#50 A Smart Answer To A Dumb Question Series

#50 A Smart Answer to a Dumb Question

Series: Mark

Chuck Sligh

August 15, 2021

NOTE: A PowerPoint presentation is available for this sermon by request at chuckcsligh@gmail.com. Please mention the title of the sermon and the Bible text to help me find the sermon in my archives.

TEXT: Mark 12:18-27 – “Then come unto him the Sadducees, which say there is no resurrection; and they asked him, saying, 19 Master, Moses wrote unto us, If a man's brother die, and leave his wife behind him, and leave no children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. 20 Now there were seven brethren: and the first took a wife, and dying left no seed. 21 And the second took her, and died, neither left he any seed: and the third likewise. 22 And the seven had her, and left no seed: last of all the woman died also. 23 In the resurrection therefore, when they shall rise, whose wife shall she be of them? for the seven had her to wife. 24 And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God? 25 For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven. 26 And as touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? 27 He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err.”

INTRODUCTION

We have all heard dumb questions before. Here are my 5 favorite dumb questions I’ve read online:

• Smurfs, as you know, are little blue creatures. So, if a Smurf starts to choke, what color it will it become?

• If an orange is orange, why isn’t a lime called a green or a lemon called a yellow?

• If corn oil is made from corn and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, what is baby oil made from?

• What was the first person to milk a cow trying to do?

• If you throw your cat outside while driving, will it be called kitty litter?

In today’s text, a group of religious leaders we have not encountered yet in Mark comes to Jesus with a dumb question meant to mock a cherished belief, and instead gets a straightforward answer that made THEM look bad instead of Jesus.

To get our bearings straight, note that Jesus is in Jerusalem and the cross is only days away. The religious gang are hounding Jesus continually, trying to trip Him up and trick Him into saying something that will discredit Him with the people or get Him in trouble with the authorities. They want Him out of the way once and for all.

They tried 3 counterattacks: First with a question about Jesus’ authority and Jesus proved that His authority came from God, and through a parable, hinted at His own deity. Then they asked a question about paying taxes to Caesar, but instead of getting Him in trouble, Jesus deftly answered their question in such a way that He both supported the legitimacy of government on the one hand, and limited it on the other. His answers caused amazement among the people, and frustration among His enemies.

Let’s pick up from there as we look at the religious gang’s third counterattack on Jesus:

I. FIRST, IN VERSES 18-23, WE SEE A DUMB QUESTION.

Verse 18 says, “Then came unto him the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection; and they asked him, saying,…”

This is the first and only time in the book of Mark we meet the Sadducees. They only accepted the first 5 books of the Old Testament (known as the Pentateuch) as scripture and authoritative, unlike the Pharisees who accepted all of what we call the Old Testament. Some commonly held beliefs only hinted at in the Pentateuch but fleshed out in more detail in the later books of the Old Testament, were rejected by the Sadducees—such as the resurrection of the dead, future judgments, the afterlife, and the reality of angels and demons. The Sadducees were generally from the aristocratic class of Jewish society and were influential in the Sanhedrim, the Jewish governing body.

Now let’s read verses 19-23: “Master, Moses wrote to us, ‘If a man’s brother dies, and leaves his wife behind him, and leaves no children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up offspring for his brother.’ 20 Now there were seven brethren: and the first took a wife, and dying, left no offspring. 21 And the second took her, and died, neither left he any offspring: and the third likewise. 22 And the seven had her, and left no offspring: last of all the woman died also. 23 In the resurrection therefore, when they shall rise, whose wife shall she be of them, for the seven had married her?”