Tag: Sadducees

Grace Under Fire

~ Chuck Griffin ~ Leave a comment

Acts 4:1-4 (NLT)

While Peter and John were speaking to the people, they were confronted by the priests, the captain of the Temple guard, and some of the Sadducees. These leaders were very disturbed that Peter and John were teaching the people that through Jesus there is a resurrection of the dead. They arrested them and, since it was already evening, put them in jail until morning. But many of the people who heard their message believed it, so the number of men who believed now totaled about 5,000.

Yesterday, we considered how Peter continued to offer forgiving grace from Jesus Christ even to the people involved in the crucifixion. Thousands listened, but we also see how pointedly describing sin and the need for repentance can get a person into trouble.

The leaders who thought a crucifixion had brought an end to the Jesus movement were unhappy to hear all this talk of resurrection. Peter and John found themselves under arrest.

They seem to have approached the situation not as a problem, but as an opportunity. Read on a little, and you’ll see how they continued to declare that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior, and that ongoing healing still was to be credited to the one who had risen from the dead.

Later, such arrests would lead to beatings for the apostles. Fearing the people who had seen the lame man healed, the Jewish leaders this day opted for authoritarian threats and intimidation, telling Peter and John to speak of Jesus no more.

The two were unimpressed.

“Do you think God wants us to obey you rather than him? We cannot stop telling about everything we have seen and heard.”

The lesson is straightforward. If they were so bold under their circumstances, we certainly should be bold in ours. Let’s always be seeking new opportunities to tell people Jesus Christ is Lord.

Lord, we know any success we have at declaring the Good News is because of your strength, not our own. May we rely on your guidance and power more each day. Amen.

Imagine No Resurrection

~ Chuck Griffin ~ Leave a comment

Mark 12:18-27 (NLT)

Then Jesus was approached by some Sadducees—religious leaders who say there is no resurrection from the dead. They posed this question: “Teacher, Moses gave us a law that if a man dies, leaving a wife without children, his brother should marry the widow and have a child who will carry on the brother’s name. Well, suppose there were seven brothers. The oldest one married and then died without children. So the second brother married the widow, but he also died without children. Then the third brother married her. This continued with all seven of them, and still there were no children. Last of all, the woman also died. So tell us, whose wife will she be in the resurrection? For all seven were married to her.”

Jesus replied, “Your mistake is that you don’t know the Scriptures, and you don’t know the power of God. For when the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage. In this respect they will be like the angels in heaven.

“But now, as to whether the dead will be raised—haven’t you ever read about this in the writings of Moses, in the story of the burning bush? Long after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had died, God said to Moses, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ So he is the God of the living, not the dead. You have made a serious error.”

By Chuck Griffin

In the daily lectionary readings, we last considered in October this exchange between Jesus and the Sadducees, hearing the story in the Gospel of Matthew. In this Easter season, it’s always appropriate to consider the critical importance of Christ’s resurrection, as well as the resurrection we will experience one day.

After all, there are modern-day Sadducees who will tell you there is no such thing as a resurrection, sometimes while standing in a pulpit.

Suppose you were to pick up the newspaper and find this headline: “Christ’s Body Found!” Under this headline is a story saying that Jesus’ body has been located in an ancient tomb. Documents and artifacts nearby prove it is Jesus’ body. The evidence is irrefutable.

What would such facts do to your faith?

A professor at Asbury Theological Seminary in Kentucky used to ask his students this question. He would get a variety of answers.

Students often said something along these lines: “Jesus was a great teacher. I still would want to devote my life to passing on his teachings about love and forgiveness.”

There was a time when I might have given the same answer. I’m convinced now, however, that such an answer demonstrates a poor understanding of the radical nature of Christianity.

Here’s my response to the hypothetical newspaper story: I would quit the ministry and return to my former career, public relations, where I could make more money and use it to enjoy life before I die. Absent a real resurrection, Christianity loses all its meaning.

If Christ were not resurrected, then he was just another person spouting high-minded words, preaching ideas that got him killed.

If Christ were not resurrected, we have no hope of resurrection, and we should call him crazy. Remember, in the Bible Jesus repeatedly says he is the Son of God and that he has to suffer, die and rise from the dead. If he merely suffered and died, it’s hard to take anything else he said seriously. People who erroneously claim to be God are delusional.

If Christ were not resurrected, then we would be better off spending our energy wielding as much power as possible, taking what we can from this world before the world swallows us. Jesus’ teachings about loving our enemies, caring for the poor, and suffering for the benefit of others simply don’t make sense in a world where God has not demonstrated that sacrificial love overcomes all, even death.

Fortunately Christ is risen—as we say on Easter Sunday, he is risen indeed!

Christ’s resurrection is God’s way of proving that selfless, sacrificial acts generate the greatest power in this world, the infinite kind of power needed to break the deadly grip of sin.

For Christians, the resurrection really is everything.

Lord, help us to preach and teach the concept of the resurrection fully and completely so others may understand the gift we have been granted. Amen.

Get Real

~ Chuck Griffin ~ 1 Comment

By Chuck Griffin
LifeTalk Editor

Matthew 22:23-33 (NLT)

That same day Jesus was approached by some Sadducees—religious leaders who say there is no resurrection from the dead. They posed this question: “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies without children, his brother should marry the widow and have a child who will carry on the brother’s name.’ Well, suppose there were seven brothers. The oldest one married and then died without children, so his brother married the widow. But the second brother also died, and the third brother married her. This continued with all seven of them. Last of all, the woman also died. So tell us, whose wife will she be in the resurrection? For all seven were married to her.”

Jesus replied, “Your mistake is that you don’t know the Scriptures, and you don’t know the power of God. For when the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage. In this respect they will be like the angels in heaven.

“But now, as to whether there will be a resurrection of the dead—haven’t you ever read about this in the Scriptures? Long after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had died, God said, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ So he is the God of the living, not the dead.”

When the crowds heard him, they were astounded at his teaching.

If you’re a cynic, you have to be careful when you’re near Christ. You may find yourself confronted with the grittiness of your world view.

Just ask the Sadducees, a party within the Jewish religious-political structure in Jesus’ day. What made the Sadducees unique was their belief that there was no afterlife, and that in particular God would never raise people from the dead.

The Sadducees enjoyed publicly making fun of Jesus’ teachings about resurrection and an afterlife with God. They did so in what sounds like a riddle, one designed to expose what they considered the silliness of the resurrection.

The riddle also opened the door to some off-color humor at Jesus’ expense. It relied on the image of a pitiful woman passing from the arms of one brother to another. The riddle was rooted in the Jewish tradition that if a man were to die childless, his brother was to marry the widow and impregnate her so the dead brother would have an heir.

All seven brothers tried, and all seven brothers died, the riddle went. Finally, the woman died, too. “So tell us, whose wife will she be in the resurrection?” the Pharisees asked Jesus. “For all seven were married to her.”

When I imagine this ribald theological challenge, I see the Sadducees snickering, or at least suppressing a smirk. Any Jews standing nearby may have laughed out loud.

In modern terms, Jesus’ response can be boiled down to two words: “Get real.” He ignored the intricacies of the Sadducees’ earthy riddle. Instead, he affirmed the resurrection and tried to help them see that their theology was as coarse as their humor.

Jesus wanted them to see the glory and hope God offers us through Jesus Christ. “For when the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage. In this respect they will be like the angels in heaven,” he said.

We are reminded that we are so much more than what day-to-day life reveals to us. Jesus went on to prove his assertions by dying on the cross for our sins and then rising from the dead transformed, demonstrating that the power of sin and death had been defeated.

God promises us the same resurrection experience if only we believe in the effectiveness of Jesus’ work on the cross to save us. In fact, all of creation will be reworked to fit God’s view of how things should be.

Such belief does more than give us a future. It gives us a present we can interpret with hope and optimism rather than cynicism.

Even where we see pain and death, we can say, “I know the ugliness of this world is temporary. I know God hates what I’m seeing even more than I do, and that he’s provided a way out.”

The world may remain gritty, but knowing the situation is temporary changes everything.

Lord, may today bring us a special experience of your very present, resurrection-rooted kingdom. Amen.