Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, came forward and put this question to him, 28 saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us, ‘If someone’s brother dies leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother.’ 29 Now there were seven brothers; the first married a woman but died childless. 30 Then the second 31 and the third married her, and likewise all the seven died childless. 32 Finally the woman also died. 33 Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be? For all seven had been married to her.” 34 Jesus said to them, “The children of this age marry and are given in marriage; 35 but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. 36 They can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise. 'Some of the scribes said in reply, “Teacher, you have answered well.” 37 That the dead will rise even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, when he called ‘Lord’ the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; 38 and he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.” 39 Some of the scribes said in reply, “Teacher, you have answered well.” 40 And they no longer dared to ask him anything.
Jesus was still teaching in the Temple (Lk. 20:1) when some of the Sadducees who were the temple priests tried to question him about resurrection (vv. 27-33). The Pharisees say there will be a general resurrection of people at the end of the current age and then a general judgment by God (Dan. 12:2, 13; Is. 2:2, Is. 26:19; 2 Mac. 12:43). The Sadducees say there will be no general resurrection, and there are no angels or spirits because it was not revealed in the Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, which they hold as the only authoritative source. The Pharisees acknowledged all three (Acts 23:8). The Sadducees said that belief in a general resurrection would contradict the Levirate law, “When brothers live together and one of them dies without a son, the widow of the deceased shall not marry anyone outside the family; but her husband’s brother shall come to her, marrying her and performing the duty of a brother-in-law (Deut. 25:5).”
Jesus used the opportunity to teach that those alive on earth marry, but those who have died and are worthy of the resurrection of the dead to eternal life are children of God and do not marry. They are like angels and will never die again (v. 36) so the Levirate law does not apply. The risen life is different from the mortal life. The Scribes agreed with Jesus who said Moses taught that God is the God of the living and God must have sustained Abraham and his progeny through resurrection (Ex. 3:2, 5-6, 15-16). God sustains life beyond the grave and to Him, all are alive (v. 38)
Almighty God, you chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world and we live in the hope of the resurrection to new life with heavenly bodies. Help us never to be complacent about our faith but to seek you with our whole heart. This we ask through Christ our Lord. Amen!
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
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