Dear Luke,
I understand your opposition. It’s hard to change after so many years of
life. All I ask is that you don’t give
up the search—don’t give in before the story concludes, for there is far, far
more to Jesus than the surface reveals.
You’ve marveled at some of the dramatic healings he has done—let that
marvel remain, and be prepared for greater things than you can comprehend. I know that many of these exchanges with the
Pharisees can drag somewhat, and it’s easy to want to pull them apart and see
Jesus as just a brilliant man. I have
confidence that, in the end, you will see that he is far more than that. Don’t close the doors of your mind, my
friend, and I assure you that you will be astonished. I didn’t want to believe it all at first, either,
but in the end I was compelled to worship him, because that was the only option
once I heard how the story ends.
I think it’s important to point out
to you that so many people questioned Jesus while he was alive and in the midst
of his amazing ministry. He was healing
people in front of their very eyes, and they still couldn’t figure out who he
was. It’s tempting to say that
witnessing a miracle would solve everything, but this is a matter of the heart,
Luke. Our minds can always find a reason
not to believe, some other explanation for what the eyes have seen or the ears
have heard. Our hearts are called to
fall in love with God and offer our lives to him.
There were some Sadducees, leaders
of the day who did not believe in a resurrection, who had probably seen some
healings and heard all the stories, and yet they had plenty of questions. They had questions for Jesus that were meant
to trick him, to be a stumbling block to the man—they were only interested in
tearing him down to confirm what they wanted to believe. They invented a convoluted situation in the
hopes of pinning Jesus down. The
situation they posed to Jesus was this:
there was a woman who married a man, but the man died before they had
any children. Now, the Old Testament law
demands that the man’s brother must marry the woman. In the Sadducees’ example, the man’s brother
fulfills his duty and marries her, but then he dies. This continues on until seven brothers have
all married the woman and then died before producing any children. The Sadducees want to know which man the
woman will be married to in heaven, for there are seven choices, and it
wouldn’t seem right to leave six of the men out in the cold, yet all seven
surely couldn’t be married to her after death.
Jesus doesn’t address the specifics
of their hypothetical situation.
Instead, he uses the opportunity to teach them that heaven isn’t about
little questions like that, rather it’s focused on the worship of God.
Jesus tells them that living people
here and now get married, but marriage is not a part of the new life that comes
after resurrection. Those who have been
raised are better seen as angels or children of God, having been resurrected
and no longer capable of death. Jesus
also goes on to show these men who denied the reality of a resurrection that
the dead are raised, because Moses speaks of God as the God of Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob. This wasn’t just to remember
the lives of these great men, but because in God, they are alive.
Some of the scribes that were present
for this inquisition told Jesus that his answer was good, and they were
satisfied enough to cease their questions for him. It took them a long time to realize that he
had an answer for every question, although I’m sure that they, just like you,
Luke, had many more questions for him.
Their questions often sought to discredit, rather than engage, but the
questions arose from an uncertainty about his identity. Jesus answers their questions, but does so to
teach them, in the hopes that their minds will change as well as their hearts,
that they may come to know the God who gives life everlasting to those who
follow Jesus.
Jesus also addresses the question
of Messiah. If you’re not familiar with
this, the brief overview is that the Jews expected the Messiah to come and
liberate them. Many expected a kingly
leader to defeat the Roman empire and free Jerusalem, and Jesus was certainly
far different than that. Jesus asks the
scribes why they expected the Messiah to be David’s son when David, in the
Psalms, calls the Messiah Lord. Jesus
quotes the Psalm when the Lord addresses the Lord and has him sit at his right
hand until his enemies are defeated and safely underfoot. There is no recorded answer to this question
asked of Jesus, but what answer could they have for the man who teaches with
such wisdom?
The scribes may have wished they
had something in their own defense, for Jesus turns from these teachings to
attack them—in a voice that all people could hear, Jesus warns the people about
the scribes. They look respectable, and
they love to dress the part, wearing robes and garnering the attention and
admiration of many, which leads to them being greeted well and being elevated
when they are in the synagogue and banquets.
They love the attention their position earns them, but the reality is
that they are empty inside and will be condemned, Jesus says, because their
long prayers are only to impress others.
The widows who support them are losing their houses for the sake of the
wealth of the scribes.
I can see them now, their mouths
open to protest, shocked by the outward attack of Jesus. Even though Jesus never shies from
confronting others, this must have come as a surprise. I can imagine their rage and desire to attack
Jesus at that moment, but I would think they slunk away in shame, mumbling to
themselves and one another about the nerve of Jesus and how they will win in
the end.
Luke, Jesus didn’t come to placate
those who oppose him, and he didn’t come to keep comfortable those who refuse
to follow him. He pushed on them out of
love, but it wasn’t always easy to hear.
I admire his tenacity and passion, but I certainly see why many turned
against him.
Sincerely,
Theophilus
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