God of the Living

The Question about the Resurrection

27 Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to him 28 and asked him a question, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. 29 Now there were seven brothers; the first married and died childless; 30 then the second 31 and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. 32 Finally, the woman also died. 33 In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her.”
34 Jesus said to them, “Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; 35 but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. 36 Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. 37 And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. 38 Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.”
(Luke 20:27-38)

God of the Living

Sometimes, Jesus got pulled into arguments that weren’t really about faith at all—they were about winning.
A group called the Sadducees, who didn’t believe in life after death, tried to stump him with a tricky question. They told a story about a woman who married seven brothers, one after another, because each one died before having children. Then they asked Jesus, “When everyone is raised from the dead, whose wife will she be?”

They weren’t asking because they cared. They wanted to prove that the idea of resurrection—of life beyond this one—was nonsense.

Jesus didn’t play their game. He lifted the conversation to a higher place. He said, “People in this life marry and are given in marriage, but in the life to come, it’s different. They don’t die anymore. They are like angels and are children of God.”

In other words: You’re asking the wrong question.

The question isn’t “Who belongs to who in heaven?”

The real question is, “What kind of life is God giving us right now?”

The Sadducees’ story treated the woman like a thing being passed around, not a person with her own worth. They missed the heart of God entirely.

Truthfully, we can make the same mistake. We get caught up in being right, in proving our point, in trying to make life or faith make sense on paper. But faith isn’t meant to be tidy—it’s meant to be lived.

Jesus reminds us that resurrection—the idea that life and love don’t end with death—isn’t something to argue about. It’s something to experience. It’s the power of God’s love that refuses to let darkness have the last word.

When Jesus calls us “children of the resurrection,” he’s talking about more than life after death. He’s talking about hope that rises now.

I think about parents who have buried a child and somehow learn to love again.
Or someone who climbs out of addiction.
Or a couple who rebuilds trust after betrayal.
Or an older person who finds new purpose after loss.

That’s resurrection in real time. It’s what happens when life insists on showing up again, even after everything seems broken.
We are not defined by our endings—but by the new beginnings that keep surprising us.

Then Jesus brings it all home. He reminds the crowd of the story of Moses and the burning bush. God said to Moses, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”

Jesus points out that God didn’t say I was their God—He said I am.

To God, they are still alive. Abraham still dreams. Sarah still laughs. Isaac still stumbles forward in faith. Jacob still wrestles with God. Their stories aren’t finished. And neither is yours.

When you pray, you’re talking to the same God who spoke from that burning bush, who freed people from slavery, who raised Jesus from the dead. That same God is not done with you.

Believing in resurrection isn’t about religion or memorizing verses—it’s about living like love wins. It’s waking up every day and choosing hope over fear.

When you forgive someone instead of getting even, that’s resurrection.
When you show up for someone who can’t give anything back, that’s resurrection.
When you hold on to hope after bad news, that’s resurrection too.
This story isn’t really about heaven at all. Maybe it’s about learning to see life differently, right here.

God is truly the God of the living, then every breath, every act of kindness, every bit of courage matters. Death might make noise—but it doesn’t get the final say.
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So keep living like it’s true. Because it is.

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