“Missing The Point” – MARK 12:18-27

First it was the Pharisees, then they were joined by the Herodians (12:13). Even thought they were not normally allied in any cause, they became “strange bedfellows” politically and lined up against Jesus. Now the Sadducees, theological foes of the Pharisees come racing in to see if they can fare better against Him (12:18). Jesus did not come to become a Pharisee so he could defeat the Sadducees. He did not come to be a Jew to overthrown the Romans, or to lead the Jews into assimilation into the Roman Empire. He did not come to be a Sadducee to quash the Pharisees.

They seemed to be missing the point.

Even more than that, the Sadducees were just trying too hard. Their sect did not believe in life after death, but only in conserving the practices of the past. They did not believe in the oral tradition of the Jews, only in the Law itself. Their materialistic perspective also led them to believe that God did not care what people did, and that people were totally free. Preservation of position and wealth were all that was important. Yet, the question they asked Jesus was from the realm of the afterlife (12:23). They concocted an absurdly complex scenario to ask Jesus a question in order to trap Him in His answer. Jesus taught them that in the afterlife, there is no marriage (12:25).

They were missing the point.

Knowing they did not follow the oral traditions, Jesus appealed to them on the basis of the Law itself, saying “Have you not read in the book of Moses” (12:26). Knowing they did not believe in eternal life, He trapped them in their own question. Yahweh is not the God of dead bones in the ground (12:27). Abraham is dead and his bones are buried, but Yahweh IS (not “was”) his God. People argue that preachers place too much emphasis on grammar, yet Jesus appealed to the tense of the verb, “I am”. God is precise in what He says, and the word of God must be read and understood precisely.

The Sadducees missed the point of the everlasting sovereignty of God.

The only way it makes sense is for there to be an afterlife.

For us today, let us learn from the futile approach of the Sadducees. Even when the Bible speaks directly and clearly, folks will concoct all sorts of distorted and absurdly complex scenarios to try to gain some theological wiggle room instead of just accepting what Scripture says. On one of the most basic facets of Christianity – baptism – there is a wide spectrum on its necessity, meaning and purpose. People will concoct scenarios where a person believes, but trips and falls and dies before making it into the water.

Why?

Because they are trying to bend Scripture to accommodate their beliefs instead of bending their beliefs to accommodate Scripture!

Jesus said, “He who believes and is baptized shall be saved” (Mark 16:16), Peter said “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins” (Acts 2:38) and wrote “baptism now saves us” (1 Peter 3:21). Every conversion of an individual in the book of Acts includes baptism.

Concocting scenarios to argue that baptism is not necessary misses the point entirely.

The Sadducees were absolutely correct in their belief that the oral tradition was not binding, but only the word of God. Today our equivalents of those “oral traditions” are the teachings of men from pulpits and classrooms. We have commentaries and books galore. They may be insightful, but they are not inspired Scripture.   But should they twist the word of God to make a theological point, they “err exceedingly” (12:27b).

If we ARE followers of men, then we need to get back to our Bibles.

If we would try to pit one Scripture against another (like trying to trap Jesus with Scripture), then we need to check our motivations.

Anything short of a simple trusting faith grounded in God’s word is simply missing the point.