Jesus Answers the Sadducees

Follow Up

The Holy Week timeline includes significant events leading up to Easter Sunday:

Palm Sunday: Jesus enters Jerusalem, celebrated by crowds waving palm branches. 

Holy Monday: Jesus clears the temple, driving out merchants and money changers. 

Holy Tuesday: Jesus teaches in the temple and predicts the destruction of Jerusalem. 

Maundy Thursday: The Last Supper occurs, where Jesus washes the disciples' feet and institutes Communion. 

Good Friday: Jesus is crucified and buried. 

Holy Saturday: Jesus lies in the tomb. 

Easter Sunday: Jesus rises from the dead, marking the resurrection.  This timeline captures the key events of Holy Week, which is central to the Christian faith.

Jesus is Gathering a Crowd - Making a Scene

Being pressed by the Pharisees, Scribes, Herodians and now the Sadducees

Matthew 7:29 “for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.”

Comes Performing the Works of the Messiah

Some look on to what they are witnessing, and respond in faith

Yet, the leaders (religious and Political) are offended

Isaiah 35:4–6 “Say to those with anxious heart, “Take courage, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance; The recompense of God will come, But He will save you.” Then the eyes of the blind will be opened And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer, And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy. For waters will break forth in the wilderness And streams in the Arabah.”

The Crowds want to know

Matthew 21:23 “When He entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him while He was teaching, and said, “By what authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority?””

Authority Challenged with 3 Questions

Pharisees and the Herodians - Ought we pay the poll tax to Caesar?

Sadducees - Will there be Marriage in Heaven?

Pharisees - What is the Greatest Commandment in the Law?

Read Text

Sadducees

The Sadducees were a prominent Jewish sect active from around the 2nd century BC to the 1st century AD, primarily consisting of aristocratic priests and wealthy individuals

They held significant political influence, dominating the Sanhedrin and maintaining good relations with Roman authorities

The Sadducees were known for their conservative religious views, accepting only the Pentateuch as authoritative scripture

They rejected key doctrines such as the resurrection of the dead, the existence of angels and spirits, and the oral traditions embraced by the Pharisees

Despite their power, the Sadducees were unpopular among common people due to their aristocratic nature and alignment with Roman rule

The sect's influence waned with the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in 70 AD

While mentioned in various historical sources, including the New Testament, Josephus' writings, and rabbinic literature, a fully consistent picture of the Sadducees remains elusive due to the lack of surviving literature from the group itself

Paul in Acts 23

After 3rd Missionary Journey

Paul is arrested in Jerusalem, and brought before a council of the Sanhedrin

Acts 23:1–11

Sadducees: Law of Moses, No Resurrection

Parable of the Sadducees

Deuteronomy 25:5–10 “

If a Man dies and has no son, His brother should fulfill this duty for the first man’s wife

In order to honor the deceased brother and protect his lineage

In Fact: if he doesn’t, He is a disgrace to the family and to Israel

Doesn’t stay in the realm of theory:

Genesis 38:6–10 “Now Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord took his life. Then Judah said to Onan, “Go in to your brother’s wife, and perform your duty as a brother-in-law to her, and raise up offspring for your brother.” Onan knew that the offspring would not be his; so when he went in to his brother’s wife, he wasted his seed on the ground in order not to give offspring to his brother. But what he did was displeasing in the sight of the Lord; so He took his life also.”

As a side note to the story of Joseph, one is told about his brother Judah

Judah has two sons Er and Onan

He finds a wife for Er, Tamar

God kills Er, Judah tells Onan to fulfill the brother’s role as Tamar’s husband

and ‘Kinsman Redeemer’

To redeem the wife and the lineage of the Family

But Onan decides to not go through with it, and he is also smote

(you need to read the story)

Ruth

Ruth’s Husband Dies

Her and her Mother in Law go to Moab

and is redeemed by Boaz, after a closer relative refuses her

Ruth 4:5–10 “

Parable

Man dies - No Children

Brother takes wife - No Children

on and on - Down to the seventh

Then the woman dies

(Insert Joke)

Question: Matthew 22:28 ““In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had married her.””

Answer: You don’t understand the (2)Scriptures or the (1)Power of God

-Explains Backwards

Power of God

“In the Resurrection”

1 Co 15:35-50

Concerning the Scriptures

I told Moses of the Resurrection

Matthew 22:32 “‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.””

Hope

What does Christ offer?

Romans 3:10–18 “as it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one; There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God; All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one.” “Their throat is an open grave, With their tongues they keep deceiving,” “The poison of asps is under their lips”; “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness”; “Their feet are swift to shed blood, Destruction and misery are in their paths, And the path of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.””

And He has given us Hope

Kinsman Redeemer