Then the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died without leaving any children. The second one married the widow, but he also died, leaving no child. It was the same with the third. In fact, none of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman died too. At the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?”
Mark 12:18-23
Some people come to learn. Some people are open to the possibility that they don’t have the important things of life completely wired. These people know certain things but realize that there is much to life, and that getting knowledge is a process. There is no “knowledge” button that you push and are instantly uploaded with wisdom from above.
And then there are other people. They have life completely wired. They need no additional data. They have everything in their brain that’s important.
One evening I had an introductory call with the new senior vice president of the company I worked for. He started out with a 35-minute one-way conversation where he told me all about his experience. His contacts. His background. His deals. His intellect.
When he finally paused and asked if I had any questions, I really didn’t know what to say. But I quickly came up with what I thought was an interesting question. “One of the ways I get to know people is to ask what books they’re reading. It lets me know their interests. So, what book have your recently read that you’d like to tell me about?”
After what seemed like an eternity of silence, he said these immortal words, “I don’t read books. I already know everything I need to, so why waste time reading.”
As soon as the call ended, I walked into the other room where Mary Ann was watching TV and said, “I’m going to start looking for a new job. Fast.”
That’s where the Sadducees are coming from. They’ve got God in a nice, neat, box, all tied up with a bow.
Since they’d never experienced or seen a resurrection, and they couldn’t figure out how one could happen, it just made sense to them that a resurrection was just an impossibility. They thought that since they couldn’t figure it out, it was impossible for God to resurrect someone.
There are lots of people today who are in this same corner. They’ve got life all figured out. They know how the world works. If they push a certain button, then the same, predictable thing always happens. The world is one big machine with gears that move in a certain way.
Life is like that great scene in “Modern Times” when Charlie Chaplin is swallowed by a machine[1]. He moves through the gears, because that’s what gears do.
Is this how life really is? Is everything fixed so that it always works a certain way?
Life is too unpredictable for it to be this way. And God, as creator and sustainer, not only has the power to do new things, he also has the authority and right to. He never goes against who he is, but he can step into our world and do the unusual. The unexpected.
How do you see God? Is he creator? Sustainer? Lord and king over everything? If no, then life can be like a simple machine. Pull this leaver, and nothing happens but the expected. The predictable.
And, oh, by the way, if there is no God, then beauty and love go out the door. There’s nothing mechanical about them, so they can’t exist. Truth also leaves along with right and wrong. If there’s no God, then what one person thinks is true, and no one else can tell them anything different. Because all you have are the opinions.
But, if he is who he says he is, then there’s a whole world of possibilities open before you. There’s beauty. There’s love. There’s truth. There’s right and wrong.
I really feel sorry for these Sadducees. I don’t think it’s coincidence that their name begins with “sad.” What could be sadder than a life where there is no love. No beauty. No truth.
That’s the question God puts before us. Choose him and everything that goes along with it or choose emptiness and nothingness. It’s the only two options.
What will you choose? Who will you choose?
[1] https://youtu.be/ZdvEGPt4s0Y?t=34
Comments