Luke chapter 20, verse 27 to chapter 21, verse 4.
There came to him some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection.
And they asked him a question, saying,
Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies, having a wife but no children,
the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.
Now there were seven brothers.
The first took a wife and died without children,
and the second and the third took her.
And likewise, all seven left no children and died.
Afterward, the woman also died.
In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be?
For the seven had her as wife.
And Jesus said to them,
The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage.
But those who are considered worthy to attend to that age and to the resurrection from the dead,
neither marry nor are given in marriage.
For they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God,
being sons of the resurrection.
But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed in the passage about the bush,
where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.
Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living.
For all live to him.
Then some of the scribes answered,
Teacher, you have spoken well.
For they no longer dare to ask him any question.
But he said to them,
How can they say that the Christ is David's son?
For David himself says in the book of Psalms,
The Lord said to my Lord,
Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.
David thus calls him Lord.
So how is he his son?
And in the hearing of all the people, he said to his disciples,
Beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long rows
and love greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues
and the places of honor at feasts,
who devour widows' houses and for pretense make long prayers.
They will receive the greater condemnation.
Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box,
and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins.
And he said,
Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them.
For they all contributed out of their abundance,
but she, out of her poverty, put in all she had to live on.
This is God's holy and authoritative word.
Jesus has been opposed steadfastly throughout his ministry by the Jewish leaders,
as we've been seeing in the Gospel of Luke.
The chief antagonists of Jesus have been the Pharisees and the scribes.
The Pharisees were those who sought to reform Jewish religious life.
Some of them were members of the Jewish clergy,
while others were members of the laity.
The scribes were the Jewish legal scholars,
they were experts of Scripture that lent academic support to the Pharisees' reform agenda.
But as Jesus enters the capital, Jerusalem,
where the Jewish temple is,
the opposition to Jesus escalates.
And now, not just the Pharisees and the scribes,
but it says in 1947,
the chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people
were seeking to destroy Jesus.
And since his entry to Jerusalem in chapter 19 and 20,
there have been rounds and rounds of stump the teacher.
I don't know if you guys have played that.
In chapter 20, verse 1 to 8,
the chief priests and the scribes with the elders
question Jesus' credentials by asking him,
tell us by what authority you do these things,
or who is it that gave you this authority?
Because we surely didn't give you this authority,
and we're the gatekeepers of the temple.
Let me see your warrant, your permit,
your certificate, your diploma.
And then in chapter 20, verses 19 to 26,
the scribes and the chief priests sent their spies
to pose Jesus a difficult political and religious question.
Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar or not?
This was not a sincere question,
but rather intended to trap Jesus,
because if Jesus said,
yes, it is lawful to pay taxes to Caesar,
he'd be acknowledging Caesar's sovereignty and rule
over God's people,
and thereby disappoint the Jews
who were hoping that Jesus would be the messianic king.
If he were to say,
no, it is not lawful to pay taxes to Caesar,
then the spies would report him to the Roman authorities
and have him arrested as a tax evader
and a political revolutionary.
However, Jesus passed all of these rounds
of stump the teacher with flying colors.
He silenced all of his critics,
demonstrating his wisdom and authority.
And here in our passage,
chapter 20, verses 27 to 40,
we see the final round of stump the teacher,
where we are introduced to the Sadducees for the first time.
And once again,
Jesus will demonstrate his superior authority.
And the main point that we learn from this passage
is that only those who humbly follow the Lord Jesus
will become sons of the resurrection.
And Luke communicates this to us
by teaching us first about the God of the living,
and then about the Lord of David,
and then lastly about the sons of the resurrection.
So let's first learn about the God of the living
from Jesus' encounter with the Sadducees.
It says in chapter 20, verse 27,
there came to him some Sadducees,
those who deny that there is a resurrection.
The Sadducees were Jewish aristocrats,
and they denied the resurrection of the dead.
Most other Jews, including Pharisees,
believed in the resurrection of the dead,
but the Sadducees believed that both body and soul
ceased to exist after death.
And so they believed in what modern people
would call annihilation of the soul.
And the Sadducees differ from the Pharisees
on a number of other points as well.
The Pharisees wanted to reform Jewish religious life.
The Sadducees wanted to preserve the status quo.
The Pharisees supplemented the written scripture
with oral tradition,
the teachings that have been passed through orally
by the Jewish rabbis.
However, the Sadducees denied,
rejected oral tradition,
and only revered the written scripture.
And not even all of the Jewish scriptures,
they held the Torah, the law,
the first five books of our Old Testament.
They held that in the highest esteem.
So they were kind of the almost fundamentalistic,
most conservative Jewish sect in that time.
And not only that,
they're kind of rationalistic,
they not only denied the resurrection,
they also denied the existence of angels,
as we see in Luke 20, verse 36,
or in the book of Acts as well.
And the Sadducees, it says in verse 28,
asked Jesus a question,
saying,
Teacher,
Moses wrote for us
that if a man's brother dies,
having a wife but no children,
the man must take the widow
and raise up offspring for his brother.
They're alluding to passages like Deuteronomy chapter 25,
which stipulates levirate marriage.
The levirate marriage is where if a man dies without a son to carry on his name,
it was his brother's duty to produce a son for him by taking his widow as his wife.
This was important in Israel,
among the Jews in particular,
because their inheritance in God's promised land was tied to their genealogy.
And so if their descendants ceased,
they would effectively be cut off and permanently removed from their inheritance in God's kingdom,
in the promised land.
And so they practiced levirate marriage.
And the Sadducees, their argument here uses that as the premise.
And then they construct a hypothetical scenario for Jesus in verses 29 to 33,
with having seven brothers and one of them taking a wife,
but he dies without children,
and then marries the next brother and the next and the next and the next,
until all seven have had this woman as their wife,
lawfully wedded wife,
and have produced no children.
Obviously, they've given this question a lot of thought.
And to them, this hypothetical scenario reduces the doctrine of the resurrection to absurdity.
Because we know from Scripture that marriage is between one man and one woman.
It says in Genesis 2, verse 24,
Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife,
and they shall become one flesh.
But this woman was legally married to seven different men during her lifetime.
So in the resurrection, then, will God allow her to be married to seven husbands,
despite his revealed will, God's revealed will,
that marriage be between one man and one woman?
That's absurd.
At least that's what the Sadducees thought.
But they're unaware of their own erroneous assumptions.
They assume that legally formed marriages in this life would continue in the afterlife.
They assume that there is such a thing as marriage in the first place in heaven,
assuming that life in the resurrection is essentially the same as life here on earth,
in the present earth.
But they were wrong in all of these assumptions.
And many people, I think, nowadays are like the Sadducees also.
When the teachings of Scripture confound our reason,
when it seems difficult to us, doesn't make sense to us, doesn't seem reasonable to us,
we, instead of submitting humbly to God's Word,
instead we question the truthfulness of God's Word.
We question the soundness of God's Word instead of questioning the soundness of our reasoning.
And then some people try to finagle God's Word to say what they think it should say,
instead of submitting to God's Word and conforming their lives to it.
And Jesus exposes this about the Sadducees, their faulty assumptions, in verses 34 and 36.
The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage.
But those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead,
neither marry nor are given in marriage.
For they cannot die anymore because they are equal to angels and are sons of God,
being sons of the resurrection.
So Jesus' point here is that this life and the resurrection life are not the same.
Marriage doesn't even exist in the resurrection
because the sons of the resurrection are equal to angels and are sons of God.
So notice that he's challenging here.
Not only do the Sadducees believe that there is no resurrection,
but also do they believe that there are no angels.
He's saying that you're wrong on both of those counts.
There are angels in heaven,
and in fact the sons of the resurrection will be like the angels,
and they will neither be married nor be given in marriage.
Now this is not saying that we become angels when we die,
as some people, I think, wrongly think.
It doesn't say that.
It says we become like them.
We become equal to them.
And the phrase,
and so because the sons of the resurrection will be like the angels of heaven,
there will be no more death.
And this is another reason why there is no marriage in heaven.
Jesus says in verse 36,
that marriage will no longer be necessary,
for they cannot die anymore.
This reveals that at least one of the purposes of marriage is procreation.
Marriage exists in part to perpetuate humanity.
It exists to ensure that people who are created in God's image
continue to populate the earth and bring glory to Him.
But in the absence of death,
there is no more need for progeny,
for sons, for fathers.
Instead, there is one Father in heaven,
that's God the Father and all of His children.
We find another purpose of marriage in other passages of Scripture,
and it says in Ephesians 5, verse 31,
that a man and a woman join together in marriage through self-giving love.
They point to the real, eternal, spiritual union
between Christ and the church.
And that reveals God's intention for humanity.
God's intention from the beginning of creation
was to marry a people that He chose for Himself,
to be their eternal bridegroom,
and for the church to be His holy bride.
And so marriage was created by God
to be a picture of that reality,
to foreshadow that eternal reality.
But in the kingdom of God,
the fullness of God's kingdom,
in the resurrection,
there will no longer be need for these pictures,
because the reality will be present.
Because our relationship with Christ
will have been consummated.
There will no longer be any need for brides and grooms,
because Christ will be the one bridegroom,
and the church will be His bride.
So the resurrection, Jesus is saying,
is an altogether different age.
That's why the Sadducees' objection,
their hypothetical scenario, doesn't hold.
The woman who had had seven husbands in this life on earth
will not have to worry about how many husbands she has.
She will have none.
She will be part of the church
and be the bride of Christ.
But notice that Jesus says
that not everyone will get to partake in this age
and in the resurrection.
He says in verse 35,
But those who are considered worthy to attain to that age
and to the resurrection from the dead,
only those who are worthy to attain to that age will do so.
This actually gives us a clue
as to what exactly Jesus means by the resurrection.
We know from other passages of Scripture
that in fact, all people, including good,
those who do good and those who do evil,
will be resurrected.
For example, John chapter 5, verses 28 to 29 says this,
An hour is coming when all who are in the tombs
will hear His voice and come out.
Those who have done good to the resurrection of life
and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
So we know from other parts of Scripture
that all people will be raised.
They'll be resurrected.
Evil and good.
Good people to the resurrection of life,
those who belong to God
and those who have done evil
and have refused to believe in God,
will be raised to the resurrection of judgment.
So, but this is different
from the kind of resurrection that Jesus is talking about.
We know that because in John 5,
Jesus mentions people being raised from the tomb.
He's talking about the resurrection of the body,
which Paul also talks about in 1 Corinthians 15.
But before the resurrection of the body,
there is for believers what we call the intermediate state.
When our souls leave our deceased bodies
and we're raised to be with the Lord.
That raising, that resurrection,
seems to be what Jesus has in mind here.
And we see examples of that in 2 Corinthians 5, 6, 8,
where Paul says,
we know that while we are at home in the body,
we are away from the Lord.
For we walk by faith and not by sight.
Yes, we are of good courage
and we would rather be away from the body
and at home with the Lord.
So there's that intermediate state
before the final resurrection of the body,
when believers who have passed
are raised to live eternally in their souls with God.
That seems to be what Jesus has in mind here.
And only those whom God considers worthy
will attend to that resurrection.
So then, speaking of the resurrection of the soul,
in a way,
and that's what he spoke of earlier in Luke 16,
when a poor man named Lazarus dies
and then is carried by the angels to Abraham's side.
That's his raise to that life.
But the wicked rich man, in contrast,
in that same parable,
he dies and he was buried
and he remains in Hades,
in the realm of the dead.
He's not escorted by the angels
to raise to that resurrection life.
And so Jesus is challenging here
the Sadducees' belief
that death is the end of all existence.
There is life after death
and only those who are worthy
will be raised to heaven.
And then having stated his point,
Jesus proves it from Scripture
in verses 37 to 38.
But that the dead are raised,
even Moses showed,
in the passage about the bush,
where he calls the Lord
the God of Abraham
and the God of Isaac
and the God of Jacob.
Now he is not God of the dead,
but of the living,
for all live to him.
Jesus could have gone to a number of other
more obvious passages
that speak of this afterlife,
of the resurrection.
But Jesus goes here intentionally
to Exodus 3, verse 6,
because he knows that the Sadducees
hold the Torah,
the first five books of the Bible,
in highest esteem.
Jesus knows that this will be
the most persuasive for them.
And in that passage,
Moses encounters God in the burning bush,
and God says to Moses,
I am the God of your father,
the God of Abraham,
the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob.
And this is hundreds of years after
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob
have all passed away.
And yet God says to Moses,
in the present tense,
I am the God of your father,
the God of Abraham,
the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob.
My grandfather passed away
almost two decades ago.
If one of his former friends
were to approach me
and introduce himself to me,
he would say,
I was your grandfather's friend.
Right?
He wouldn't say,
I am your grandfather's friend.
If he did, I'd be like,
what do you mean?
Are we talking about
the same grandfather?
But God said to Moses,
I am the God of your father.
He declared himself to be
the God of the patriarchs
who were long dead,
three generations of them.
And this is implicit proof
of the reality of the resurrection.
If they were not living,
God would not say this.
So Jesus explains in verse 38,
Now he is not God of the dead,
but of the living,
for all live to him.
Though Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
were dead to Moses,
they were alive to God,
for their souls were raised
to dwell with him.
They died without having seen
the ultimate promises of God fulfilled.
And if they were dead
and they ceased to exist,
then God would have failed
in his promises to them.
But he's saying here,
he's protecting God's honor.
No, God did not fail in his promises.
He kept his covenant promises
to Abraham, Jacob,
and Isaac and Jacob
because they are living,
they are experiencing
the fulfillment of God's promises
in life.
So the Sadducees
were very mistaken.
Heaven is a reality.
By denying the resurrection
and denying existence
of life everlasting,
they were really cutting the cord
of the hope
that God offered to his people.
Think about it this way.
All the disappointments,
the dead dreams of your life,
all of your mistakes,
all your misfortunes in life,
all the travails,
the tribulations of life,
all that the people of this world
say about you,
all that is written
in your obituary,
they are not the final word
on your life.
Because if you belong to Jesus,
death is not the final chapter
of your life.
There is life everlasting.
There is resurrection.
The God you serve
and worship
is not the God of the dead.
He is the God of the living.
That gives us so much hope.
This life is not all there is.
And after this compelling response,
it says in verses 39 and 40
that some of the scribes answered,
Teacher, you have spoken well,
for they no longer
are the ones that asked the question.
Notice who the subjects
of these verses are.
It was not the Sadducees
who complimented Jesus
for a good answer.
They are the ones
that asked the question.
It is the scribes
who, like the Pharisees,
believed in the resurrection.
They are the ones
that are complimenting Jesus.
So they are kind of,
they are a little bit giddy
that Jesus just kind of
trounced these rivals of theirs,
theological rivals of theirs.
Oh, Jesus,
for the first time
you are saying something I like.
You just silenced my rivals.
And so they think
they have scored a victory
against the Sadducees.
And it says in verse 40,
generally,
that they,
probably referring to
all the different factions
that have come to question
Jesus up to this point,
that includes the chiefs,
the Jewish nationalists,
the Pharisees,
the Sadducees,
all of them have failed
to stump Jesus.
And now they all
no longer dare
to ask him questions,
any question.
So Luke's point
in this narrative is clear.
Who is the authoritative
teacher of God's truth?
Not the Pharisees,
not the Sadducees,
not the scribes,
not the chief priests,
not the elders.
Jesus,
he is the true
divine representative.
He possesses God's wisdom
and authority.
And he's the one
that you all
should listen to
and follow.
That's Luke's point.
God of the living.
And then now the narrative
at this point
shifts naturally
to the identity of Jesus.
If he is so authoritative,
who is this person?
So we get to
the Lord of David
in verse 41 to 44
of chapter 20.
Jesus addresses
the people around him
in verses 41 to 44.
How can they say
that the Christ
is David's son?
For David himself
says in the book of Psalms,
the Lord said
to my Lord,
sit at my right hand
until I make
your enemies
your footstool.
David thus calls him
Lord.
So how is he
his son?
It was widely known
among the Jews
that the Messianic king
would come
to save God's people
and that he would
come from the line
of David,
King David,
because that was prophesied
in 2 Samuel chapter 7
verses 12 to 14.
And Luke himself
acknowledges this
because he said
in chapter 1
verse 27
that he explicitly
mentioned that
Jesus' genealogy
through his father Joseph
goes to King David.
And he said,
and the angel Gabriel
who came to
announce Jesus' birth
and his conception
in Mary's womb
in chapter 1
verses 31 to 33
said this,
he will be great
and will be called
the son of the Most High
and the Lord God
will give to him
the throne of his father
David
and he will reign
over the house
of Jacob forever
and of his kingdom
there will be no end.
So this was explicitly
promised
in the angel's
announcements
in Luke chapter 1.
You're denying
the fact
that he is
the son of David.
He is the promised
son of David.
He's the messianic king
but he's trying
to make the point
that he is much
more than that.
He's no mere
mortal king.
He's not merely
a biological
descendant of David.
He is the son
of the Most High God.
That's what he's
trying to prove here
by quoting from
Psalm 110
Psalm 110 verse 1
which is explicitly
ascribed to David.
David's the author
of the psalm.
And yet
this king of Israel
prophetically describes
an enthronement
scene
where a king
is being enthroned
by God.
It says
the Lord
and this is the proper
name of God
Yehovah
the Lord
says to my Lord
this is referring
to a human king
sit at my right hand
until I make
your enemies
your footstool.
this is a picture
of God
appointing someone
who will rule
over his people
as his representative
and this king
will reign
until God
himself
reduces all
of his enemies
to become
his footstool.
Now with that
background in mind
Jesus' logic
is fairly
straightforward.
If David
the king
perhaps the
greatest king
in Israel's history
the forefather
of the Messiah
if he calls
this messianic king
Lord
Master
then he must be
greater than David.
He must be
more than a simple
earthly king
because if he's
simply a human
royal descendant
of David
David would
never
humble
and lower
himself
to calling
his predecessor
Lord.
Jesus is
not just
another David
he is
the greater
David
the ultimate
David
the ultimate
messianic king
that all the
kings of Israel
had pointed to
and foreshadowed
he's the
fulfillment of
all of the
the royal
promises
the prophecies
of that
that God
had given
and throughout
chapters 19
to 20
the factions
questioning
and challenging
Jesus
have all
referred to
Jesus
as
teacher
but Jesus
is not
a teacher
like them
he's not
just one
of many
Jewish rabbis
he's the
teacher
the teacher
of God's
way
and in
chapter 19
verse 38
Jesus'
own disciples
hail Jesus
as king
but Jesus
is not
like the
Israelite
kings of
old
he is
the king
of kings
he is
the lord
of David
himself
more authoritative
than them
more powerful
than them
more faithful
than them
my question
to you
is do you
have a
proper
understanding
of who
Jesus
is
and have
you pledged
your ultimate
allegiance
to him
he claims
to be
the lord
of all
have you
submitted
to him
all of
his enemies
all who
oppose him
resist him
will be
in due
time
subdued
and reduced
to his
footstool
so have
you submitted
to him
or are
you resisting
him
it might
seem to
you
like there
are people
who in
your lives
are more
powerful
and important
than god
than christ
in your
life
think about
that for a
moment
who are
some of
those people
maybe it's
your
parent
a president
a boss
a bully
a spouse
a professor
it might
feel
more urgent
for you
to please
them
rather than
please
the lord
jesus
but luke
assures us
in this passage
that a day
is coming
when it
will be
made
plain
to all
that jesus
is lord
and it
is in
your best
interest
to submit
to him
now
pledge
your allegiance
to him
now
and he's
full
of glory
and grace
no man
deserves
the allegiance
that jesus
calls for
no man
deserves
the glory
that he
deserves
he's
worthy
of all
the praise
that we
can give
him
he's
worthy
of our
very
lives
because he's
the lord
of david
and having
seen the
god of
the living
and the
lord of
david
we now
come to
the sons
of the
resurrection
in the
rest of
the passage
jesus said
earlier in
chapter 20
verses 35
to 36
that those
who are
considered
worthy
to attain
to that
age
and to
the
resurrection
from the
dead
neither
married
nor
are
given
in
marriage
for
they
cannot
die
anymore
because
they
are
equal
to
angels
and are
sons
of
God
being
sons
of
the
resurrection
that begs
the question
how can
we attain
to the
resurrection
what kind
of people
are the
sons
of the
resurrection
and jesus
addresses
that very
question
in chapter
20
verse 45
to chapter
21
verse 4
first he
tells us
what kind
of people
are not
worthy
to attain
to the
resurrection
from the
dead
and then he
tells us
secondly
what kind
of people
are worthy
to attain
to the
resurrection
and
less people
wrongly
conclude
remember
that the
scribes
were
congratulating
patting
jesus
on the
back
for
silencing
the
sadducees
jesus
wants
to make
sure
that he
doesn't
get
associated
with
the
sadducees
and so
look at
what he
does
here in
chapter
verses
45
to 47
and in
the hearing
of all
the people
he said
to his
disciples
within
earshot
of the
scribes
beware
of the
scribes
who like
to walk
around
in long
robes
love
greetings
in the
marketplaces
and the
best seats
in the
synagogues
and the
places
of honor
at feasts
who devour
widows
houses
and for
pretense
make
long
prayers
they will
receive
the greater
condemnation
Jesus
take
no
prayers
first
Jesus
denounces
the
scribes
because
they like
to walk
around
in long
robes
this is
not because
short
robes
are more
ethical
than long
robes
the scribes
wore long
fancy
flowing
robes
that were
a symbol
of status
for them
they like
to show
off their
academic
and religious
credentials
by the way
they dress
to tell
the watching
world
hey
we're
kind of
important
Jesus
condemns
that
practice
second
describes
loved
greetings
in the
marketplaces
and the
best
seats
in the
synagogues
and the
places
of honor
at feasts
describes
like the
Pharisees
who were
denounced
for this
very same
reason
in Luke
11
43
they competed
for the
most respected
positions
I think
I've told
this story
to some
of you
before
in 2010
I volunteered
to serve
at the
third
Lausanne
congress
for world
evangelization
and it was
in Cape Town
South Africa
and there
were 4,000
Christian leaders
from 198
countries
attending
really
anyone
you would
say
would be
in the
who's
who
among
Christians
were there
now
and one
evening
however
at the
conference
there was
a bit
of a
stir
because
there
was
a
bishop
who
refused
to sit
down
because
he was
given
an
ordinary
chair
like
the
rest
of the
conference
attendees
mind you
there were
archbishops
that were
sitting
on the
same
chairs
he
demanded
a
special
chair
that
befitted
his
exalted
status
as
a
bishop
it
was
a
disgraceful
expression
of
human
pride
that
directly
contradicts
the
spirit
of
Jesus
his
teaching
and
that's
what
these
scribes
were
like
they
wanted
the
best
seats
in
the
synagogues
places
of
honor
at
feats
and
there's
a
word
play
here
that
is
not
apparent
in
the
English
translation
the
Greek
word
for
best
seats
is
literally
first
seats
and
the
Greek
word
for
places
of
honor
is
literally
first
places
so
there's
a
reputation
of
the
word
first
here
the
scribes
are
people
who
are
consumed
with
being
first
they
don't
want
to be
second
and
so
they
loved
greetings
in the
marketplace
Jesus
is not
condemning
normal
day-to-day
pleasantries
he's
referencing
the
formal
elaborate
greetings
that
Jews
used
whenever
they
came
across
important
and
respected
personages
describes
vast
in those
formal
flattering
greetings
of the
people
oh
peerless
scholar
of the
law
the
doctor
of
theology
the
champion
of
piety
you
wise
one
how
generous
and
merciful
you are
to
grace
me
with
your
presence
they're
engaging
in this
kind of
popularity
contrast
and
Jesus
rebukes
them
for
this
and
not
only
this
it
says
in
verse
47
that
they
devoured
widows
houses
and
for
pretense
make
long
prayers
widows
the
widows
and
to
provide
for
them
and
in
that
time
were
unable
to
get
jobs
for
themselves
provide
for
themselves
they
were
some
of
the
most
impoverished
and
vulnerable
members
of
this
Jewish
society
and
yet
these
scribes
had
the
nerve
to
take
advantage
of
these
widows
they
devoured
their
houses
we
don't
know
how
they
did
this
but
whether
they
took
advantage
of
these
widows
hospitality
or
whether
they
took
their
house
as a
pledge
for
a
debt
that
they
knew
that
these
widows
couldn't
repay
so
they
could
use
that
to
enrich
themselves
they
did
these
things
because
they
didn't
actually
care
about
people
they
only
cared
about
what
they
could
do
for
them
they
only
cared
about
the
praise
that
they
money
that
they
can
give
to
them
and
for
this
Jesus
says
in
verse
47
they
will
receive
the
greater
condemnation
let's
humble
ourselves
now
and
honestly
examine
our
lives
in
light
of
this
teaching
are
you
consumed
like
these
scribes
by
desire
to
be
first
in
your
life
do
you
want
to
be
seen
by
others
as
important
successful
godly
do
we
like
to
pray
long
flowery
prayers
to
impress
people
rather
than
focusing
on
talking
to
God
do
we
despise
humble
service
in the
background
and seek
only the
prominent
positions
on the
stage
do
we
insist
that
all
the
post
nominal
letters
be
attached
to
our
names
to
indicate
our
academic
degree
accreditation
office
military
declaration
honor
or
religious
ordination
do we
seek
the
approval
of
men
or
the
approval
of
God
are we
really
living
for
God's
glory
or are
we
living
for
our
own
glory
are we
putting
God
first
or are we
putting
ourselves
first
in life
there's
a
Christian
multimedia
campaign
that
John
Buckley
told me
about
called
I Am
Second
where
they
interview
famous
Christians
like
Olympic
gymnast
Shawn
Johnson
or
the
reality
TV
show
stars
Chip
and
Joanna
Gaines
from
Fixer
Upper
or
the
Robertsons
from
Duck
Dynasty
they share
their
personal
testimonies
in these
video
interviews
of how
Jesus
saved
them
and
transformed
them
and
then
they
conclude
the
video
interviews
by
looking
into
the
camera
and
saying
my
name
is
so
and
so
and
I
am
second
implying
Jesus
is
first
that's
true
for
every
Christian
Jesus
is
God
we
are
not
Jesus
is
Lord
we
are
servants
Jesus
is
King
we
are
his
subjects
to
be
a
Christian
is
to
be
second
and
after
the
negative
example
of
the
scribes
Jesus
gives
a
positive
example
in
chapter
21
verses
1-4
he
says
Jesus
looked
up
and
saw
the
rich
putting
their
gifts
into
the
offering
box
and
he
saw
a
poor
widow
put
in
two
small
copper
coins
Jesus
contrasts
the
rich
who
are
putting
their
lavish
gifts
into
the
offering
box
with
a
poor
widow
who
puts
in
two
small
copper
coins
a
copper
coin
is
worth
about
1
128th
of
a
denarius
which
is
in
this
day
and
age
the
daily
wage
of
a
common
laborer
so
let's
say
an
average
laborer
in
Cambridge
makes
$16
an
hour
in
an
8
hour
day
that's
128
dollars
that's
the
daily
wage
a
denarius
now
divide
that
by
128
that's
$1
so
a
copper
coin
is
about
a
dollar
this
poor
widow
is
literally
putting
in
$2
into
the
temple
treasury
there's
not
much
you
can
do
with
$2
and
that
must
have
been
embarrassing
because
as
you
can
tell
from
this
narrative
this
was
all
public
this
was
all
done
in
the
public
maybe
there
was
an
announcement
oh
this
poor
widow
gives
$2
oh
this
rich
gentleman
gives
$5,000
and
yet
even
though
the
rich
were
putting
in
comparatively
enormous
sums
of
money
Jesus
says
in
verses
3
to
4
truly
I
tell
you
this
poor
widow
has
put
in
more
than
all
of
them
for
they
all
contributed
out
of
their
abundance
but
she
out
of
her
poverty
put
in
all
she
had
to
live
on
the
phrase
literally
is
she
put
in
all
the
life
what
she
put
in
represented
her
entire
life
her
very
livelihood
while
this
poor
widow
gave
much
less
in
terms
of
monetary
value
she
gave
much
more
than
these
rich
people
in
terms
of
personal
cost
to
herself
the
rich
gave
out
of
their
abundance
they
gave
out
of
their
excess
their
leftovers
but
this
widow
gave
out
of
her
poverty
for
her
it
was
not
excess
it
was
sacrifice
and
she
of
all
people
could
have
justified
not
giving
anything
I
hardly
could
have
enough
to
live
on
God
will
understand
if
I
don't
give
anything
but
she
didn't
she
gave
what
was
precious
to
her
this
is
why
we
don't
publish
offerings
the
amounts
given
by
members
like
some
churches
do
this
is
why
we
don't
pass
the
offering
basket
during
the
service
because
what
matters
more
to
God
is
not
how
much
you
give
but
how
you
give
you
giving
out
of
love
for
him
are
you
sacrificing
giving
sacrificially
to
him
I
hear
sometimes
in
churches
that
people
come
and
rich
people
will
come
and
give
tens
of
thousands
of
dollars
to
the
church
and
then
they'll
ask
for
a
post
of
leadership
and
people
give
them
that
it's
a
disgrace
you
cannot
buy
church
office
you
cannot
buy
power
in
the
church
God
is
not
God
owns
it
all
he's
the
sovereign
lord
of
creation
you
think
he
needs
your
money
he
doesn't
need
your
money
our
church
does
not
need
your
money
God
provides
for
us
God
is
the
source
of
all
that
we
have
all
that
you
have
is
God
what
I
care
about
as
your
pastor
is
that
you
give
with
this
heart
of
the
widow
because
you
love
God
because
you
want
to
worship
him
because
you
want
to
serve
him
that
you
gladly
give
so
let
me
ask
you
do
you
give
your
finances
to
God
like
this
poor
widow
or
do
you
say
to
yourself
let
me
ask
you
about
your
time
do
you
say
to
yourself
well
when
I'm
less
busy
then
I'll
go
to
church
service
when
I'm
less
busy
then
I'll
be
part
of
a
community
group
when
I'm
less
busy
then
I
will
pray
then
I
will
read
the
Bible
is
God
consigned
to
the
leftovers
of
your
life
or
is
God
first
in
your
life
do
you
sacrifice
for
God
have
you
done
anything
for
God
that
has
been
costly
to
you
I
hope
so
only
those
who
humbly
follow
Christ
as
the
first
priority
in
their
lives
will
become
sons
of
the
resurrection
to
Jesus
it's
this
poor
widow
not
the
scribes
the
Pharisees
the
elders
and
the
chief
priests
and
the
Sadducees
that
represents
the
sons
of
the
resurrection
you
want
to
know
who
these
sons
worthy
children
of
the
resurrection
are
look
at
this
poor
widow
is
what
Jesus
is
telling
these
people
in
the
eyes
of
men
these
prominent
religious
leaders
appear
to
enjoy
God's
favor
they
appear
to
be
blessed
by
God
because
they
had
material
wealth
and
this
widow
in
contrast
seemed
undeserving
of
God's
favor
after all
what has
she done
for
God
oh
she
has
given
these
meager
two
copper
coins
and
yet
it
is
this
widow
whom
God
considers
worthy
to
attain
to
the
age
and
to
the
resurrection
from
the
dead
though
in
this
life
this
widow
bears
the
pains
and
sufferings
of
shame
of
widowhood
but
in
the
resurrection
there
will
be
no
marriage
and
she
will
never
be
widowed
she
will
be
forever
wed
to
her
Lord
Jesus
as
her
bridegroom
she
will
be
married
she
will
be
provided
for
she
will
experience
eternal
glory
to
her
life
this
on
earth
is
sad
and
difficult
that's
the
hope
that
God
gives
to
his
people
in
this
passage
Luke
has
repeatedly
emphasized
the
poor
as
recipients
of
God's
grace
throughout
his
gospel
in
Luke
chapter
4
18
and
chapter
7
verse
22
he
wrote
that
Jesus
came
to
proclaim
good
news
to
the
poor
in
Luke
chapter
6
verse
20
Jesus
said
blessed
are
you
who
are
poor
for
yours
is
the
kingdom
of
God
in
the
parable
of
the
great
banquet
in
chapter
14
verses
12
to
24
it
was
the
poor
that
were
invited
from
the
streets
into
the
banquet
to
partake
in
the
eternal
glories
of
God
in
the
parable
of
the
rich
man
and
the
poor
Lazarus
in
Luke
16
it
was
poor
Lazarus
that
and
not
the
rich
man
that
went
to
heaven
and
enjoyed
God's
blessings
the
poor
throughout
the
gospel
of
Luke
represent
not
strictly
those
who
are
materially
poor
but
more
broadly
those
who
are
spiritually
poor
those
who
humbly
recognize
that
they
have
nothing
to
offer
to
God
those
who
understand
that
they
are
undeserving
of
God's
salvation
people
who
are
not
self
sufficient
people
who
are
not
independent
but
dependent
on
God
this
poor
widow
surely
felt
that
she
hadn't
given
anything
to
God
that
would
earn
for
her
eternal
glory
and
salvation
she
probably
thought
herself
less
deserving
in
fact
than
those
rich
people
that
went
before
her
even
in
her
sacrificial
giving
she
had
to
entrust
herself
depend
on
God
because
she
would
not
know
where
her
meal
would
come
from
it's
such
people
who
humbly
follow
Christ
as
their
first
priority
in
life
that
become
sons
of
the
resurrection
this
is
because
it
says
in
2nd
Corinthians
chapter
8
verse
9
for
you
know
the
grace
of
our
Lord
Jesus
Christ
that
though
he
was
rich
yet
for
your
sake
he
became
poor
so
that
you
by
his
poverty
might
become
rich
in
this
world
in
our
society
the
rich
get
everything
they
want
they're
the
ones
that get
admitted
to
priority
they're
the
ones
that get
into
positions
of
power
but
in
the
kingdom
of
God
it
doesn't
work
like
that
because
Jesus
who
was
rich
didn't
say
only the
rich
will
enter
but
because
Jesus
who
was
rich
said
I
will
become
poor
for
the
sake
of
people
who
cannot
afford
to
enter
the
kingdom
of
God
because
Jesus
said
it's
my
kingdom
is
not
for
the
righteous
but
it's
for
sinners
who
recognize
that
they
are
undeserving
of
salvation
but
they
cling
to
me
and
say
Lord
help
me
Lord
save
me
I
want
to
save
those
people
that's
why
Jesus
came
and he
died
on
the
cross
for
our
sins
that's
how
the
kingdom
of
God
works
and
that's
why
it's
the
poor
it's
those
who
humble
themselves
and
cling
to
Jesus
that's
why
they
are
the
sons
of
the
resurrection
take
a
moment
now
to
please
reflect
on
that
next
这是
that
beautiful
thing
we
Katie
thinking
about
the
thing
that
we
aren't
right
we
know
to
see
Oh
we
want
information
to