A Serving Leadership Insight from the Life of Jesus Christ (Mark 12:18-27)

“Then the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question….Jesus replied, ‘Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?…Now about the dead rising—have you not read…“I 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. You are badly mistaken!’” (See Mark 12:18-27 for full text)

In Mark 12:18–27, Jesus was approached by some religious leaders regarding a hypothetical and absurd situation. Supposedly a woman married seven brothers in succession since she was widowed by each. Whose wife would she be in the resurrection? These leaders thought their example proved life after death impossible, but their thinking was flawed on several levels. First, they desired to trap Jesus rather than know the truth. Second, they took a law that protected women and made it about the husbands’ concern. Third, they failed to know the Scriptures or the power of God as Jesus pointed out—people neither marry nor are given in marriage in the resurrection. Ultimately, God had announced to Moses that he is—not was—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They were badly mistaken in their theology of the resurrection. Jesus dealt with their real problem rather than stooping to involve himself in a foolish argument.

KEY QUESTIONS: How quickly do I typically respond to people’s foolish arguments? How could I wisely avoid stooping to their level of foolishness yet minimize the potential for offense? What must I do to understand someone’s real problem?