Sadducees Sadly Mistaken (2004)

SADDUCEES SADLY MISTAKEN

Text: Luke 20:27-40

Bruce Larson made the comment that the question that the Sadducees posed to Jesus was a test that was designed to determine whether or not He was a conservative or a liberal. (Bruce Larson. Mastering The New Testament: Luke. Dallas: Word Publishing, 1983, p. 291). Larson commented further saying that a question of that nature is used to rate another's orthodoxy wherein he/she will be included or excluded based upon their answer as well as the creed of the group asking the question or questions (p. 291).

The intention of the question of our "case in point" (Luke 20:27-40) was designed by those who composed it to make a fool of Jesus. It backfired. The scripture tells us that when Jesus answered that question, no one dared to ask Him any other questions.

This passage of scripture points out two things that contrast one another which are the Sadducean versus the Christian point of view. Today we will explore the point of view of the Sadducees on resurrection, the Christian point of view of the resurrection and eschatology.

THE SADDUCEAN VIEW

The Sadducees based their question upon the view of what is called the Levirate marriage. The understanding of the Levirate marriage was that one lived on through their family name. The understanding was based on the scripture of Deuteronomy 25:5- 6: "If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband's brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her. The first son that she bears shall carry on the name of the dead brother so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel" (NIV). Moses also established that when no male heir existed, but there was a daughter, she would then become the heir of her father's property (Numbers 27:1-8).

For a couple to be childless was not looked at favorably. People with children sometimes looked at those without children through suspicious eyes. Perhaps people with children looked at those couples who were childless with sorrow because of the inability to have an heir. To die without a male child, the family name would not be carried on. But, at least a daughter could be an heir.

The Sadducees did not believe in the concept of life after death. When I was in seminary, I was studying for my church history exam. While I was studying with a group the subject of the Sadducees came up. To remember what was significant about them, one of the members of the study group gave us an excellent memory cue for recall: "The Sadducees did not believe in life after death that is why they we "sad- you-see".

The Sadducees did not believe in the idea of life after death (Acts 23: 8). The Hebrew word for grave was "Sheol". Perhaps, the reason that they did not believe in life after death might have been due to the thinking that death and the grave were one's final resting place, because for them there was no "life after death".

If you compared the Sadducees to the Pharisees, then you would look at the Pharisees in a more favorable light. "The Pharisees leaned toward a belief in resurrection that owed more to Greek ideas than to the Old Testament" (Kenneth L. Barker and John L. Kohlenberger III. Zondervan NIV Bible Commentary. Volume 2. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1994, p. 274). Yet, the Sadducees refused to acknowledge a point that Jesus made clear about life after death: "... even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord `the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive" (Luke 20:37-38 NIV). In fact, if you read Matthew's account of that same story (Matthew 22:23-33) that comment is prefaced by a rebuke when Jesus asked "Have you not read ...?" (Matthew 22:31), (Barker and Kohlenberger, p. 100).

Although it does not allude to it in this passage of scripture, it must be said that the Sadducees did not believe in the existence of angels either (Acts 23:8). Atheists do not believe in God or life after death. So we could conclude that both the atheists and the Sadducees would have agreed that the grave is the end of existence for each human.

THE CHRISTIAN POINT OF VIEW

Jesus Himself is the resurrection and the life (John 11:25). If you go to the eleventh chapter of the gospel of John, then you will read about how Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. The only thing is that Jesus brought him back to his earthly body having "reversed" the lifeless body back to the state of being alive (Barker and Kohlenberger, p. 336) to where he was literally brought back to life. Basically, this story is pointing out how Jesus brought forth resurrection in the earthly life of Lazarus---the temporal realm. When Jesus was risen from the dead, He was resurrected in a spiritual and heavenly body. The point is made by the apostle Paul that in baptism we are baptized into the likeness of Christ so that we have become united with Him in His death as He paid the price for our sins on the cross so that when we are resurrected, we, too, can be resurrected into His likeness (Romans 6:3-8 paraphrased).