Luke 20:27-21:4
The dead will rise
When we start to think about the resurrection and life after death, it is hard to imagine what it will be like. What will people look like? What kind of body will you have? How will we relate to one another?
Sometimes, people use these kinds of questions to suggest that the idea of the resurrection is fanciful or even absurd. The Sadducees belonged to a ‘party that denies any possibility of resurrection’ (20:27, MSG). They came to Jesus with this kind of trick question about a woman who had had seven husbands, asking mockingly how it would all work out with the resurrection.
Jesus answered by explaining that their question is flawed because they are working with a this-worldly mindset. The resurrection will transform all our human relationships and the need for marriage as a means of continuing a family line will be removed (vv.34–36).
Jesus answers the question, but then goes on to address the real issue. The Sadducees were unimpressed by the hints of the resurrection in the Old Testament because they placed far greater weight on the first five books of the Bible (the Pentateuch).
Jesus takes them on, on their own territory, by quoting from one of these books: ‘Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord “the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob”. He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive’ (vv.37–38).
Jesus is absolutely clear that he believed, not only in his own resurrection, but also in a much wider ‘resurrection from the dead’ (v.35). Those who rise ‘can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God’s children, since they are children of the resurrection’ (v.36).
Of course, it all depends on Jesus being who he claimed to be. Jesus points out that he is not only a son of David, he is David’s Lord (vv.41–44). If Jesus is Lord, you can be confident in his assurance that ‘the dead rise’ (v.37).
If you really believe in the resurrection it changes your attitude to everything in life, including your possessions. Like the widow (21:1–4) you are challenged to give generously, hold your possessions lightly and, ultimately, to be willing to give up everything you have in this life.
Furthermore, you have a whole different perspective on this life. There is real hope in the face of the tragedy of death. This life is only the beginning.
Lord, thank you so much for dying for me and thank you for the amazing hope that I have through your resurrection. Thank you that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead will raise us also.