SOAP - Mark 12:18-34

Hi, my name is Dave Edgren, and I'm going to read you my Bible study on Mark chapter 12, verses 18 to 34. So here's the reading. Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him and questioned him. Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies, leaving a wife behind but no child, that man should take the wife and raise up offspring offspring for his brother. There were seven brothers. The first married a woman and, dying, left no offspring. The second also took her and he died, leaving no offspring. And the third likewise. None of the seven left offspring. Last of all the woman died too. In the resurrection, when they rise, whose wife will she be, since the seven had married her. Jesus spoke to them, "Isn't this the reason why you are mistaken? You do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels in heaven. And as for the dead being raised, haven't you read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the burning bush, how God said to him, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'?" He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken. One of the scribes approached. When he heard them debating and saw that Jesus answered them well, he asked him, which command is the most important of all? Jesus answered, the most important is, listen Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other command greater than these. Then the scribe said to him, you are right, teacher. You have correctly said that he is one and there is no one else except him. And to love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, and with all your strength, And to love your neighbor as yourself is far more important than all the burnt offerings or sacrifices. When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, you are not far from the kingdom of God. And no one dared question him anymore. So I've decided to respond to two verses because they're kind of the opposite statement. The first one is Mark 12:24, which is this. Jesus spoke to the Sadducees. Isn't this the reason why you're mistaken? You don't know the scriptures or the power of God. And then the second verse is Mark 12:34. When Jesus saw that this scribe answered wisely, he said to him, you are not far from the kingdom of God. And no one dared question him any longer. So I'm using the SOAP model, which means first we look at the scripture, then we have an observation, O, then we have an application, A, and then we have a prayer, Observation: Jesus has a clear understanding of the Scriptures and chooses carefully when to make it known. In many stories, he does not correct erroneous beliefs, like the deformity caused by sin, which we know isn't true, and Jesus didn't correct people for saying this, or take the bait in an argument, like the woman at the well who says, "You know this and I know that," and she's trying to cause arguments, and he wants to win the woman, not the argument, and so he addresses her and leaves the argument untouched. Because he Jesus is more interested in the relationship he is developing than the facts of biblical interpretation. But at other times Jesus calls out false teaching and celebrates great understanding. In today's reading he does both. This is the only mention of the Sadducees in the book of Mark. They show up and try to corner Jesus. Sadducees were wealthy, pompous leaders who said their beliefs were based 100% on scripture. Since they could find no resurrection in the Old Testament, They didn't believe in the resurrection. They approached Jesus and called him teacher. Then they told him one of their favorite jokes about resurrection. They were mocking the teacher, making fun of his beliefs. Imagine coming to Jesus, who was going to give new life to the entirety of humanity through his resurrection, and telling a joke that you thought completely dismantled the idea of people coming back to life. A man dies, leaving his childless wife to his brother. And this is in Deuteronomy 25:5-8. And then the brother dies again, childless. All 7 brothers in the family do the same. Then she dies. At the resurrection, who will be her husband? Cue laugh track. Jesus tears into them. Here's the punchline of your joke. As Sadducees, you misunderstand Scripture. And you limit God's power due to your own lack of understanding. Then Jesus continues to drop some serious truth. In God's epic memory, every person who has died is perfectly remembered and waiting for resurrection. Second, in God's amazing power, he will change us in the resurrection to have eternal bodies like angels, bodies that do not need to reproduce. Marriage is moot in heaven. Mic drop. Um, what? But nobody steps forward and challenges Jesus. They can see they've just been schooled, even though they don't know what to do with the lesson. Rather than focusing on the receding Sadducees or Jesus's huge truth reveal, the story just continues. A scribe listening to the debate is blown away by Jesus's answer. He stumbles into awkward silence left by Jesus's truth bomb and blurts out a question he is personally struggling with. No joke this time. His heart is on the line. His question is not a new one. It isn't tricky. It's just that it's such an important question, and he wants to know if he thinks like Jesus, the truth of God guy. 'Which command is most important of all?' Jesus answers with the oldest, most loved teaching of the Torah, the Shema. 'The most important is, listen Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength.' The second is, love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other command greater than these. Then the scribe calls Jesus Teacher, just like the Sadducees had. But he means it. You are right, Teacher. You have correctly said that he is one. There is no one else except him. And to love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself, is far more important than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices. I love that the scribe who loves writing stuff rewrites the Shema. He's spent lots of time with it and he loves it. He throws his version at Jesus and Jesus really digs it. He loves it. And Jesus loves the scribe. When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, you are not far from the kingdom of God. Application: Jesus said, I am the truth. He knows everything there is to know about God, life, the universe, humanity, and spirituality, but he doesn't go around spouting truth just for the sake of it. He uses truth to strengthen relationships. To the Sadducees, Jesus unloaded two truth bombs because they needed it. I don't think you can find those two truths anywhere but from Jesus. We won't be married in heaven. God will alter our bodies at the resurrection to be human 2.0. More like angels, but still uniquely human. Wow. Useful to know? Not really. Not right now. But shockingly interesting and powerful that he knows these things about the future. And he demonstrated to the Sadducees, who made jokes out of other people's beliefs, that there's way more truth about us than you can find in the scriptures. God hasn't shown us everything. It is best to believe there is more to learn. To the scripture-seeking scribe, Jesus shows honor. Jesus loves him. Jesus shares his kingdom with him. That he was still asking his question, even after internalizing the Shema since childhood, showed that he was truly seeking God, not just playing with words. Prayer. Dear Jesus, I want to know everything you want me to know, but more than knowledge, I want to know you. Help me to ask good questions that lead me closer and closer to the kingdom of God. Remind me to never make fun of the religion or beliefs of other people. If the people you love— it's the people you love, not their words. I want to love like you do. Amen.