Navigating a New World

Here we are listening in on an argument. Jesus is responding to hostile critics. This is the only time in Luke’s Gospel that Jesus has a debate with Sadducees. Perhaps somewhat unfairly, Luke introduces the Sadducees by noting what they deny rather than what they believe. Sadducees don’t believe in the resurrection. The Sadducees’ disbelief in a general resurrection could be attributed to their rather narrow approach to biblical interpretation. They recognized the authority of only the Pentateuch, the Torah. The Pharisees (and presumably Jesus) recognized the Prophets and Psalms as scripture upon which they based their hopes for a better future that included the resurrection of the dead. Behind this debate is more than the futuristic question of “What’s going to happen to us?”