God Of The Living

Some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus and put this question to him, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us, If someone’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first married a woman and died, leaving no descendants. So the second brother married her and died, leaving no descendants, and the third likewise. And the seven left no descendants. Last of all the woman also died. At the resurrection when they arise whose wife will she be? For all seven had been married to her.” 

Jesus said to them, “Are you not misled because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? When they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but they are like the angels in heaven. As for the dead being raised, have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God told him, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not God of the dead but of the living. You are greatly misled.” (Mark 12:18-27)

First of all, that woman was some tough.  She had seven husbands, and all were brothers each one having died after the other.  She outlived them all.   Curious circumstances some might say.  Quite the testament to her resilience and fortitude.  Interesting question posed by those Sadducees attempting to deny the resurrection.

Jesus answered them about rising from the dead, but more important for all of us, he said: "He is not God of the dead but of the living."  In other words, we must focus on life, not on death.  Death will come in time, but now we are alive, and God is there for us.  We live now in the Kingdom of God on this earth, and we will “live” later in heaven.

Now is the time not for us to dwell on foolish questions and on that which we cannot know except by faith.  When a death occurs, it becomes the time for us to take care of each other especially those who have lost a loved one such as a husband, wife, brother, or sister.

Deacon David Pierce