Luke 20:27-28 - Answer a Fool

 Luke 20:27-28 (ESV)

[27] There came to him some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, [28] 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.

Jesus had just answered a question posed by the Scribes and Chief Priests about money, taxes, and Rome. His answer was in some ways a non-answer, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and give to God what is God’s.” He didn’t define what that meant, but the answer left his questioners stumped. Now the Sadducees step up. It’s as if they are glorying in the failure of the others while assuming that they have crafted a question that will stump the teacher. After having had seven husbands all of whom died leaving her childless, whose husband will she be in the resurrection? It’s a question they have crafted carefully and have likely used in the past to win debates with the Pharisees.

This is one of the few times where Jesus not only answers their question but says that they are wrong. In the resurrection there is no marriage, but there definitely is a resurrection. This is an age-old debate between the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The Pharisees believe in a resurrection. The Sadducees reject the resurrection and the miraculous. At the conclusion of this account the Scribes, whom Jesus had just silenced with their question about paying taxes, respond, “Teacher, you have spoken well.” They will not stop opposing him, but they did like his answer.

The result was that no one dared to ask him any more questions. This was not about asking questions to learn or understand. Their questions were designed to make him look foolish, or ignorant, but they failed. The opposite occurred. Those who arrogantly thought that they could shut Jesus down, were in fact shut down by Jesus.

The genuine questions of Jesus’ disciples were answered. The duplicitous questions of the Scribes and Sadducees were countered and their treachery exposed. It reminds me of Proverbs 26:4-5, “Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes.” To do that requires discernment, humility, and reliance on the one who has all the answers. Let us never become arrogant like the Scribes and Sadducees, but humbly dependent on the one who is eternal.