Luke 20:27-38: Humans are social animals and as such we need rules, laws, and boundaries. We need them not only to restrain our bad behaviors but also to reduce our functional anxiety (one of the big challenges with modernity is the huge array of choices we have; were more anxious making a choice and less happy with that choice). However, rules, laws, and boundaries are temporally bound, and as times change, rules can become unjust and contrary to their original intent. Rules can also become unjust if they place unfair or arbitrary burdens on some but not others. The Saducees who are sticklers for the rules of the Torah try to entrap Jesus with the absurd hypothetical of the woman who sequential marries 7 brothers who all die. Jesus has advocated broad obedience to the Torah, even while violating some specific rules (follow the spirit of the law over the letter). The Saducees dont believe in life after death (indeed I cant blame them; not empirically provable). Furthermore, the people of Israel werent observing Levirate marriage customs in Jesus time. In any case, He counters their objection by teaching that in the resurrection there wont be life as we know it. He invites us to have hope in life after death but to realize that it still involves death, so dont wait to do the important things.
Posted on: Sun, 10 Nov 2013 16:49:20 +0000
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