Ep. 95: Marriage at the Resurrection
CLICK HERE for the corresponding blog post in Yeshua Adored
MATTHEW 22:23-33, MARK 12:18-27, LUKE 20:27-39
The Sadducees had only interacted with Jesus once before, when, characteristically, they had asked of him ‘a sign from heaven.’ Their rationalism would lead them to treat the whole movement as beneath serious consideration, the outcome of ignorant fanaticism. Nevertheless, when Jesus assumed such a position in the Temple and was evidently to such extent swaying the people, they could no longer stand by. Their objective was certainly not to argue seriously but to use the much more dangerous weapon of ridicule.
The subject of attack was to be the Resurrection. In the view of Christ, their belief was far from ‘the belief of the Pharisees’. Yet it was the living cornerstone of that Church which ever pointed all men heavenwards. But they weren’t to know this, these thoughts would have been unintelligible at that time even to his own disciples!
He met the arguments of the Sadducees head-on, with words that should have led them onwards and upwards far beyond the standpoint of the Pharisees. The intention of the Sadducees was also covertly to strike at their Pharisaic opponents. The ancient rule of marrying a brother’s childless widow had more and more fallen into disrepute, as its original motive ceased to have influence. The Sadducees held the opinion that the command to marry a brother’s widow only applied to a betrothed wife, not to one that had actually been wedded. This one was thrown at Jesus.
In his argument against the Sadducees, Jesus first appealed to the power of God, in that he worked in ways quite different than they imagined. The world to come was not to be a reproduction of that which had passed away. What, therefore, in our present relations is of the earth and of our present body of sin and corruption, will cease; what is eternal in them will continue. But the power of God will transform all. Of course, as speaking to the Sadducees. He spoke from the Torah and yet it was not only to the Law but to the whole Bible that he appealed.
The Sadducees were silenced, the multitude was astonished and even from one of the Scribes came the admission, ‘Teacher, you have beautifully said.’ As the Scribe spoke later to the Pharisees. He would relate how Jesus had literally gagged and muzzled the Sadducees. There can be little doubt that the report would give rise to mixed feelings, such as that, although Jesus might have wrong-footed the Sadducees. It was now the turn of the Pharisees!
This is an extract from the book, Jesus : Life and Times, available for £10 here (Finalist for Academic Book of the year at 2023 CRT awards)