THE BIG MISTAKE
Matthew 22:29 NKJV
29 Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God.
The Pharisees and the Sadducees were constantly coming for Jesus. These were the religious smart ones and were convinced they could trap Jesus with their tricky questions. And Jesus left them in the proverbial dust.
They tried to trap him on whether it was right to pay taxes to Caesar. And the Pharisees brought with them the Herodians. At first glance this means nothing until we realize that the Herodians and Pharisees could not see eye to eye on anything. The Herodians were Jewish men who supported King Herod and the Roman political system. They were a secular group not a religious one and were in total opposition to the religious Pharisees. Except they agreed on their dislike for Jesus. So both groups tested Jesus and He shut both groups down.
Next up was the Sadducees who were the religious intellectuals of their day. They did not believe in the spiritual realm or angels or the supernatural or the resurrection. And yet they came to ask Jesus a ridiculous hypothetical question about a woman being married to seven brothers and had no children. So the Sadducess, who did not believe in the resurrection, asked Jesus in the resurrection whose wife would she be. Sounds like a made-up stupid question by people whose only motive was to entangle Jesus in His words. And Jesus had an answer for them.
“You are mistaken not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God.” In the margin of my Bible the word for mistaken is also translated deceived. But anyway you call it these Sadducees were off track. They were wrong because they did not know the Scriptures. And they did not know what God’s power was able to do. They did not know what the Scriptures said about God being the God of the living not the God of the dead. And they did not know God’s power to raise someone from the dead. These guys were clueless, so they came up with teachings that were wrong. Jesus answer silenced the Sadducees.
However, Jesus was not done. After He silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees tried again with what is the greatest commandment question. Jesus basically said love God and love your neighbor. Then Jesus asked them a question they could not answer and both groups were done. Verse 46 said no one dared question Him anymore. Jesus gets the win and the Pharisees, Sadducess and Herodians take the loss. I love it. The big mistake was questioning Jesus.
APPLICATION
I am amazed at people who think they are brilliant enough to question God. And they ask some crazy questions. But the same answer Jesus gave the Sadducees is still applicable today. They are mistaken and deceived not knowing the scriptures nor the power of God. The big mistake is still questioning God. There are so many things we have not seen in the Scriptures and have not understood about God’s power. The best thing we can do is ask the Lord to show us where we need to adjust in our own lives. I don’t have to know everything I just need to know what pertains to my life and how I am to live for the Lord. I am convinced in heaven we will see and know things we have always wondered about. And it will make total sense.
PRAYER
Lord help me to see from the Scriptures those things that I need to incorporate into my life. All wisdom is found in You. Thank You for sharing Your wisdom with me.