Daily Office Readings, Year 2
Proper Twenty-Two

Monday, October 6 , 2008

KEY VERSE:  "Sadducees have nothing to do with a resurrection or angels or even a spirit. If they can't see it, they don't believe it..." - Acts 23:8  (The Message)


Once a couple took their seven-year old grandson with them on an automobile excursion through the Pennsylvania Dutch country.  Fascinated by the Amish buggies, he asked, "Why do they use horses instead of cars?"

"Because they don't believe in automobiles," he was told.

It was quiet for a minute, then boy said, "But can't they see them?"

There is a strong correlation between seeing and believing, and that's as true of adults as it is of seven-year-olds.  The Sadducees were an important faction of the "religious folks" of their day.  Along with the Pharisees, they sought to "purify" the Hebrew faith of their time. Although the pharisees regarded the prophets and what we consider the Old Testament as part of their sacred scriptures, the Sadducees only accepted Genesis through Deuteronomy.

Since the Sadducees saw no mention of a resurrection in the first five books of our Bible, they were certain that such things did not exist. It wasn't in "their book," and they had never seen one, so they would not believe.  "Seeing is believing," was the basis for what their faith. The disciple Thomas was like that, too -- he needed to see the scars in Christ's hands to believe in the resurrection.

The seven-year-old boy thought the Amish should believe in automobiles because they could see them, but as Christians we believe in the living Christ, even though we do not see him.

However, we are not left to "blind faith," for we can see the power of the resurrected Christ in transformed lives.  The early church saw (and probably many found it hard to believe what they saw) Saul completely transformed after his encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus.

Christ continues to transform lives -- takes lives shattered and wounded by addictions, hatred, anger and evil habits and transforms them, so that those who encounter Christ are forever changed.   We don't have to be like the Sadducees - we have no excuse for unbelief because the proof of Christ's power can be seen in transformed lives all around us.

ACTIVITY FOR THE DAY:  Make a mental list of things which you have never seen but that you believe exist.  Electricity and sound waves come to my mind -- how many more can you think of?  Is the risen Christ high on your list of "invisibles" in whose existence you trust?

PRAYER:  "Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief." --Mark 9:24 (KJV)

JOURNALING NOTES:

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