Prop. 27C - Lk 20:27-38 - Key Questions

v27-33 Who were the Sadducees? Pharisees and Sadducees Not oral tradition but Torah only some more background here Saduccees were the religious elites, who were into relativity well before Einstein unleashed it onto our day and age. God seems to be more distant for them. Placed all their religious belief in the Torah, not in the traditions.

What was their understanding of the resurrection? No eternal destiny and good and evil are relative Their understanding of the resurrection was that there was none. Our souls were mortal. Their lives were connected only to the physical reality they lived in.

What's with the marriage question? What was the Sadducee understanding of marriage and having children connected to what Jesus says about the resurrection? Propagation and failure to reproduce The old testament (the Torah references being of significance to the Saduccees) is replete with references to childlessness (This being viewed poorly) Genesis 11:30, 15:2, 16:1, 21:7, 30:1 Deut 24:5. It would seem that the Saduccees viewed reproduction as a sign of being in God's favor. The Saduccees were trying to tangle Jesus by placing the connection of these two doctrines before him. A paraphrase of their question i think migh tbe summed up in: "In your view of life after death, what happens to the woman, who has proven multiple times - seven in all - that she is 'out of favor' with God, when she dies. Will she be in heaven, and if so, which husband will be hers?

Why the number seven? There are over 200 hundred refernces to the number seven in the Pentateuch. I have not found any real information in connection with this passage and the number seven... was it just a favourite number of the Jews? Email me if you have thoughts here... or comment below

v36 What does it mean 'to be like the angels'? The word 'for' in this passage links it to the idea preceding, "and they can no longer die" In other words Jesus was comparing the inability to die - immortality - with the angels. Angels by inference then, are immortal.
How is the term 'children' used here to describe the resurrected, connected to the idea of the resurrection? The idea is contained in a phrase "children of the resurrection". Spiros Zodhiates notes for this passage that, "with a genitive, the son of something is one connected with, partaking of, or exposed to that thing" (The Complete Word Study Dictionary, AMG Publishers, 1992) In other words, the resurrected person is referred to as a 'child', in the sense of a 'product of' the resurection.

v37 'Moses and the bush' - Is the larger story of Moses and the burning bush connected to the idea of resurrection? It is interesting that the 'calling' of Moses is the start of God's immediate plan to bring His people (the 'Chosen' people - ie 'those considered worthy' Luke 20:35) out of Egypt. In a way this is a metaphorical 'rebirth', a resurrection of sorts, a salvation from certain death at the hands of slave-drivers. Whether Jesus quoted this passage to also allude to this metaphor I cannot say.

the king of the Hill

Introduction
1. Structural Diagram
2. Surrounding Context
3. Key Cross References
4. Key Questions
5. Thoughts and Meditation

Proper 27C - Was this study helpful?

Give your opinion I was intellectually stimulated! Good, there was some pieces missing though. Some day you might say something others have not already. Just fluff. You bore me. Nothing helpful, in fact you are dead wrong.

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