Matthew 22:23-33

Matthew 22:23-33 NIV

     That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. “Teacher,” they said, “Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for him. Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh. Finally, the woman died. Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?”
     Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you, ‘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.”  
     When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.

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It's time to tell one of my favorite puns. Matthew gives us a detail about Jesus' opponents the Sadducees. They don't believe in resurrection. That's why they are called Sadducees. They're sad, you see? 

The Sadducees are trying to trap Jesus once again by presenting a bizarre legal matter. The law of Moses stated that when a man dies without a male heir, his wife goes to his brother so that he might bear a son through her for the deceased. That way the man's name does not disappear from Israel and his inheritance of land in Canaan goes to his yet unborn son. But the Sadducees describe a situation where the wife is passed along to seven brothers, all who died without a son. So at the resurrection of the dead, to which man would she belong?

Jesus shows them to be stuck on worldly thinking. The law of Moses will not hold sway in the new age. No law will be needed, for all will love as God loves. And we will be like the angels, eternal and therefore not needing offspring to carry our family name or assume property rights. We won't be marrying or being given away in marriage. Such arrangements pass away with the old order coming to its end.

Some have feared this means they won't know their life long spouses, as if heavenly bliss will rob us of our connection to our loved ones. That's not what Jesus is suggesting. Rather His point is the old way of things no longer matter in the new age. Yes we will know our loved ones. Consider what Paul taught in his first letter to the Thessalonians.

Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lordʼs word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 NIV

I find further affirmation hidden in Jesus' response to the Sadducees. He told them they were ignorant of the scriptures, what the word of God has to say about life everlasting, and they don't know the power of God. What power does He mean?

The Apostle Paul wrote about the patriarch Abraham in his letter to the Romans.

He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.
Romans 4:17 NIV

The creator has power to call into being things that were not. The creator has power to give life to the dead, to create new categories of existence no one has ever seen or even dreamt of. God is the God of the living, not the dead. In other words one's husband or wife, or loved one remains alive in God, though they be no longer mortal.

Jesus drew upon the name of God which God revealed to Moses. "I am" is God's name. "I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." God did not use past tense but present tense. We've already witnessed Jesus, in a foretaste of the age to come at His transfiguration, in a meeting with Moses and Elijah, men long since gone from this mortal life. They are alive with God and all the saints of heaven.

Those sad Sadducees walked away without a word to say in response. Jesus had bested them. They were not able to trap Jesus or discredit Him in front of the crowds.

These little confrontations with Jesus reveal the authority of Christ, the wisdom of God that was in Jesus, His command of scripture and insight into the heart of God. They also reveal how trapped His opponents are in their worldly thinking.

Above all this story gives hope in the resurrection and life everlasting with God our Father and our loved ones who believe.

Do you know the scriptures? Do you know the power of God?

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms...
Ephesians 1:18-20 NIV