Scripture
“So he is the God of the living, not the dead, for they are all alive to him.”

Observation
Some Sadducees, who do not believe in the resurrection from the dead, put a trick question, a hypothetical, to Jesus to prove their intellectual superiority. They put to him a situation which they suppose shows the contradictions in believing in heaven. A woman who has multiple husbands (brothers who were required under the law of Moses to provide for heirs for widows), dies childless. Whose husband will she be in the resurrection?

Jesus replies by pointing out that heaven is different to earth. It’s a different world with different needs so the present rules do not apply.

He goes on to say that if God is the God of the living, and not the dead, and if God describes Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, then clearly these people are still alive.

Application
Religion multiplies ridiculous questions because it engages the soul not the spirit. Religion is about finding the loopholes and exploiting them like an unethical lawyer, and keeping God in a safe corner.

Jesus came to set us free from this. Rather than boxing God in, Jesus calls us to taste His freedom.

No more hypotheticals trying to get our finite minds around the infinite God. Rather, let’s walk in relationship with the God of the living, and let His life free us from the constraints of religious thinking.

This is not to decry doctrine, because we need to have categories to describe our infinite Father. When doctrines become the only definition of truth, when they seek to exclude people rather than include, then we are far from the path of life.

Prayer
Lord I don’t understand the details of eternity, but I trust you enough to know that you have it worked out. Thank you that you are equipping me for heaven. Please grow your grace in me each day. Amen.