We here a lot about science today. Trust the science. I only believe what I can see and prove. The Bible and the Christian faith are often discounted as wishful thinking or fuzzy nice thinking, but unproveable. For all of those criticisms, there are sure a lot of people who believe in lots of things they cannot see or prove. Did you test your brake system, your fuel lines, your tire pressure before getting into your car or truck and driving here this morning? Did you research and evaluate your seat before sitting down? No, we believed they would work and we put our lives on the line to prove it. Lots of people are interested in the afterlife – we have people in nearby Lilly Dale trying to contact their dead pets and family members. We have lots of movies, tv shows, and games about ghosts, supernatural things, and life on other planets. People believe a lot of things because they want to, but believing in a God who hold you accountable for your life is not so welcome. It becomes too hard to believe – or maybe just too hard to accept.

This is nothing new. In Jesus’ day, the powerful Sanhedrin, a Jewish council of 71 men made up of priests, pharisees, and other religious leaders, begins a three prong attack on Jesus sending a different group each time with loaded questions, hoping to discredit Jesus and cause the crowds to lose faith in him. Today is the second of these three challenges.

The question from the Pharisees and Herodians we saw last week about paying taxes to Rome was primarily a political one. The Sadducees now pose a purely theological question, with an odd but specific test case. They reference Moses’ Law as the basis for the argument, but they also wanted to discredit the idea of resurrection.

Jesus them taught that resurrection life will be different from earthly life. People will not marry and have children but in some sense will be like angels, either without sexual capacity or concerned only with serving and worshiping God.