That same day Sadducees, who deny that there is a resurrection, came to Jesus. They asked, “Teacher, Moses said, If a man who doesn’t have children dies, his brother must marry his wife and produce children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married, then died. Because he had no children he left his widow to his brother. The same thing happened with the second brother and the third, and in fact with all seven brothers. Finally, the woman died. At the resurrection, which of the seven brothers will be her husband? They were all married to her.” Jesus responded, “You are wrong because you don’t know either the scriptures or God’s power. At the resurrection people won’t marry nor will they be given in marriage. Instead, they will be like angels from God. As for the resurrection of the dead, haven’t you read what God told you, I’m the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He isn’t the God of the dead but of the living.” Now when the crowd heard this, they were astonished at his teaching. (Matthew 22:23-33, CEB)
Did you catch that at the beginning of the reading?
The Sadducees, who deny that there is a resurrection, came to Jesus. They came to ask Jesus about the resurrection. Because Levitical law says that if a man marries a woman and they do not have any sons, and the man dies, the man’s brothers must marry the woman to carry on the family name and to help protect the woman. Now they concocted a grand story where seven brothers all married the same woman because none of them could produce a son. They wanted to know whose wife she would be in the resurrection, which they did not even believe in.
It was merely a trap for Jesus. They were worried they were losing their place and power and so wanted to get rid of the person who was going to take that from them. Rather than see the love and grace Jesus was showing the world, they were more concerned with what they were losing, not what the world was gaining.
How are we focused on ourselves and not on the world and sharing God’s love?
aSacredRebel 