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Lord's Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever.

Prayer for the Morning

Oh Lord, most heavenly Father, Almighty and everlasting God, who has safely brought me to the beginning of this day; I give you thanks for my creation, preservation, and all the blessings of my life. Grant that this day I fall into no sin, neither run into any kind of danger; but that all my doings, being governed by your will, may be righteous in your sight. Through Christ our Lord, I pray.

Prayer for Grace and Strength

Lord God, I pray that you will fill my heart with the blessing of your Holy Spirit. Grant me this day the strength to be temperate in all things, diligent in my duties, and patient under my afflictions. Direct me in all my ways. Give me grace to be just and upright in all my dealings; quiet and peaceable; full of compassion; and ready to do good to all people, according to my abilities and opportunities. For the sake of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,

Community of Prayer

Heavenly Lord, I know I am not alone saying these prayers or reading your Word this morning, but many people unknown to me, from all stations of life, have joined together in this brief moment of devotion. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be among the community of all who pray in the name of Christ this morning, and remain among us always.

Think of the day ahead in terms of God with you, and visualize health, strength, guidance, purity, calm confidence, and victory as the gifts of His presence.

Psalm 123:1-2 (New International Version © 2010)

Mark 12:18-27

Pharisees, Sadducess, and Herodians, Oh My — The Sadducees

Then the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died without leaving any children. The second one married the widow, but he also died, leaving no child. It was the same with the third. In fact, none of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman died too. At the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?”

Jesus replied, “Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. Now about the dead rising—have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the account of the burning bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!”

Notes on the Scripture

The Sadducees were a priestly group, associated with the leadership of the Temple in Jerusalem. Their beliefs were extraordinarily fundamentalist, to the point that they rejected any of the later interpretations of Bible (The Talmud), on which the Pharisees put so much value. They even discounted parts of the Bible other than the first five books, the Pentateuch, and their interpretations of it were exacting and literal. They followed the letter of the law. For example, we are all familiiar with the term "an eye for an eye". If a Sadducee had his eye blinded by another person, he would literally demand that the offender's eye be blinded.

As stated in the passage, they did not believe in resurrection; they thought that the human soul died with the body.

They are closely associated more with the Temple in Jerusalem and, thus, with more urban parts of Judea. Historically, they had been much more amenable to Greek cultural ideas; although they were ultra-conservative in their religious beliefs, they were much more liberal in acceptance of outside influences in other areas. These factors made them much more pro-Roman than the Pharisees, who were generally more rebellious and separatist in nature. They were not popular with the masses and thus became somewhat materialistic and artistocratic in nature.

Neither the lifestyle nor the theology of the Sadducees were popular so, although they were powerful during Roman rule, when Israel ceased to be a nation and the diaspora began, Sadduccee beliefs completely died out.

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