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February- The Love of God, the Love of Christ, Christian Love
“Jesus replied; ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. Matt 22:37-40 (NIV)
The Sadducees had asked Jesus about marriage in heaven. In the Mosaic Law, if a married man died, his brother had to marry the widow in order to have children for the first husband. In their example, this widow had lost seven husbands, all brothers. Their (trick) question was; “At the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven since all of them were married to her?”(Matthew 22:24-28)
Jesus’s response told them their thinking was in error. He told them they did not know the scriptures. “At the resurrection, people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God says to you, Í am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”(Vs. 30-31)
The Pharisees heard of how Jesus ‘silenced’ the Sadducees. They got their heads together and came up with a question designed to trick Him. The question? “What is the greatest commandment in the Law?”(Verses 35-36)
Jesus responds to this question by quoting Old Testament scripture passages. Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18.
As I re-read this passage, I noticed something that piques my interest. The Sadducees said there was no resurrection and yet they asked a question about how something was going to be ‘at the resurrection.’ The Sadducees believed that only the Pentateuch, the books from Genesis to Deuteronomy, were God’s divine Word. These five books does not directly teach on it.(1)
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1. Life Application Bible Tyndale House/ Zondervan Publishing Wheaton, Illinois/ Grand Rapids Michigan. © 1991 page1699
Hi Cecelia! Great catch my friend! I have heard that Scripture many, many times and yet never thought of the fact that they were questioning about the resurrection. I love that! Thank you for sharing your insights.
ReplyDeleteI know that my thinking is often in error, how can I understand the overwhelming love of God? May his grace help me to have a mind more like his.
Blessings,
Ceil
Ceil: Thank you for your thought. Each time we re read a passage, we find something that stands out to us that we had not seen before. That's what I love about studying God's Word.
DeleteThose Sadducees were like some of us nowadays--they didn't even know what they believed! Jesus is the perfect one to set us straight.
ReplyDeleteJeanette: You are right,He is the perfect one to set us straight.
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