Matthew 12:46-50

Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, came forward and put this question to Jesus, 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.’ Now there were seven brothers; the first married a woman but died childless. Then the second and the third married her, and likewise all the seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be? For all seven had been married to her.”Jesus said to them, “The children of this age marry and remarry; 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. 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. 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; and He is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to Him all are alive.” Some of the scribes said in reply, “Teacher, You have answered well.” And they no longer dared to ask Him anything.

Reflection

God of the living: The question about the resurrection is raised by some Sadducees, a priestly aristocratic group who accepted only the first five books of the Bible — the Pentateuch — and followed the law in these books to the letter. Thus, they rejected oral legal tradition and the resurrection of the dead.

The riddle that Luke portrays them presenting to Jesus is based on the law of levirate marriage, as found in Dt 25:5-10. It presupposes that the way of life in the world to come is the same as it is in the present world. In the case of the riddle, this would mean polyandry, which was unacceptable and excluded by the law of Moses.

Jesus corrects the presupposition that the present world and the world to come are identical. Life here is human and mortal; sexuality guarantees the continuance of the human race. In the world to come, sexuality will not be necessary because people do not die.

Once its presupposition is lost, the riddle itself is no longer a trap. Then, Jesus addresses the question of resurrection by appealing to the very same Scriptures that the Sadducees used. He reminds them that in Exodus (3:6) Moses called “Lord” the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. God is not the Lord of the dead but of the living. To God all are alive.

SOURCE: “365 Days with the Lord,” ST. PAULS, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.,); Tel.: 895-9701; Fax 895-7328; E-mail: publishing@stpauls.ph; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.