, the commandment to marry your brother’s widow is given for one purpose: to ensure the continuation of life, so “that the firstborn whom she bears shall assume the name of his dead brother, so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel.”The purpose of the commandment is life: so that your brother’s wife will not be abandoned; so that his household will continue for the generation yet unborn; so that—in fulfillment of God’s Law—life will continue. For Jesus, this life does not come from men, but from his Heavenly Father. When the Pharisees, the Herodians, and now, the Saducees, approach Jesus, their questions betray their personal belief, that life comes—not from God—but from men. They talk about God and they even quote his teaching, but their true god is Caesar. They do not hear Scripture in the light of Scripture, but according to the light of Caesar, which is passing away. This choice leaves them talking in circles about their theology, not only ignorant of God’s instruction, but actively working against it.Of course the Saducees do not believe in the Resurrection. One need look no further than their mishandling of Deuteronomy to understand this fact. “Is this not the reason you are mistaken,” explained Jesus, “that you do not understand the Scriptures or the power of God?” (Mark 12:24)Indeed, they are greatly mistaken. Be warned, O Caesar: “The Lord Jesus Christ, who is about to die, does not salute you.” Richard and Fr. Marc discuss Mark 12:18-27. Episode 189 Mark 12:18-27; Subscribe: http://feedpress.me/the-bible-as-literature; “The Return of the Mummy” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com (http://incompetech.com/)) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http:// creativecommons .org/ licenses /by/3.0/