Day 42 – The Temple Courts: A Trick Question

“He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for to Him all are alive” (Luke 20:38).

Have you ever met a Sadducee? Neither have I.

But that is not surprising, considering that the last one died 2000 years ago. In their prime, there were only a few of them, a tiny sect. They were like an elite, a very wealthy club. Pharisees were better known than the Sadducees, and if you lived in Jericho, you would have known more Pharisees than Sadducees. They were a small group with some extraordinary views.

They confronted Jesus with a question about a woman and her deceased husband. At best, it was a trick question. After her husband’s death, she married the other brothers, one at a time, following each brother’s death. Seven times she married. Now here comes the tricky question: “In the resurrection, whose wife will she be?”

The question is so silly that it is meant to make you laugh.

Fundamentally, Jesus takes the answer from the character of God Himself?

The question is not, nor should it be, ‘Can we still believe in life after death?’ but ‘can we believe in God?’ Death is not the end of the story for the children of God. He has promised us a better day, and we call it resurrection. We wait in the here and now for that better day with the Lord. That is what Paul meant when he said, “To die is gain” (Philippians 1:21). Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The one thing we know for sure is that death comes to us all. The God who has walked with us through every trial and tribulation while we are here on earth will never abandon us when we need Him most.

Death appears to the natural eye as being undefeatable. Jesus shows us that there is one who has victory over Him, and all that we believe about life after death rests entirely on the faithfulness of God.

There is a day coming when death will be no more. And all praise belongs to God. All of us who have a relationship with Jesus cannot be separated from His love, because our hope for the future is as secure as any other promise of God. For the beloved, death is not the end but the beginning of life forever with the Lord.

Living Lord, we rest all our hope in You, for You alone have conquered the grave. Make us strong today and bold in our faith, knowing that when the time comes to leave this earth, we will be with You forever. Amen.