Mark 12:18-27

Do you ever feel like life is coming at you from every angle and you are constantly being bombarded and you are growing weary in the fight. Jesus knows the feeling.

When the camera pans across the scene in the temple today, we need to realize that Jesus authority had been questioned for days and people had been plotting to destroy him for years!

People tired to trick Him and trap Him and they were relentless in their pursuit of ruining His ministry and credibility and desired even to take His very own life.

Jesus knows the feeling you are feeling when you feel overwhelmed by life and He even knows the feeling to a greater degree. So He is able to sympathize and empathize with we. We can go to Him in our time of need to receive mercy and grace.

The Royal Rumble Continues in this passage today. For the last few weeks now the religious elite have jumped in the ring and tagged each other into the ring to tussle with Jesus.

Last week the Pharisees and Herodians tried to trap Jesus. They ended up marveling at Him.

The week before the Chief Priests, the Scribes and the Elders questioned the source of Jesus authority. They asked Him a question, but He used all of His legitimate authority to demand that they answer the question He posed to them. Remember, He said, “Answer me.” Twice. He looks them dead in they eye and says, “Answer me.”

He is the One that will be asking the questions and everyone will answer to Jesus.

This week the Sadducees jump into the ring and their aim is to make Jesus look foolish by serving Him a flawed, fallacious question in front of the masses.

And Jesus was ready for it. We was on guard at all time. No logical fallacy would throw Him out of the ring. He was too studied and too smart to be stumped.

In this passage Jesus proved Himself to be an “approved workman that was not ashamed.” The ultimate AWANA clubber!

He knew the Word of God and He knew the Power of God which were things that His opponents clearly didn’t understand fully, but He was about to teach them.

I love this passage!

Mark 12:18 ESV

18 And Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection. And they asked him a question, saying,

Mark 12:19 ESV

19 “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.

Mark 12:20–21 ESV

20 There were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and when he died left no offspring. 21 And the second took her, and died, leaving no offspring. And the third likewise.

Mark 12:22–23 ESV

22 And the seven left no offspring. Last of all the woman also died. 23 In the resurrection, when they rise again, whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife.”

Mark 12:24 ESV

24 Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God?

Mark 12:25 ESV

25 For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.

Mark 12:26–27 ESV

26 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’? 27 He is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are quite wrong.”

Pray

Set the scene. Give the meaning and then apply what we hear from this encounter.

Start by setting the scene.

Mark 12:18 (ESV)

18 And Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection. And they asked him a question, saying,

The Sadducees

In today’s passage Jesus is talking to the Sadducees and Mark gives us an editorial comment to help us understand one the distinct traits of their belief system. And it provides a perfect segue into me telling you a well known bible joke.

These guys didn’t believe in the resurrection or life after death, that is why they were so “Sad U See!”

I know it’s bad, but it is memorable! You and I probably won’t forget what made the Sadducees different than some of the other religious elite at the time!

Trying to reconstruction of what the Sadducees believed has proven difficult for bible scholars, but there are a few distinctives that set them apart.

First, one of their major distinctive was this: they believed the soul ceased to exist at death with no bodily resurrection. Life ended at death. No afterlife. The only thing was here and now.

Sadly, many of us would correctly identify that mindset as false, but the way we lives our lives as embodied souls might indicate that we think it is true. Sometimes, somedays we live only for the here and now and jeopardize the blessings God wants to reward us with there and then.

But the reason the Sadducees didn’t believe in the resurrection was because they didn’t see resurrection language in the Torah. It was there, Jesus will show them in a moment, but they just didn’t have eyes to see what the Scriptures were plainly teaching.

The Sadducees only believed that only the Torah was authoritative and they dismissed the rest of the OT books. They kept 5 and through away 34. And from their reading of the Torah, they determined that that there was not talk of resurrection.

Here is a first point of application to us: we can’t be selective with this book. When we pick and choose parts of the bible to believe and obey and dismiss other parts we will get some major stuff wrong. What major stuff? Well how about how you will spend eternity?

I would say the stakes are pretty high to believe the entirety of what this text is teaching.

Another distinctive was that they rejected any supplemental or oral traditions passed on from generation to generation. This made them different from the Pharisees who had major systems of teaching established in attempts to get back their roots of the Jewish religion.

The Sadducees were more people of the times and they recognized that Greek culture had swept across the land for the last 300 years or so, so wanting to be on the right side of history, they decided to go with the flow and were okay with become more Greek.

It was really a culture war. The Pharisees wanted to lean back and preserve Jewish identity, but the Sadducees wanted to lean forward and put more hope in politics than the word of God and the power of God.

Pharisees and the Sadducees were very opposite and even violently so, we can see this in the book of Acts.

Acts 23:6 (ESV)

6 Now when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. It is with respect to the hope and the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.”

Acts 23:7 (ESV)

7 And when he had said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided.

Acts 23:8 (ESV)

8 For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all.

And this was the final distinctive of Sadducean belief. They denied the existence of the spiritual world and spiritual entities.

So, we see dissension and a divided assembly because of theological differences and that leads to disastrous results.

Luke, the author of Acts continues and says…

Acts 23:9 (ESV)

9 Then a great clamor arose, and some of the scribes of the Pharisees’ party stood up and contended sharply, “We find nothing wrong in this man. What if a spirit or an angel spoke to him?”

Acts 23:10 (ESV)

10 And when the dissension became violent, the tribune, afraid that Paul would be torn to pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him away from among them by force and bring him into the barracks.

This is intense and it goes to show you how important “right theology” is.

Bad theology creates clamour and turmoil among the brethren.

Now back to our text in Mark, isn’t it amazing that though coming from wildly different theological camps, they are in the ring together trying to destroy Jesus.

The devil is really good at using hypocritical religious people to hinder the advancement of the Gospel.

The Sadducees come to Jesus with a ridiculous question based on their misunderstanding of Scripture.

Mark 12:19 (ESV)

19 “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.

Mark 12:20–21 ESV

20 There were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and when he died left no offspring. 21 And the second took her, and died, leaving no offspring. And the third likewise.

Mark 12:22–23 (ESV)

22 And the seven left no offspring. Last of all the woman also died. 23 In the resurrection, when they rise again, whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife.”

Ok the trap is set. I think they said verse 23 while mockingly using air quotes you know, “in the resurrection” when they “rise again.” The verbiage used is probably insulting and sarcastic in tone.

Now when we read this dilemma it seems very foreign to us and it is! This isn’t the common practice of our day, but it was intended to be a means of care for widows and their children to protect their livelihood after the death of a husband and and loss of a father.

It isn’t the same thing, but in some ways it is like life insurance today. It was a means of provision for loved one’s after an untimely death.

It is a law of God that Moses gave to the people and it is recorded in Deut. 25:5-10. It was known as the Levirate Law. We actually see a real life example of this in the story of Ruth.

Levirate Law

“The gist of the law was that if a man married and then died, his brother must marry his wife. This was done to keep the family name and to ensure the household inheritance was passed on to someone in the family.

These are not as important issues for us today, but they were the bedrock of the ancient world.' “

“To die childless so that the lineage died out, that was the greatest misfortune an Israelite could imagine.” - Giertz

So the Sadducees are going to misuse Deut. 25 as a prooftext for their false believe. We do that sometimes don’t we? We read a passage Scripture and butcher the authors intended purpose? We mangle the text to fit our beliefs.

But look at the length to which they go to create a complex scenario for Jesus to look silly.

Notice how far fetched their story is. Yes there is a possibility that this could happen, but what are real chances of this really happening?

This husband dies, then that one dies. Then the next one, followed by the next one. Followed by the next one. Follow by yet again, the next one and then finally the last one dies.

Stop marrying that girl!

Look at how far they have to go to make Jesus look silly for believing in the resurrection.

They push the limits of possibility to accommodate their false belief.

Sometimes we do that. We push and push and push. We suppress, and bury and cover up what can be plainly know about God and His attributes. He eternal power and divine nature and His actual existence.

That is what is happening here and they think they are setting an ingenious trap based off of a prooftext and Jesus is not hoodwinked at all.

Mark tell us,

Mark 12:24 (ESV)

24 Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God?

They ask him a question, but He responds with a rhetorical question to make a point abundantly clear.

He says they are “wrong” and the reason they are “wrong” was because they didn’t know two things.

They didn’t know that Scriptures and they didn’t know the power of God.

So we will circle back on that double inditement in a moment, but for now let’s continue on to see how Jesus substantiates the reason for which why they were categorically wrong. We see His reasoning in verses 25-27.

Mark 12:25 (ESV)

25 For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage,

People read this verse and have been saddened because they like there spouses. If that is your situation, praise God for the very good gift that He has given you in the here and now!

The good gift that you are experiencing now, is pointing to something even greater for you to experience in your future.

Must of us who have been married for any length of time have more than likely come to know how complicated and complex the marital relationship can be.

Throughout the duration of any marriage there are very high highs and sometimes there are really low lows, but the commitment each individual makes by means of covenant creates the context necessary for any marital relationship to endure and thrive until death do us part.

Marriage was created by God to be a physical, visual metaphor for all the world to see the level of commitment and loyal love God has for us.

Marriage is a way to display God’s love and glory. It is a way for us to experience through reflection Christ’s faithfulness and sacrificial self-giving love.

Marriage is a meaningful metaphor that magnifies God’s magnificent love for His people.

Marriage is a good gift that God has given the inhabitants of the world, but our marriages, as temporary as they may be, point to something beyond them that is eternal.

Yes we will know people that we have been married to. Yes we will be close with them. It isn’t the end of the relationship, but when the substance replaces the shadow and He comes again, all of our earthly relationships will be brought to a whole new experiential level of unity and intimacy as we together with all other believers throughout history become the pure spotless bride of Christ.

That is why Jesus says,

Mark 12:25 (ESV)

25 For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.

He doesn’t say that the person in their hypothetical story becomes an angel in heaven, He says that person will become “like angels in heaven” who incidentally do not engage in marital relationships with one another.

That is the only point of comparison that Jesus points to.

Soapbox Sidebar for a moment:

Humans are humans and angels are angels. I know we all love, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” but it is just not true that “every time a bell rings an….”

I don’t care what “teacher” says, That’s not right.

Human’s, after death, don’t temporarily become an angels without wings so that they can be sent back to earth to complete some final assignment so that they can get wings. You and I won’t find that in any of the Scriptures.

Great sentimental movie, but it is an example of a ridiculous misunderstanding of Scripture.

And Jesus is about to point out to these Sadducees their ridiculous misunderstanding of Scripture and it was something as simple as missing the tense of a verb in a passage about a bush!

Mark 12:26–27 (ESV)

26 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’? 27 He is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are quite wrong.”

I love this. This isn’t Jesus forgetting a reference like an Awana clubber getting the verse right but forgetting the reference. This is Jesus referring to the Scriptures like anyone before the Wycliffe English Bible was printed in 1382 AD.

When the books of the Bible were originally written, they did not contain chapter or verse references. The Bible was divided into chapters and verses to help us find Scriptures with speed and ease.

But here Jesus is well versed enough in the Scriptures that He refers to the only set of Scriptures that they considered authorized, The Torah, the First 5 Books of Moses; and what He asks them to pay attention to is the “tense of a verb.”

God said, “I am the God of Abraham,” not “I was the God of Abraham.” The tense of the very makes all the difference in the world and it was something that they had never seen before. Or if they had seen it, they didn’t pay attention to its implications because if God currently is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, then they must be still alive in some sense. And if they are alive, then they are not dead and that means the Sadducees are are dead wrong in their belief about resurrection.

Not just were they wrong, but Jesus tells us that they were “quite” wrong. It is a comparative term. They weren’t just a little bit off, they were way off because they didn’t notice the tense of a verb.

So now let’s circle back to the double inditement Jesus laid on these religious leaders in verse 24 and make two points of application for us today.

Mark 12:24 (ESV)

24 Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God?

They didn’t know the Scriptures and they didn’t know God’s power.

What about us? Let’s apply this to our lives today.

Don’t be ignorant of the Scriptures. Learn them. Apply them.

What excuses do you think we could come up with that will stand up against sovereign scrutiny?

I was too busy on looking at instagram reels, youtube, snap chat and facebook?

I needed an extra 15 minutes of sleep in the morning.

Or I needed some me time at the end of each day to “unwind” and series of “sitcoms” that I have watched half a dozen times seemed to temporarily do the trick.

I needed to watch those “stars” dance with each other for my entertainment every Tuesday night!

Those are the reasons why I am ignorant of the Scriptures that you have so graciously given to me so that I would have everything I need for life and godliness.

I say these things in a somewhat silly way to highlight the absurdity of us thinking we have valid excuses for not knowing the Word of God.

Look at all my Bibles. What excuses do we have to remain ignorant of the Scriptures? What excuses can we come up with that will excuse us from learning them and applying them? We are more equipped than ever.

And it isn’t enough to know them, we have to unite what we know with faith so that we actually put into practice what it preaches.

Faith is believing the word of God and acting upon it no matter how I feel, knowing that God promises a good result.

Plug (Equipping Hour, Men’s and Women’s Bible Studies and Personal Devos).

And as you are reading the Scriptures, study them and pay special attention to things like tenses of verbs because they convey meaning and help us understand when certain actions took place. Many times when you read the tense of a verb, especially in the New Testament you will find out that you have a whole new identity.

And speaking of a whole new identity,

Never underestimate the power of God.

The Sadducees did not think that the Almighty God, the Creator of all life was not able to defeat death. If that was the case then according to logic death itself would be God, not God.

But we have already seen in the Gospel that Mark pens, that Jesus had unprecedented power over death when he took a little dead girl by the hand and said, “Talitha Cumi” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.”

“5:42 And immediately the girl got up and began walking and people were immediately overcome with amazement.”

He demonstrated power over death in chapter 5 and I can’t wait to show you what He does in chapter 16!

May we never underestimate the power of God to bring beauty from ashes and life from death. We can have hope in the midst of despair.

Resurrection power has already replaced the immaterial part of us. Our hearts of stone have been exchanged with hearts flesh. Hearts that are tender toward God instead of being stout, obstinate and cold.

God’s work of grace has revitalized the most vital part of our humanity. We have been given new hearts and one day we will be given new bodies!

Never underestimate the power of God!

Benediction

Romans 8:11 NIV

11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.

Discussion Questions

Many of us feel bombarded quite often. How might we experience sympathy from Jesus? What must we do in order to benefit from what He is offering? (Heb. 4:14-16)

Are their any parts of the bible that you have neglected to read for a while?

What plans do you have in place to “know” the Scriptures better?

In what specific ways are you tempted to underestimate the power of God? What promises from God’s Word seem far-fetched to you? How can you unite them to faith? “Faith is believing God’s Word and acting on it no matter how you feel knowing God promises a good result.”