Above: From the 1988 movie.
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Mark 12:18-27: 18 Then the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus with a question. 19 “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. 20 Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died without leaving any children. 21 The second one married the widow, but he also died, leaving no child. It was the same with the third. 22 In fact, none of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman died too. 23 At the resurrection, whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?”
24 Jesus replied, “Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? 25 When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. 26 Now about the dead rising—have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the account of the burning bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? 27 He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!”
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The question in this little conversation comes from the Sadducees, the liberal religious leaders of the day. The Sadducees, we see in verse 18, “say there is no resurrection,” and will try to trap Jesus with a trick question on this issue. They, like some Christians today, considered themselves too sophisticated to believe in an old, unscientific, fairy tale like the resurrection of the body. The Sadducees remind me of a student who asked one of my seminary professors about this very thing. “Dr. Forde,” he said with an air of intellectual sophistication, “we don’t really believe in all that resurrection of the body stuff anymore, do we? Isn’t all this business about heaven just ‘pie in the sky when you die?’” Dr. Forde stared at him for a moment, and then said calmly, “Well what’s the matter, son, don’t you like pie?” If by pie, that line means something good, and if by sky, it means something good beyond this world, well, that is exactly what we believe in, because that is precisely what Jesus proclaimed.
The Sadducees tried to get Jesus to say otherwise. They ask this ridiculous question about a woman who married seven brothers, one after another, after each of them died. Then she died. Then they ask with a sneer, “Now Jesus, if there is such a thing as heaven, how is that going to work; whose wife will she be there?” They were quite sure that not even God could sort out that situation in the afterlife. Jesus replied, first of all, by implying that in heaven our relationships will be on a different level than on earth; and then, Jesus quoted a common reference to God in the Hebrew Bible as “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” men who lived their earthly life eighteen centuries earlier and were now dead and buried on earth. But, said Jesus, God is not the God of the dead, but of the living, so Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are no longer dead, but alive in Him. The dead do live again. The Hebrew Bible, our Old Testament, was revered by all the religious leaders, and putting those two statements together, silenced the Sadducees question.
One time, actor and funny little guy Danny Devito, interviewed actor and big tough guy Arnold Schwarzenegger. The two old friends talked about many things, and towards the end of the conversation they got on the subject of life and death and what comes next. Here is a summary of what Arnold said when he was asked about what happens to us when we die. He said, “Nothing happens. You go six feet under and that’s it. Anyone that tells you something different is a liar.” Then he said, “I don’t know what happens with the soul and all that spiritual stuff. I’m not an expert on that; but even though all this talk about heaven sounds good, it is a fantasy. The reality is we won’t ever see each other again after we are gone.” And then he added, “That’s the sad part. I know some people feel comfortable with death, but I don’t. I am going to miss everything here—having fun, and visiting with my friends, riding my bike to the beach, and traveling all over the world seeing interesting things. Life is the best, and I don’t want it to end. Why do we have to die?”
Let’s think about that. First of all, right in the middle of the conversation, Arnold says he is not an expert on ‘any of that spiritual stuff’– so that doesn’t really give us any reason to pay too much attention to his uninformed opinions. Arnold is a smart and articulate guy, and I like him, but he himself says he doesn’t know much about this subject. Yet, he does love life and he doesn’t want to die. But, wouldn’t you then want to be an expert on what comes next, or at least look into it a little bit? Arnold Schwarzenegger has led an amazing life, going from a poor family in a small town in Austria, to international fame in body building, acting, and politics. He got his start by disciplining himself to train and build himself up to the best body in the world—he was Mr. Universe at the age of 20—and then that opened all kinds of other doors for him. But now that is all in the past, and there are not many years left, and that makes Arnold sad. I am reminded of what Paul says in I Timothy 4:8: “Physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.”
John Wesley was an English pastor and reformer. His ministry resulted in a religious revival throughout the British Empire in the late 1700s. One day, he was invited to the country estate of a rich nobleman. The rich man proudly showed Wesley his large castle home, his many acres of land, his stables and horses and carriages, his servants’ quarters, his lavish dining room, his library, his shooting range, and his den filled with trophies from his many hunting expeditions. When Wesley had seen everything, the wealthy man asked, “Well, what do you think?” John Wesley said quietly, “I think it is going to be very difficult for you to leave all this.” That’s just like Arnold— he too is finding it difficult to think about leaving all this. (continued…)
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