Sunday 3 December, 2017

18 The Sadducees came to Jesus with a question. They do not believe that people rise from the dead. 19 “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us about a man who died and didn’t have any children. But he did leave a wife behind. That man’s brother must get married to the widow. He must provide children to carry on his dead brother’s name. 20 There were seven brothers. The first one got married. He died without leaving any children. 21 The second one got married to the widow. He also died and left no child. It was the same with the third one. 22 In fact, none of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman died too. 23 When the dead rise, whose wife will she be? All seven of them were married to her.” 24 Jesus replied, “You are mistaken because you do not know the Scriptures. And you do not know the power of God. 25 When the dead rise, they won’t get married. And their parents won’t give them to be married. They will be like the angels in heaven. 26 What about the dead rising? Haven’t you read in the Book of Moses the story of the burning bush? God said to Moses, ‘I am the God of Abraham. I am the God of Isaac. And I am the God of Jacob.’ (Exodus 3:6) 27 He is not the God of the dead. He is the God of the living. You have made a big mistake!”

This passage is an interesting discussion. The Sadducees were trying to catch out Jesus. They wanted to give Him a question that was too difficult to answer. But no, Jesus had an answer and He called them out about how well they really knew God’s word. You can imagine how embarrassed or angry these guys would have been because Jesus was not worried by their question – probably the most tricky one they could think of, I am guessing. They had no more “polite” ways of grilling Him. He wasn’t who they thought the Messiah would be and He was undermining their strong belief that there would be no resurrection and they just wanted Him to go away.

Jesus, however, knew who He was, what job He had to do and He understood the amazing view of the world and us that God the Father has. He wants to help us to understand His picture of the world and how to work with Him and the Father to bring God’s love into every life we touch. We can trust Him. He knows what He is doing. He recognises the way the enemy works and how we can be misled. He also recognises how strongly we can hold to wrong thinking and He wants to help us transform our thinking so that God’s love, grace and peace pour out of us.

Lord God please help us to see that Jesus is strong, trustworthy, patient and loving. That He knows what we need to hear to help us continue our journey with You. Thank You for being interested in even the small things in our lives. Help us to connect with You and to listen daily. Help us to put what You say first.

Written by Therese Manning