Truth or Consequences (Mark 12:18-27)

A sermon preached Sunday, July 25, 2010 at Hebron Baptist Church, Denham Springs, Louisiana by Pastor Joe Alain.

Scripture Reading: Mark 12:18-27

Two times Jesus told the Sadducees that they were in error (vv.24, 27). Not everything that is taught or believed is true. We live in a world where everyone is free to believe what they want, but that does not mean that every belief is correct or that every belief system is on equal footing. We also live in a day and time where we fear saying some doctrine (teaching) is wrong, but Jesus didn’t have a problem calling out error.

The Sadducees were upstanding people, they were leaders in the community, they were respected and religious but Jesus said that they were flat out wrong! Because of their misinterpretation of Scripture they denied the very doctrine that is essential to our salvation – the doctrine of the resurrection. For the importance of the resurrection, see 1 Cor. 15:1-4; Rom. 4:25; 10:9; 1 Pe. 1:3. Without the resurrection there is no Gospel and without the Gospel there is no salvation. When there is ignorance of the word of God and a denial of His power, there is error. Truth comes to us when we rightly interpret Scripture and we trust in the power of the living God.

Why does it matter what I believe? It matters because you were placed here to bring glory to God and to know what that means, you have to know what he desires and requires of you. It matters not only to the kind of life you’re living on earth now, but it matters because eternity is too long to be wrong. So my desire is to encourage you from this message to be a diligent student of Scripture, because it does matter. The truth about God and us is revealed in the Scriptures and only discovered when we correctly interpret God’s Word and trust in His power.

18 – “Then the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question.” Here we are introduced to the Sadducees, a sect of Judaism. The Sadducees were the aristocratic class of priestly families from whom the high priest was chosen. There are two things we need to know about the Sadducees to understand this passage. First, The Sadducees only held as authoritative the written law contained in the first five books in the Old Testament. They did not hold as authoritative the Prophets or the Writings, essentially the rest of the OT. They also rejected the authority of the Oral Law.

The other important characteristic, evident from the text, is that they denied the doctrine of the resurrection which the Pharisees and others affirmed (See Acts 23:8). This denial of the resurrection naturally grew out of their denial of the authority of much of the OT Scripture because none of the few references to the resurrection in the OT are in the Pentateuch, the first five books.

This question of the Sadducees was another test, the third such one by Jesus’ adversaries. Jesus answers their test question by correctly interpreting the Scripture that they do believe (Deut. 25:5-6) in light of what God says in another text in the Pentateuch or the Torah, Exodus 3:6. So by comparing Scriptures and looking at the context of a passage, Jesus is practicing good interpretation. The type of question that the Sadducees asked is called in Jewish tradition a “vulgarity,” a question that is contemptuous of the person addressed. So actually the Sadducees are mocking Jesus and the entire doctrine of the resurrection.

The Question: 19-23 – [19] “‘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. [20] Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died without leaving any children. [21] The second one married the widow, but he also died, leaving no child. It was the same with the third. [22] In fact, none of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman died too. [23] At the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?’”

What’s interesting about this question is that they do not even believe in the resurrection, yet the question is really about the resurrection (see v.24). In this passage, we understand a little about how the Sadducees viewed life. They believed that life exists only human personality. What do we mean? The word for “have children” in verse 19 literally means “to raise up” and is a form of the word resurrection.

The Mosaic law of Levirate marriage presupposes that the only persistence of personality after death is in and through the lives of one’s offspring. This is why it was so important that children be conceived. Everything was carried on through your offspring. The question, “whose wife will she be?” is absurd. The entire encounter is designed to place Jesus in a ridiculous spot and to make the doctrine of the resurrection look ridiculous.

24 – “Jesus replied, ‘Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.’” This seems to be the key verse or key thesis which Jesus then fills in the details in what follows.

Jesus tells the Sadducees that their entire question and thinking is in error for two reasons:
(1) They “do not know the Scriptures”
Not that they have not completely familiarized themselves with the Scriptures or that they cannot recall the Scriptures. But they have used the Scriptures as prooftexts for their beliefs. They can cite Scripture but they do not interpret it accurately as God intends. Is this not a problem today? People may be able to cite Scripture, they’ve grown up with Scripture, yet they do not correctly interpret Scripture nor do they apply it to their lives. Not knowing the Scriptures they are in error.

(2) They do not know “the power of God”
The Sadducees did not believe in the supernatural power of God. If God is able to heal, to restore sight, to cleanse the lepers, it’s not hard to also believe that God is able to resurrect the dead. This passage reveals how small their concept of God is. They only see God as the God of their dead ancestors, but Jesus tells them that God is not the God of the dead, he is the God of the living (v.27). See Romans 11:33 as Paul describes the mystery of knowing God.

Ignorance of God’s Word
25 – “When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.” Notice how Jesus assumes the dead are going to rise. Jesus says two things about the resurrected state of believers.

(1) At the resurrection, the dead will not be concerned about marrying or being given in marriage. Augustine, “Marriages are on account of children; children on account of succession; succession on account of death. But in heaven, as there is no death, neither is there any marriage.”

(2) The resurrected dead will be “Like the angels in heaven.” What do we know about the angels? We won’t have any wings as far as I can tell. We won’t sit around and play our harps for eternity. That would not be heaven for many of us! It’s important to see that Jesus’ use of this language is figurative language. We will be “like the angels” in the sense that angels apparently are immortal. The Sadducees took literally the language about resurrection, made the understanding of it look absurd, and so dismissed resurrection as untrue. To think only literally about the resurrection is to be like the Sadducees; quite mistaken, for like them, it is to limit the power of God to conditions such as we know them on earth. In other words, when it comes to the afterlife, don’t limit what God is going to do! Speculation about the age of the resurrected or the conditions of life after death is only speculation. Instead of information about the afterlife, the Lord offers a promise, more life with God.

Ignorant of God’s Power
26-27 – “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.’” Jesus calls them to examine their own Scripture in Exodus 3:6, a passage they would have held as authoritative. This text teaches us that God is the God of the living not the dead. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob obviously died; yet, by the power and word of God they are still alive (“I am” present tense). So all who belong to God, though they die, will live by the power of the word, the power of God the “I am.” John 12:25-26 speaks to this truth. “Jesus said to her [Martha], ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?’”

On one level this story speaks to the importance of how we interpret God’s Word.
I. Misinterpretation of Scripture: The Way which Leads to Error
(1) A lack of belief will cause us to misinterpret the Word of God. They lacked the reverence and respect for the source of the Scriptures: that is, God Himself. They seem to doubt that God will bring every act to judgement or that there are eternal consequences for disobeying Him. A personal commitment to God is essential for understanding Scripture. This was the problem that the Sadducees had.
(2) There was familiarity with God’s word but they lacked depth of understanding. Superficial understanding leads to superficial living.
(3) When we use the Bible to support our own human ideas and opinions. As long as we look at the text of Scripture from a human standpoint, we will constantly judge God’s word by our standards rather than placing ourselves underneath the text. The Sadducees are viewing the Bible from their human standpoint, through hearts of depravity and doubt. The Sadducees used Scripture as a prooftext to what they already believed. As long as you view Scripture in this way, you are always going to end up at the wrong destination.

II. Correct Interpretation of Scripture: The Way which Lead to Truth
Why is this important? Because there are consequences to misinterpreting God’s Word. To do so might mean we miss out on God and what He desires and requires of us. How do you determine what is right and what is wrong? Truth from error? We know from correctly interpreting the Scriptures.
(1) We need to know God, the author of the Bible. There must be a personal commitment to the Lord.
(2) We need to understand a passage of Scripture in light of all of God’s revelation.
(3) We need to approach the Scripture as God’s inspired Word (2 Tim. 3:16).
(4) We need to submit our understanding of Scripture to God’s authority.
(5) We need to approach Scripture from the standpoint of obeying what we hear.

Summary
Jesus’ response affirms the reality of the resurrection in the face of skepticism and doubt. Even though we do not know all of the details of the resurrection, we know that it will be eternal life with God. A lack of knowledge concerning God’s Word leads to secularism, skepticism and a loss of hope. When the Word loses its position of priority in our lives and the life of the church, we lose that which anchors us in the Lord and we ultimately lose hope.

The thought expressed in verse 24 comes to us as a question today. “How does the Bible function in the church and in our lives?” The community of faith and each member of it ought to know the Scriptures. This is especially true in light of the widespread biblical illiteracy in our time. Furthermore, we must move to a place of maturity in our understanding and application of Scripture. We must stop using the Bible to prove our points and promote our programs, as the Sadducees did.

Jesus’ response serves to challenge us to a vision beyond our own. He opens the possibility of solutions quite other than we had dreamed. What looks improbable and even impossible with us is possible with God!

For His Glory!
Pastor Joe