Group impact

Luke 20:27-38

In our scripture reading today we are confronted with a group of Jewish leaders called the Sadducees. And what is most striking in this encounter with Jesus who is at end of his ministry is their belligerence and stubborn minds. Where many are accepting that this man Jesus may be the Messiah, a great healer, the Son of God, these Sadducees are so locked into their thinking that they literally start making fun of Jesus and his views.

They were the wealthy and politically connected in Israel. They were members and supports of the high priest and they accepted the Torah or the first five books of the OT as their authoritative scripture. But what we need to take note of today is that they didn’t believe in the Resurrection. The concept of the Resurrection is not found in the Torah and is not fully developed in the rest of the OT. There are beginnings of the concept found in Job 19:26, the Psalms 16:10, 49:15, Isaiah 25:8, 26:16-19, Daniel 12:2, Hosea 13:14, and Ezekiel 37 with the dry bones coming to live, but it is really a New Testament phenomenon.

So they try and trick Jesus by asking an inane question about the Resurrection to make him look a fool in trying to defend such a theology. They want him to look a fool before the Pharisees who did believe in the Resurrection. There aim, to discredit him and embolden their fixed beliefs and thinking.

… When we ask questions, let the questions be questions that come from a heart that will appreciate new answers. When we ask questions, let us ask recognizing that we don’t have all the answers and never will. None of us hold all the truth at one time. When we ask questions, let us see them as doorways into answers that may not be discernable at first, but may only materialize later on. Doorways into spiritual growth and not barriers to defend our hardened beliefs.

1. What kind of questions keeps God at an arms length?
2. What questions have you asked lately that will lead to spiritual maturity?
3. Are you afraid to ask spiritual questions and if yes, why do you think that is so?
4. Can you think of people in the bible who asked spiritual questions?