Jesus turns tables on his questioners

Matthew 22:23-33

23 The same day some Sadducees came to him, saying there is no resurrection; and they asked him a question, saying, 24 ‘Teacher, Moses said, “If a man dies childless, his brother shall marry the widow, and raise up children for his brother.” 25 Now there were seven brothers among us; the first married, and died childless, leaving the widow to his brother. 26 The second did the same, so also the third, down to the seventh. 27 Last of all, the woman herself died. 28 In the resurrection, then, whose wife of the seven will she be? For all of them had married her.’

29 Jesus answered them, ‘You are wrong, because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God. 30 For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. 31 And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God, 32 “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob”? He is God not of the dead, but of the living.’ 33 And when the crowd heard it, they were astounded at his teaching.

In Jesus’ day there were a group of religious people, called Sadducees, who did not believe in the resurrection. They made what, in human terms, is the logical assumption, “when you are, dead you are dead.” And they set out to show that they were correct in their assumption by asking Jesus a ridiculous question. It was a “gotcha” question, a question to which there is no reasonable answer. But instead of answering the details of the question, Jesus shows that the questioners have made two fundamental errors.

First, the questioners assume that the resurrection life is the same as this life, Jesus demonstrates how wrong that assumption is. The resurrection life is different than this life, and he uses the example of marriage – there is no marriage in the life to come, Jesus declared. There is no space to explore that further, except to remind ourselves that it is not a one-to-one correspondence between this life and the life to come.

Second, Jesus notes that God speaks in the present tense about Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – “I am the God…” not ”I was the God…” In using the present tense, God is saying that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are alive, even after they have died. The language used by God matters, it is important to read carefully and think deeply about what is being said. It is easy to quickly read and to make assumptions on reading too quickly. Attentive reading of Scripture will reveal much about what God is doing.    

There is a cute little song, “I just want to be a sheep” – that is, I just want to be a child of God. The song has the line, “I don’t want to be a Sadducee, because they are sad you see.” While the line is a groaner, it points to a truth, without the hope of the resurrection we would all be sad. The truth and promise of the resurrection gives us joy.  

PRAYER:

God of the resurrection, we rejoice that you are the God of the living and not of the dead, and that in your Son we have the hope of the resurrection. Teach us to live in this joy. In Jesus’ name. Amen.