A couple weeks ago my two kids and I were out in the backyard. Grant (five) was swinging on the swing set while three-year-old Grace decided to grab a spray bottle filled with water. She was spraying the flowers, patio, grill and anything else that crossed her circuitous path. I knew what she was plotting as she inched closer to her brother sitting innocently on the swing.
Grace glanced back at me, knowing that dad had told her she could spray anything in the backyard except for her brother. She knew if she squirted him the spray bottle would be taken away just as dad had promised. Yet, like Eve in the Garden of Eden, she couldn't resist the ONE thing she wasn't supposed to do. Grace knew the authority, she knew the consequences of her disobedience, yet she chose to allow her own desire to trump the authority of her father.
In Mark 12:18-27 we read about a group of religious leaders who were acting very much like my three year-old daughter. They allowed their own interests and desires to trump the authority of God's Word in their lives. In the middle of that section Jesus zeroed in on two reasons they failed to submit to the authoirty of God's Word:
(1) "you know neither the Scriptures" - They didn't know the Bible! The Sadducees only viewed the first five books of the Old Testament (the Books of Moses) as authoritative, so they really didn't know and understand the truth of the entire Old Testament Scripture.
(2) "nor the power of God" - Since they didn't know the Bible, they failed to know it's Author, God. If the Sadducees would have truly known the Scriptures, they would have understood and believed that God can do anything - including raising people from the dead.
May we not stumble down the same path as the Sadducees; failing to know the power of God because we fail to know His Word. We must know the Truth and we must live by the Truth.
"The law of the LORD is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the testimony of the LORD is sure,
making wise the simple;
the precepts of the LORD are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the LORD is pure,
enlightening the eyes; "
- Psalm 19:7-8
