DAY #37: February 6, 2009 - Matthew 22:23-46

I would like some of you to share how God has been growing you through your reading of the New Testament. I'd like two of you to (one in each service) this Sunday. Any takers? Just share what God is doing in your heart. I am hoping to encourage others @ COV to introduce this spiritual discipline in their lives

"But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness." Hebrews 3:13 (NIV)

Now, back to Matthew. Today, we see the religious leaders question Jesus about the resurrection. WHY? The combined group of religious leaders from the Council had failed with their first question; the Pharisees and Herodians had failed with a political question; here the Sadducees, another group of religious leaders, smugly stepped in to try to trap Jesus with a theological question.

The Sadducees honored only the Pentateuch—Genesis through Deuteronomy—as Scripture, and they rejected most of the Pharisees’ traditions, rules, and regulations. The Sadducees said there is no resurrection because they could find no mention of it in the Pentateuch. Apparently, the Pharisees had never been able to come up with a convincing argument from the Pentateuch for the resurrection, and the Sadducees thought they had trapped Jesus for sure.

Moses had written that if a man dies without children, his unmarried brother (or nearest male relative) should marry the widow and have a child who will be the brother’s heir. The first son of this marriage was considered the heir of the dead man (Deuteronomy 25:5-6). The main purpose of the instruction was to produce an heir and guarantee that the family would not lose their land. The book of Ruth gives an example of this law in operation (Ruth 3:1–4:12). This law, called “levirate” marriage, protected the widow and allowed the family line to continue.

The Sadducees used an example of a woman who had been married, one at a time, to seven brothers. When all eight of them were resurrected, whose wife will she be? This was a tongue-in-cheek question meant to prove that it was ridiculous to believe in a resurrection. The Sadducees erroneously assumed that if people were resurrected, they would assume physical bodies capable of procreation. Because they could not conceive of a resurrection life, they decided that God couldn’t raise the dead. And since they thought that Moses hadn’t written about it, they considered the case “closed.”

Jesus wasted no time dealing with their hypothetical situation but went directly to their underlying assumption that resurrection of the dead was impossible. Jesus clearly stated that these Sadducees were wrong about the resurrection for two reasons: (1) They didn’t know the Scriptures (if they did, they would believe in the resurrection because it is taught in Scripture), and (2) they didn’t know the power of God (if they did, they would believe in the resurrection because God’s power makes it possible). Ignorance on these two counts was inexcusable for these religious leaders.

Furthermore, the resurrection (heaven) will not be an extension of earthly life. Instead, life in heaven will be different. Believers will be like the angels in heaven regarding marriage. Those in heaven will no longer be governed by physical laws but will share the immortal and exalted nature of angels, living above physical needs. Jesus was not teaching that people will not recognize their spouses in heaven. Jesus was not dissolving the eternal aspect of marriage, doing away with sexual differences, or teaching that we will be asexual beings after death. Jesus was not intending to give the final word on marriage in heaven.

We cannot learn very much about sex and marriage in heaven from this one statement by Jesus. His point was simply that we must not think of heaven as an extension of life as we now know it. Our relationships in this life are limited by time and death. We don’t know everything about our resurrection life, but Jesus was affirming that relationships will be different from what we are used to here and now. Jesus was showing that the Sadducees’ question was completely irrelevant. But their assumption about the resurrection needed a definitive answer, and Jesus was just the one to give it.

The Sadducees’ underlying comment regarded their view of the absurdity of resurrection. Their question to Jesus was intended to show him to be foolish. So Jesus cut right to the point: as to whether there will be a resurrection of the dead, Jesus answered them from Exodus 3:6.

God had spoken of dead men as though they were still alive; thus, Jesus reasoned, the men were not dead but living. God would not have a relationship with dead beings. Although men and women have died on earth, God continues his relationship with them because they are resurrected to life with him in heaven. Therefore, the Sadducees were wrong in their mistaken assumption about the resurrection.

Next an expert in religious law stepped up to trap Jesus with another question, “Which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?” The legal expert was referring to a popular debate about the “more important” and “less important” of the hundreds of laws that the Jews had accumulated. The Pharisees had classified over six hundred laws and would spend much time discussing which laws were weightier than others. Jesus’ definitive answer about the resurrection caused this man to hope that Jesus might also have the final answer about all these laws.

Jesus referred to Deuteronomy 6:5 to show that a person’s total being must be involved in loving God. You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. The heart is the center of desires and affections, the soul is a person’s “being” and uniqueness, the mind is the center of a person’s intellect. To love God in this way is to fulfill completely all the commandments regarding one’s “vertical” relationship.

There is a second and equally important law that focuses on “horizontal” relationships—dealings with fellow human beings. Jesus quoted Leviticus 19:18: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” The word “neighbor” refers to fellow human beings in general. The love a person has for himself or herself should also be directed toward others. In answer to the man’s question, Jesus explained that all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments. By fulfilling these two commands to love God totally and love others as oneself, a person will keep all the other commands.

The Pharisees expected a Messiah, but they erroneously thought he would be only a human ruler who would reign on King David’s throne, deliver the Jews from Gentile domination by establishing God’s rule on earth, and restore Israel’s greatness as in the days of David and Solomon. They knew that the Messiah would be a descendant of David, but they did not understand that he would be more than a human descendant—he would be God in the flesh.

Jesus quoted Psalm 110:1 to show that David, speaking under the influence of the Holy Spirit, understood the Messiah to be his Lord (that is, one who had authority over him), not just his descendant. If the great King David himself called the coming Messiah his Lord, then how could the Messiah be merely David’s son (meaning “descendant”)? David himself didn’t think the Messiah would be just a descendant; instead, David, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, had realized that the Messiah would be God in human form and would deserve due respect and honor. The silence of Jesus’ opponents shows their total defeat. This was Jesus’ last controversy with the religious establishment.

SO WHAT? (what will I do with what I have read today?)

Sometime I get ticked at the biblical illiteracy that so many believers are plagued by. I mean think about it - we call ourselves "Christians". What exactly does that mean? Literately, it means little Christ - followers of Christ. You would think we would want to know everything about Him and His teachings. You would think we would want to immerse ourselves in the life He has called us to. You would think...

Now this morning, we read that Jesus rips the Pharisees for their lack of understanding of scripture. They knew of the scripture. They studied and read the scriptures, but they did not know it personally or intimately. The same thing could be said about so many in our generation today. Lord, help COV be different. Lord, help me, help the pastors, help the elders and other leaders at COV to invest in our people the truths of Your word. Lord, inspire them to pursue You and birth within them a hunger for Your word and Your ways. Raise up men and women and young people who will love Your word.

"As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?" Psalm 42:1-2 (NIV)

"When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart's delight, for I bear your name, O LORD God Almighty." Jeremiah 15:16 (NIV)

"From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. "You do not want to leave too, do you?" Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God." John 6:66-69 (NIV)

PRAYER

Today, re-energize me to teach and preach Your word with passion. Let every word that proceeds from my mouth be Your words. Lord, may Your Holy Spirit go forth, even this Sunday and draw people to you. Lord, convict people of sin and righteousness and the judgement to come. Build a church at COV where people are won to Christ and built up in Christ and Sent out for Christ.

"Now I am going to him who sent me, yet none of you asks me, 'Where are you going?' Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief. But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned." John 16:5-11 (NIV)