Is That All There Is?

Is That All There Is?

The Wives Of Sadducees

Read: Matthew 22:23-33

“Mommy, will I ever see Grandma again?”

The question haunted Jessie long after she had tucked Emma into bed. Her pat answer, “She’ll live in our hearts as long as we remember her,” didn’t fully satisfy her daughter—and now Jessie had doubts of her own. She had always considered herself too “enlightened” for her mom’s old-fashioned beliefs about heaven and life after death. But to think of her mother’s vibrant spirit and loving nature being snuffed out like a flame, with nothing left but memories? Jessie began to wonder. . . .

The Sadducees were religious leaders in Jesus’ day who did not believe in angels, spirits, or life after death. When they designed a question to ridicule the idea of resurrection, Jesus answered that they did not know the Word or the power of God.

Did the Sadducees’ wives accept their husbands’ beliefs, or did some of them secretly believe that life goes on after death? As they attended the funerals of family members and friends, did they struggle with the idea that their loved ones had simply ceased to exist? When they heard about the confrontation between the Sadducees and Jesus and heard his answer, perhaps some of them embraced the assurance that they had been longing for.

Our beliefs about death help to determine how we live. The Bible teaches that we will continue to live for eternity, with God or without him. Now is the time to get to know God, to do his will, and to share the truth about him with others. If we think that life ends when our bodies die, then it doesn’t matter much how we spend our brief time on earth. To think that God would create us and then snuff us out would make anyone sad, even someone who wasn’t a Sadducee.

Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord.

2 Corinthians 5:8