NOTES for Mar 12:18-27
18 Then come unto him the Sadducees, which say there is no resurrection; and they asked him, saying, |
19 Master, Moses wrote unto us, If a man's brother die, and leave his wife behind him, and leave no children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. |
20 Now there were seven brethren: and the first took a wife, and dying left no seed. |
21 And the second took her, and died, neither left he any seed: and the third likewise. |
22 And the seven had her, and left no seed: last of all the woman died also. |
23 In the resurrection therefore, when they shall rise, whose wife shall she be of them? for the seven had her to wife. |
24 And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God? |
25 For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven. |
26 And as touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? |
27 He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err. |
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Collisions between the logic of Christ and any version of human logic are always instructive. The Sadducees do not merely want to debate with another opponent; they need to lower the level at which spiritual questions are considered. And so they make one of many attempts to trap Christ, although the artificial situation they present sounds far too much like a joke. But Christ not only does not fall into the trap; in His answer He reveals the mystery that there is no death, that the Living God is the God of the living, and that the life He gives is entirely different, unlike human notions.
When we consider Scripture only by the letter, we sometimes risk falling into arguments akin to the 'Sadducean' kind, trying to apply the logic of our own limited understanding to complex concepts. Yet God's ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts. But although they are not available to us in their fullness, Christ has given us the possibility of reflecting on His logic and thereby drawing nearer to a right understanding of what He proclaimed.
Readings for 3 June 2026
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