Psalms 145 * 104; Exodus 13:17-14:4; 2Corinthians 4:16-5:10; Mark 12:18-27We end Easter Week today with Jesus explaining about resurrection to unbelieving Sadducees, telling them they are quite wrong. You are quite wrong, Jesus says, something they probably didn't like to hear, or did not hear said to their face very often. Who among us likes to be brought up short in the manner Jesus does to the Sadducees today? I think this is a good reminder to us that we do not, nor will we ever, have all the answers.
Jesus begins his response to the Sadducees with the statement Is this not the reason you are wrong, that you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God? Jesus is upbraiding the Sadducees for trying to define God in their own narrow construct, and in the same way their narrow and literalistic manipulation of scripture takes them away from God's presence in those holy words. Jesus doesn't say we will be angels in the resurrection, but are like angels in heaven, trying to explain the unexplainable to those Sadducees. Jesus is saying, putting human limits on God's power makes them get it wrong.
A good reading to end Easter Week, for God's unlimited power, unimagined by the Sadducees, who shown true by Jesus' resurrection six days ago, where human-made limits and beliefs and understandings are shattered.
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Copyright 2010, The Rev. John F. Dwyer. All Rights Reserved.
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