Bible Reflections From Scripture Union Volume OneSample

Majoring in the Minors Read Mark 12:18-27 Jesus replied, "Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?" Mark 12:24 The Bible is a living illustration of man’s tendency to major on the minors. Over and over in its pages, we see God calling His people back to Himself. In our text today, Jesus confronts the unbelieving Sadducees who were notorious for their lack of perspective. They were too focused on their own social status to focus in on the things which were really important. The Sadducees came to Jesus with a ridiculous question on the resurrection, which no one had been able to answer, even though they did not believe in the resurrection (Acts 23:8), and they tried to use it to put Jesus in a bind. It was an unlikely scenario they described for Jesus, based on the law of levirate marriage (verse 19) which was given by Moses in Deuteronomy 25. It was an ancient custom whereby, if a married man died, his brother would marry the widow, thus preserving the family from dying out and keeping the family wealth intact. It was a convenient social custom. But the picture the Sadducees painted was a very unlikely one indeed. The question the Sadducees had was: whose wife would she be in the resurrection after seven husbands? Jesus, however, believed in the resurrection of the dead and he replies them in verse 24. He told them that they are greatly mistaken about the resurrection because of their ignorance of God’s word and power. The Sadducees were sidetracked on peripheral issues instead of concentrating on the things that really count - understanding the Scriptures and the power of God. Too often the church has spent too much of her time and energy on the man-made peripheral issues of the church and left out the more important issues. What are some things that are neither important, necessary nor Biblical? Look through them and see if you have neglected the more important things. Pray that we will always have a clear understanding of God’s word and live by it.