We all come to God
conditioned to believe, or disbelieve certain things. If we are honest
with ourselves, usually we are coming to God not to grow or to be challenged,
but to have our existing beliefs confirmed. Before we are too harsh with
the Sadducees concerning their failure to believe in the resurrection, perhaps
we should examine ourselves and ask if we aren't also guilty of some degree of
blindness when it comes to God's power to work in our world, even today.
This story brings us a word from God precisely because we find ourselves
more often than not identifying more with the Sadducees than with Jesus.
So, when we read that the Sadducees came
to him, those Sadducees who do not believe that there is a resurrection,
perhaps we should reserve our judgment.
Rather than shaking our heads at their disbelief, maybe this is a chance
to ask what baggage we bring with us when we come before Jesus. “That man came to Jesus, the one who thinks
that others sins are worse than his own.”
“This woman came to the Lord, the one who refuses to believe that she
can truly be forgiven.” “A child came to
Jesus, a child who cannot understand what it means to call God Father, because
they’ve never had an earthly father love and care for them.” We don’t just bring our ideas and our beliefs,
we brings our experiences, our insecurities, our prejudices, and even our
judgmental attitudes with us when we come to hear a word from the Lord. They blind our eyes to the power of Jesus,
and more often than not prevent us from being able to see the world through the
lens of the gospel. We cling to these
beliefs and ideas, even constructing our faith around them, so that we spend
most of our time trying to score intellectual points, rather than trying to
transform our world. The entire story
made up by the Sadducees is concocted to try to disprove the resurrection. They aren’t asking Jesus a question to find
out the truth, the come thinking they know the truth, and are trying to force Jesus
into agreeing with them
The Sadducees idea of resurrection was
raising up an heir for a brother. A man
might not live on, but his name and reputation will live on through his
children. Jesus idea of resurrection is
raising the dead themselves. It sounds
silly to us, as Christians we would never deny the resurrection. And yet, as we profess God’s ability to raise
the dead, at the same time we fail to believe that God can transform our lives,
our communities, and even our world into the one he envisioned all along. God does more, is doing more, than we could
ever imagine. Sadly, like the Sadducees,
we fail to see it, or fail to believe it.
Sounds pretty depressing doesn’t
it? It would be, except for the fact
that even in our disbelief Jesus meets us where we are, and tries to build our
faith. The Sadducees only believed in
the Pentateuch, the five books of Moses, so Jesus pulls a passage from there
that demonstrates the power of the resurrection. “I am the God of your father, the God of
Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.” (Exodus 3:6) There is a small grammatical detail that is
often overlooked, one that Jesus is quick to point out. God says I
am, not I was. God is not regulated to the pages of history,
a forgotten deity worshipped by those long dead and gone. If we open our eyes, we will see in the world
around us a God still active, still working, still worshipped by those alive,
as well as by those who are dead but who
will live again.
That’s why it is important that we come
to Christ, willing to be formed according to God’s truth, not our
preconception. Why? Because God’s plans for us are often bigger,
grander, and far more marvelous than we could ever imagine.
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