Scripture: Mark 12:18-27

18 Some people from the religious group who believe no one will be raised from the dead came to Jesus. They asked Him, 19 "Teacher, Moses gave us a Law. It said, 'If a man's brother dies and leaves his wife behind, but no children, then his brother should marry his wife and raise children for his brother.' (Deuteronomy 25:5) 20 There were seven brothers. The first was married. He died before he had any children. 21 The second married her and died. He had no children. The same happened with the third. 22 All seven had her for a wife. All died without children. Last of all the woman died. 23 When people are raised from the dead, whose wife will she be? All seven had her for a wife." 24 Jesus said to them, "Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you do not know the Holy Writings or the power of God? 25 When people are raised from the dead, they do not marry and are not given in marriage. They are like angels in heaven. 26 As for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses how God spoke to him in the burning bush? He said, 'I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.' (Exodus 3:2-6) 27 He is not the God of the dead, He is the God of the living. So you are very much wrong."

Meditation: The Sadducees had one big problem – they could not conceive of heaven beyond what they could see with their naked eyes! Aren’t we often like them? We don’t recognize spiritual realities because we try to make heaven into an earthly image. The Sadducees came to Jesus with a test question to make the resurrection look ridiculous. The Sadducees, unlike the Pharisees, did not believe in immortality, nor in angels or evil spirits. Their religion was literally grounded in an earthly image of heaven. Jesus retorts by dealing with the fact of the resurrection. The scriptures give proof of it. In Exodus 3:6, God calls himself the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. He defeats their arguments by showing that God is a living God of a living people. God was the friend of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when they lived. That friendship could not cease with death. As Psalm 73:23-24 states: "I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory." The Holy Spirit reveals to us the eternal truths of God’s unending love and the life he desires to share with us for all eternity. Paul the Apostle, quoting from the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 64:4; 65:17) states: “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him,” God has revealed to us through the Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:9-10).  The promise of paradise – heavenly bliss and unending life with an all-loving God – is beyond human reckoning. We have only begun to taste the first-fruits! Do you believe the scriptures and do you know the power of the Holy Spirit?

Prayer: “May the Lord Jesus put his hands on our eyes also, for then we too shall begin to look not at what is seen but at what is not seen.  May he open the eyes that are concerned not with the present but with what is yet to come, may he unseal the heart’s vision, that we may gaze on God in the Spirit, through the same Lord, Jesus Christ, whose glory and power will endure throughout the unending succession of ages.” (Prayer of Origen, c. 185-254)

Psalm 123:1-2

1 I lift up my eyes to You, O You Whose throne is in the heavens.
 2 See, the eyes of servants look to the hand of their owner. The eyes of a woman servant look to the hand of her owner. So our eyes look to the Lord our God, until He shows us loving-kindness.