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The same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, saying: "Teacher, Moses said that if a man dies, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were with us seven brothers. The first died after he had married, and having no offspring, left his wife to his brother. Likewise the second also, and the third, even to the seventh. Last of all the woman died also. Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had her." Jesus answered and said to them, "You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven. But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living." And when the multitudes heard this, they were astonished at His teaching.
- Matthew 22:23-33
In our current readings, Jesus is in Jerusalem, and it is the Passion Week. He's cleansed the temple, and then begun to engage in discussions with the leadership. On Saturday, we read that the Pharisees began to plot how they might entangle Him in His talk. And they sent to Him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know that You are true, and teach the way of God in truth; nor do You care about anyone, for You do not regard the person of men. Tell us, therefore, what do You think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?" But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, "Why do you test Me, you hypocrites? Show Me the tax money." So they brought Him a denarius. And He said to them, "Whose image and inscription is this?" They said to Him, "Caesar's." And He said to them, "Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." When they had heard these words, they marveled, and left Him and went their way.
The same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, saying: "Teacher, Moses said that if a man dies, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were with us seven brothers. The first died after he had married, and having no offspring, left his wife to his brother. Likewise the second also, and the third, even to the seventh. Last of all the woman died also. therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had her." This question comes from the Sadducees, who did not believe in the resurrection of the dead -- my study bible says that, hence, they try to ridicule this doctrine. The Sadducees were a party of an elite class of landowners, which virtually disappeared with the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.
Jesus answered and said to them, "You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven. But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living." And when the multitudes heard this, they were astonished at His teaching. My study bible says that by the words you are mistaken, Jesus is teaching that there will be a resurrection, but not of the sort they think. It notes that "(1) They are ignorant of the Scriptures, which say nothing about earthly laws of marriage being applicable to the future Kingdom. The resurrection is not merely life resuming where it left off, but a complete change of life. (2) They do not know the power of God, which transforms us from death to life. The 'dead' even now are living before God."
Let us consider the notion of life as it applies to the Scriptures and especially to Christ, who called Himself "the way, the truth, and the life." Life in this context is much more than we understand of it, as illustrated by the limited notion of the Sadducees in today's reading. Jesus' first way of addressing their question is to point out that they are entirely missing out on a great portion of what life is, exactly, that they haven't any idea of life beyond this world, life in a spiritual reality: the Scriptures speak of this, and it concerns the power of God. In this level of life that the spiritual concerns itself with, in the resurrection, life is completely different -- with different properties -- than the very earthly life which limits their full understanding of the great expansion of awareness He's calling upon them to see. In the resurrection, life changes, life is completely different from what they understand of life with a limited perspective. These wealthy landowners need to understand the Scriptures better, they need to open their minds to the power of God which seems to have eluded them. In the resurrection, life is changed and it's lived on a different basis: human beings neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels of God in heaven. Jesus expands the notion of life to include much more than what we can see, taste, touch, hear, and smell in this world, and invites us all to wonder at a notion of life that goes way beyond anything that we have experienced. Jesus has also promised that through Him, we shall have life and have it in abundance. Today's passage asks us to consider what an abundant life is -- or rather, what it is to have life in abundance, or life abundantly. This is more life. It is manifold. It is more than meets our current understanding in earthly terms and invites us in to accept more parts to ourselves -- that there is much, much more to being human than merely what we understand about life without the spiritual dimension. Finally, that God is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Joseph teaches us more: that life beyond this world invites us into dimensions we haven't experienced, where all these live in God, even as the communion of saints lives and is present with us, intersecting our spiritual lives, in which our prayers mingle with the angels in heaven, even with the song reported in Isaiah and the Revelation that we may repeat in our worship services: "Heaven and earth are full of your glory." Even as we celebrate, so is there a celebration with us in the places of abundant life Jesus speaks of, where all live in this place of God. It's important that we expand our understanding of what life is, exactly, because without a sense of what is much greater than we already know, we are missing out on the picture of what is promised to us. And there is that spiritual dimension that promises to intersect our lives which we also read about in Scripture, for example when Mary declares, "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior." The soul and spirit are also places of abundant life, in which are added to us a sense of joy and also one of peace that cannot be explained in terms of an earthly life bound only by our five senses, but rather call upon another perception. All of these things are examples of what life really is all about in the context of the Scriptures. So, when Jesus promises that "I am the resurrection and the life," He's teaching us about what life is all about, and that if we think it's limited only to those things we already know then we are fooling ourselves: we haven't understood the Scriptures, nor do we have any clue about the power of God. The real question of faith in that context becomes a question about how much abundance can fill your life -- not on mere material terms, but in terms of the magnification of the soul, the rejoicing of your spirit, the prayers that mingle with saints and angels to be magnified and helped even in ways of which you are totally unaware. Life, on Jesus' terms, is something that cannot be contained, cannot be stopped, and defeats death at every turn. Consider what this promise of life really means, the next time you feel limited in any way. There is so much more to your life than what the world will tell you, and so much more to faith than our meager expectations. Let Him show you the way to that abundance. There is so much more than we can even begin to touch upon here: the life of the imagination and creativity, the gifts of the Spirit -- including transformation and every myriad form of holiness that cannot be counted. Let us consider this promise of life in abundance, the place where the Scriptures and the power of God take us.
