The riddle of the Living God
Children's sermon
Object:
a book of riddles
Good morning, boys and girls. I brought a riddle book today. Kids usually
like riddles. Do any of you like riddles? (Let them respond.) Let me share a
couple with you. (Read a couple of fairly easy or familiar ones.) Those
were pretty easy. But some riddles are very tricky. They're much harder to
answer. In Jesus' time there were lots of teachers of the law and they
taught lots of riddles and hard questions. There were also people called
Pharisees and other people called Sadducees. They were people who had
certain things that they believed in. They all thought that what they
believed was better than what the other group believed. They all argued a
lot if they were together, so they didn't get together very often. Each kept
to himself.
But Jesus traveled all over. He met and spoke to many groups of people. He talked to the Pharisees. Sometimes he talked with the chief priests at the temple. Other times he talked with the Sadducees. Every time he talked to one of these groups they tried to ask him lots of very tricky questions. They wanted to use his answers to get Jesus in trouble. Our lesson today is a time when he was talking to the Sadducees. They asked him a very long and tricky question about a man who died. He had a wife and when he died she married his brother. The man had seven brothers and after one died, the wife married the next brother until they were all dead and then the wife died, too. Their question was whose wife would she be in heaven. That sounds like a pretty tricky question. But Jesus had a simple answer. Jesus said that God is the God of the living. He meant that their question didn't really have an answer. But throughout all the tricky questions, the tricky answers and riddles and the questions with no answers there was one thing we must remember. God is always there for all of us. When the Sadducees heard his answer they realized that they couldn't trick Jesus.
But Jesus traveled all over. He met and spoke to many groups of people. He talked to the Pharisees. Sometimes he talked with the chief priests at the temple. Other times he talked with the Sadducees. Every time he talked to one of these groups they tried to ask him lots of very tricky questions. They wanted to use his answers to get Jesus in trouble. Our lesson today is a time when he was talking to the Sadducees. They asked him a very long and tricky question about a man who died. He had a wife and when he died she married his brother. The man had seven brothers and after one died, the wife married the next brother until they were all dead and then the wife died, too. Their question was whose wife would she be in heaven. That sounds like a pretty tricky question. But Jesus had a simple answer. Jesus said that God is the God of the living. He meant that their question didn't really have an answer. But throughout all the tricky questions, the tricky answers and riddles and the questions with no answers there was one thing we must remember. God is always there for all of us. When the Sadducees heard his answer they realized that they couldn't trick Jesus.
