Can you believe we are on chapter 20? Cause I cannot believe we only have 4 more days and we will have completed the book of Luke! Crazy!
The first thing I noticed about this chapter was that the chief priests, scribes and elders are now confronting Jesus and questioning him. I find it so funny that the first thing they come to question him on is his authority and where he gets his authority from. I’m just saying…..but if you’ve read this far along then you notice where Jesus gets his authority from. And you can see within Jesus’ life that his authority comes from God. Jesus made that very clear to them and they still do not want to see it.
Jesus then gives a parable and the crazy thing about the parable is that the chief priests and the scribes knew that Jesus was speaking about them! Verse 19 says,
“And the chief priests and the scribes that very hour sought to lay hands on Him, but they feared the people–for they knew He had spoken this parable against them.”
Then the chapter continues on into the Pharisees trying to seize Jesus on his words. And then again the Sadducees. The Sadducees ask about the resurrection. These are the verses I want to focus on. Verses 27-33 say,
“Then some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is a resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, saying: “Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man’s brother dies, having a wife, and he dies without children, his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were 7 brothers. And the first took a wife, and died without children. And the second took her as wife, and he died childless. Then the third took her, and in like manner the 7 also; and they left no children, and died. Last of all the woman died also. Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife does she become? For all 7 had her as wife.””
So let’s look at this. The Sadducees do not believe in the resurrection and yet they are asking Jesus about a story where people die and they want to know what happens to them in the resurrection…..hmm….They are definitely testing Jesus. And He knows it. I love Jesus’ response. Verse 34-38 says,
“Jesus answered and said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are counted worthy to attain that age, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. But even Moses showed in the bush that the dead are raised, when he called the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him.”
I love that Jesus took the time to give them an answer. People get married while here on earth. This is a normal practice that we still continue to this day. But in that age Jesus says that people will not marry, they will not die anymore (woohoo! Love this!). They will be equal to the angels and are sons of God! This is very cool! They are sons of the resurrection!
I also think it is really interesting that the Sadducees brought up Moses within their questioning. Jesus also uses Moses in his response showing them that He is a God of the living and not of the dead! So awesome!!
This chapter was very fun to read and Larry and I had a lot of great talks about this one…..mostly because my brain doesn’t always understand the way I want it to! Hope you all are learning a lot! I know I am and I am so grateful for it.
See you all in the next chapter!!
