by:
04/15/2025
0
“He is not the God of the dead, but of the living” (v32). The religious leaders of Jesus’ day had their own ideas about God’s kingdom, righteousness, and authority. They were constantly “testing” Jesus, sensing that his words and actions threatened their power (v15,35). When they asked about which man ‘possessed’ a certain wife in heaven, Jesus knew they were focused on the status and competition which belong to a dying world. God’s kingdom, on the other hand, is “of the living” – the God-shaped life which extends into eternity.
“What do you think about the Christ?” (v42). Jesus the Messiah did not come to help the Pharisees, or us, build our personal kingdoms. When we die to our old selves, we begin to really live.