B-Side - Mark 12:18-27

Mark 12:18-27 - Confrontation passages, Day 3

This is the third day of Jesus's confrontation passages in Mark. First the Sanhedrin challenged him, then the Pharisees, and now it's the Sadducees' turn! The religious leadership is challenging his teaching and authority. They denied the resurrection, didn't believe in an afterlife. They were so conservative they only trusted the first five books of Moses (the Torah). So Jesus responded to them using only those books :-)

The question of "whose wife is she in the afterlife"... we explore the apocryphal book of Tobit a story of Sarah who is described as having multiple husbands who were killed before she could consummate the marriages. Despite her grief, she decided it would be selfish to kill herself. The Sadducees may be referencing this story.

The Sadducees assumed that if Heaven existed, it would just be a continuation of earthly family dynamics, human drama, etc.

John 11:25, an "I Am" statement from Jesus... "I am the resurrection and the life"... to accept him is to accept the resurrection!

By dying on the cross, Jesus destroyed the one who held the power of death (Hebrews 2:14). Satan has no claim over a believer.

At conversion, the "old man" dies. The believer is made alive in Christ, and our legal debt of sin is nailed to the cross (Colossians 2). We have no need to fear death, as we've already died! Our life is eternal, and our victory is secured. This is our hope, our song! The great and mighty acts of our Lord.

Jesus says that when the dead rise, they neither marry nor are given in marriage; they are "like angels in heaven." The family of God is those whoever does the will of God, who are brought together by Jesus Christ.

The last bit, v26-27...

Jesus then brilliantly uses a text from the only books the Sadducees accept (Exodus/Moses at the burning bush). God said, "I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." He is the God of the living, not the dead.

Jesus tells them, "You are quite wrong." The Sadducees read the Bible with a predetermined assumption (no afterlife), which threw their entire worldview off. Warning: Like a rocket ship off by one degree, bringing our own assumptions or failing to take the "whole counsel of God" (all 66 books) can lead us to disastrous belief systems.

The Sadducees' question treated the hypothetical woman like property: "Whose wife/property will she be?" Jesus's answer dignifies her. In Heaven, we are not property to be owned, or objects for abuse. We are like the angels, children of the living God, dwelling in perfect harmony together, in God's presence!

In his presence is fullness of joy, no more tears, no more sorrow!