PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: Matthew 22:23-33
What do you sense the Lord saying to you in this passage?
“You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.” (Matthew 22:29)
This question asked by the Sadducees is a legitimate one, based on the Law of Moses.
Technically, this is how Levirate marriage worked (Deuteronomy 25:5-6).
But Jesus challenges how they read scripture, like a technical rule book.
The scriptures speak to life in this fallen world; they’re not the final vision.
They are limited and time-bound attempts to point us to the new creation.
We also sometimes read the bible too technically, too literally.
In Jesus’s parables, the kingdom of God is something like… and yet so much more.
“No eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined.” (1 Corinthians 2:9)
As Jesus followers we need to read the words of scripture with humility and hope.
They point us in the right direction, but they do not give us detailed definitions.
We will have differences of interpretation (history and experience prove we do!).
We need to hold our ‘doctrines’ and ‘definitions’ lightly, with humility.
We need to teach and practice it with humility too; we’re likely wrong somehow.
The truth is so much more than our feeble attempts to understand and explain it.
Lord Jesus, forgive me for thinking and teaching as if ‘I know the truth’ and ‘my interpretation is right’. Help me to think and teach with humility and grace, always open to learning and rethinking (repenting).