Matthew 22:23-33 (ESV)
Sadducees Ask About the Resurrection
The same day Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection, and they asked him a question, saying, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies having no children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.’ Now there were seven brothers among us. The first married and died, and having no offspring left his wife to his brother. So too the second and third, down to the seventh. After them all, the woman died. In the resurrection, therefore, of the seven, whose wife will she be? For they all had her.”
But Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.” And when the crowd heard it, they were astonished at his teaching.
There should probably be a rule in argumentation and debate that if you are going to debate someone and try to trap them, you should be superior to them in that debate. In the above passage we are in the middle of a number of times the religious leaders of the day have come to Jesus to attempt to trap Him and discredit Him before the crowds. The time frame is just moments before His being arrested and crucified. Things are getting tense. For three years Jesus has outfoxed these religious leaders. The above passage was one more failed attempt. They tried to debate Him and lost.
In some of the previous tries to trap Jesus, it was the Pharisees. This time it was the Sadducees. Here is what one Bible commentator says about this group of leaders:
(Understanding the Bible Commentary Series) The Sadducees were the wealthy governing class and, in terms of doctrine, were traditionalists. They accepted as authoritative only the books of Moses.
In the book of Acts we read this about the Pharisees and the Sadducees:
Acts 23:8 (ESV)
For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all.
What was being attempted by the Sadducees was to pit Jesus against their philosophy and that of the Pharisees and to discredit Jesus in return. Rabbinic teaching was a very logical approach. They thought they could show Jesus as illogical before the crowd and also score points over the Pharisees. They failed on both accounts. Since they stuck close the Torah by holding to Moses’ teachings, Jesus takes them to first recorded time that Moses talked to God. Since God referred to Himself as the God of the “living” and not the “dead,” the Sadducees were exposed and lost the debate.
In the middle of this debate, however, we were giving new information that few people actually acknowledge, or even may want to hear. Jesus stated that God has not designed heaven like He designed earth. In heaven man and women do not need to procreate (the main reason God created marriage on earth. See Genesis 1:28). Since there is no need to procreate in eternity, men and women will be like the angles, NOT MARRIED. This really messes up our minds about going home to heaven and thinking about it in the context of our earthly family. Heaven is NOT our family from earth. Heaven is about uniting with God in full relationship, no longer separate from Him by sin. Yes, the rich man wanted his brothers to be told about Jesus. And the rich man, in death, apparently recognized Lazarus. So, there must be “recognition” of people in heaven. Even in the transfiguration on the mountain with Peter, John and James, “recognized” Old Testament characters. But, the relationship with have on earth with a spouse, or other family members, is not the same in heaven. This is what Jesus is teaching them. Instead, it might even be suggested that we have that close bound of relationship with share with our spouse and families now, in heaven, but with all believers as we jointly worship of God. After a death and we say they went home and are now united with their spouse or loved one, we are not technically wrong. But, we are misleading in that this is not the design of heaven per Jesus’ teaching. In eternity we are like angels. Not married and their to glorify God, ONLY.
The point we have to understand is yes, Jesus won the debate and the people marveled at His teaching and how He defeated the Sadducees attempts to discredit Him. But, they also may have been in awe of His teaching that heaven is not a family re-union the way we imagine it. It is a family re-union of God’s family, not man’s family.
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