; that's why he paid the ultimate price to restore us back into a relationship with God who made us. He didn't save us from our sins just for a few short years of life lived well here on earth; but for an eternity of worship with him. And that's what the Sadducees denied. That's why they were so badly mistaken! For (writes Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:16-19) if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.
The Sadducees tried, but failed, to entrap Jesus; and as a result we have his reassurance, documented once more in our scriptures, that by the power of God, resurrection and eternal life will be the experience of every Christian, for all those who have come to know the Lord Jesus. So as we navigate through this short, earthly life, let's keep our eyes fixed on that eternal, heavenly calling.