40 DAYS - Day 32 - 3.24.21

Love Goes the Distance - Day 32 – Wednesday, March 24th – Lori Ennis
Read Mark 12:18–44 and focus on 12:18–27 below
Remember to Pause | Read | Reflect | Listen |Pray | Journal |Practice | Encourage/Share |Fast

Then some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him; and they asked Him, saying: “Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man’s brother dies, and leaves his wife behind, and leaves no children, his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife; and dying, he left no offspring. And the second took her, and he died; nor did he leave any offspring. And the third likewise. So the seven had her and left no offspring. Last of all the woman died also. Therefore, in the resurrection, when they rise, whose wife will she be? For all seven had her as wife.”
Jesus answered and said to them, “Are you not therefore mistaken, because you do not know the Scriptures nor the power of God? For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. But concerning the dead, that they rise, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the burning bush passage, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. You are therefore greatly mistaken.” (NKJV)

This entire passage is one in which the Sadducees consistently try to tear down anything Jesus says. Thinking themselves wiser than the actual WORD of God In Flesh, they wanted to trick Him. They did this especially with their questioning about whose wife a woman who married seven brothers (in succession after each brother before he died—a levirate marriage of Old Testament) would be. Trying to get Him to concede that resurrection in Heaven couldn’t be a thing because it’s pivotal to the Truth of Christianity and who Jesus is, they thought they’d backed Him into a corner.

But that’s the thing about Jesus. He IS the Word. He IS the space that surrounds. And He certainly knows the meaning of scriptures as the Living Word. He responded appropriately, telling them that they didn’t honestly know the scripture, nor its intent, and thus were wrong. So much of the world is trying to disprove Jesus on a technicality or rigid interpretation (or misinterpretation as the case often is) of the Scripture. The audacity! Don’t let legality take you from your relationship with Him. He doesn’t want your interpretations. He wants your heart, and He’ll guide you in how to apply His Word as you give it to Him.

Prayer Focus – Today, we will pray for all the Christian Universities and Colleges in the world who are praying, leading, and inspiring the next generation of Christian leaders.