Steven A. Bush - May 25, 2025
Why the Sadducees Were Sad-You-See
In the time of Jesus there was a Jewish sect called the Sadducees. The Sadducees were the controlling sect in that time, holding the majority seats in the Jewish governing body--the Sanhedrin. More theologically liberal than the Pharisees, they didn't believe in an afterlife nor of resurrection from the dead. On one occasion they tried to trip Jesus up with an implausible scenario regarding an OT law regarding the obligation of a brother of a deceased brother to marry his widow in order to preserve his brother's lineage. They asked Jesus if this were actually to happen seven times, who'd be the woman's husband after the resurrection. They were sure they had Him! But in Luke 20:34-38 Jesus responds: "And Jesus said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Now He is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to Him.” (ESV) While eviscerating the Sadducees life after death theology, in just a few sentences, He most certainly affirms for we His children that death is certainly not the end...
Scripture References: Luke 20:27-39, 1 Corinthians 2:9, Ephesians 3:20-21, John 11:25-26