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It was still Tuesday, in the last week of the life of Christ. It is called the Day of Controversy. Priests and Elders have questioned His authority. Jesus questions the faithfulness of Israel. The Pharisees question the paying of tribute to Caesar. All of these were controversial issues. In this lesson He faces the Sadducees about another controversial issue, the resurrection.
There were three basic sects in the Jewish hierarchy at the time of Jesus. The Pharisees, the Essenes and the Sadducees. Strangely enough, all three seem to take their basic philosophy from ancient Greeks. The Pharisees and Essenes followed the Greek philosopher, Plato. The Sadducees got their name and philosophy from a Jew who was a distant relative of Jesus who lived some 284 years before Christ. His name was Sadoc or Zadoc. They were under constant condemnation from the Pharisees because they did not believe in the resurrection. They were the smallest of the three groups, but had the greatest power because of wealth and position. They claimed to believe in God but not in life after death. They totally dismissed judgment, heaven and hell. They did not believe in the divine inspiration of the Prophets and accepted only, as scripture, the 10 Commandments which God spoke on Mt. Sinai.
The Sadducees came to Jesus and asked, "If a man dies, having no children, the Law says that his brother must marry the widow and raise up children for his brother." "Now there were 7 brothers, the first married and died and having no children, he left his wife to the second brother." "The second brother died without children and left the widow to the third brother." "This continued on down the line until all seven of the brothers had married her and had no children." "Finally, the wife died." Now comes the question. "In the resurrection, which of the seven brothers will be her husband?"
For a group of people that did not believe in the resurrection, this was a strange question. Why did they ask it? It appears that they had two ulterior motives. One, to show their contempt for the Law that required this of a man's brother. It was written in Duet. 25:5, and was done to preserve family lines. Secondly, it was done to show how complicated life after death would be, if it existed. Now granted the case that they presented was an extreme one, but never-the-less, a possibility. I like what the writer of Job says, "If there be seven brothers, there is likely to be a large family, but, sometimes there is neither son, nor nephew nor any remaining in the house."
Matthew Henry's comment to this is, "We may well say then, accept the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it." (A little 18th. century humor) The obedience of the 7 brothers to the Law was unbelievable. The last that ventured out to marry the widow must have been bold indeed.
Well, in the resurrection whose wife would she be? Why would they even think about such a question? It was probably brought on by the very gross and carnal beliefs of the Pharisees about Heaven. Heaven was paradise because they believed it contained the delights and pleasures of a sexual life. This was so distasteful to the Sadducees that it apparently drove them to deny the existence of it. Nothing gives a greater advantage to atheism than the carnalities of those who profess religion. Paul explains it this way in I Cor. 2:14, "The natural man receives not these things, for they are foolishness to him."
Now lets look at Jesus' answer to their dumb question. First, He must expose their ignorance. Notice that He does not appear to be as disturbed with them as He was with the Pharisees. He allows for ignorance. "You are mistaken because you do not know." Ignorance was the cause of their error about the resurrection.
The resurrection is not an easy thing to believe and understand. Perhaps this was why Jesus was not harsh with them. It is hard to conceive of a soul that is separate from the body, one that will never die, and even harder to believe that body that has returned to the dust from which it came, can be raised into a resurrected body, recognizable to others. But what about the scriptures? They teach the immortality of the soul. They teach that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both the just and the unjust.
So who will be her husband? None of them will be her husband. There will be no marriage in Heaven. That which makes marriage necessary and meaningful will not exist in Heaven. Bible scholars are divided in their opinions concerning whether our resurrected bodies will be distinguishable by sex or gender. But they do agree that if it exists, there will be no notice taken of it. Unlike the beliefs of the Pharisees, there will be no carnal desires in Heaven. No eating or drinking, no births or deaths. No sickness, no sorrow. The joys of Heaven are spiritual and the problems are non-existent.
Yes, there is life after death. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses, all spoke of the resurrection. When God spoke to Moses He said, "I am the God of Abraham," He did not say, "I was the God of Abraham." We have a good insight into this when we read about what occurred on the Mt. of Transfiguration. There Peter, James and John saw Moses and Elijah a thousand years after Moses had died. They were recognizable and visible to all three of the Disciples.
Notice, all of this was heard by a crowd and it amazed them. All that Jesus said was new to them. It brought hope to an otherwise hopeless life, and when the Sadducees heard it, they were silent. They had sought to entangle Jesus in what they thought was an unexplainable situation only to be put to shame by His knowledge. Many heretics are silenced and many listeners are astonished by the words of Jesus without being converted.
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