You are mistaken

The same day as 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.

But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. Then one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, testing him, and saying, "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?" Jesus said to him, " 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."

- Matthew 22:23-40

In yesterday's reading (Render unto Caesar), Jesus continued his confrontation with the leadership of the temple. He was questioned by the Herodians with disciples of the Pharisees, in order to be trapped so that they could have him arrested - but he eluded the trap. Today, the questions continue from other factions representing the leadership.

The same day as 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." My study bible notes that, "Unlike the Pharisees, the Sadducees do not believe in the resurrection of the dead and try to ridicule this doctrine." The Sadducees were a party of mostly a wealthy landowning class, which disappeared after the destruction of the city of Jerusalem. This question reflects a rather literal perspective, about life as well as religious practice. Their rejection of a spiritual life beyond a worldly one is reflected in the question.

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 notes here: "You are mistaken: There will be a resurrection, but not of the sort they think. (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 (v. 32)." As opposed to the Pharisees, the Sadducees rejected Oral Torah tradition (later known as The Talmud), and took the Hebrew Scriptures literally. So, Jesus is pointing out here that they really don't understand the Scriptures at all. Actually, in verse 29, "You are mistaken" can also be read as "you are deceived or led astray." They are missing, entirely, the whole impact of the spiritual life - and, of course, what that means in terms of Holy Scripture. Without this perception of a spiritual reality, even our spiritual texts are misunderstood, misinterpreted - we can't know nor understand that to which they refer. Jesus points out this great spiritual reality that is nothing like worldly reality in the sense that our natures are changed, and there are different rules in that Kingdom than in the worldly one which we inhabit. Without this understanding that comes from spiritual experience, we fail to know what our holy texts have to teach us. So the words Jesus quotes, "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob" are interpreted correctly through an understanding of the spiritual reality the Sadducees fail to perceive: "God is not the God of the dead, but of the living." In this kingdom, all are alive - time is an eternal present, and this is the communion of saints rather than the worldly life they limit themselves to in their understanding of life.

But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. Then one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, testing him, and saying, "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?" My study bible notes here: "The Pharisees, lay experts on the Scripture and the Law, had found 613 commandments in the Scriptures and argued interminably about which one was central. Thus they ask about the great commandment." As opposed to the Sadducees, the Pharisees uphold the oral tradition that would come to be the written Talmud (about 500 A.D.). So, for them there is this great focus on the Law and the commandments of God. In some sense, we are getting a parallel in today's reading to yesterday's. In yesterday's reading, there is a trap set for Jesus by offering two possible answers to a question that represent the thinking of different parties in Jerusalem. But Jesus chose neither as his correct response. Today we are getting two opposing perspectives on Scripture and spiritual understanding - and Jesus answers each one in his own way.

Jesus said to him, " 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." My study bible notes, "Jesus sets forth the first . . . commandment (v. 37) and the second (v. 39) as well, which together constitute the grand summary of the Law. He knows they are asking him maliciously." While the Sadducees fail to understand Scripture because they take it (and worldly life) too literally, the Pharisees with their endless debating and Oral Torah are stuck in the minutiae of interpretation. A spiritual orientation takes a "middle way" as in yesterday's reading - or perhaps we should read Jesus' way in both readings as one in which the perspective of a deeply experiential relationship with the Father leads one's understanding and practice. Appropriately, we begin with the first great commandment here - that of the love of God with all one's heart and soul and mind. And this is inextricably tied to the second and leads to its practice: "Love your neighbor as yourself." Jesus summarizes that "on these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."

So, once again, we get Jesus' Way. And that Way teaches us once again about the paramount importance of the spiritual reality of relationship deep within ourselves. We can't just read these books, even these gospels - the holy texts we have of Jesus' life - and get the whole picture. The Sadducees fail to understand in their literalism and lack of spiritual experience of another reality, that "life in abundance" that Jesus wishes to add to our lives. The Pharisees are lost in endless debate and so in their own sense take the Scriptures themselves too seriously: there is more to this that they miss in their endless minutiae and counted commandments -- the more is less, as befits our paradoxical spiritual reality. Or perhaps we could say that Jesus' "less" is really "more" -- the two great commandments sum up all that we need to understand, and they give us the proper direction for what is so much more than all the endless debating and the details. They "can't see the forest for the trees." The "forest" is the love of God and the relationship that we all need in order to truly understand and experience these "books of the Church." We need it all: the Scripture, the Tradition, the historical understanding and experience that those who have come before have given us as well. But there is always one thing Jesus points us to, and that is our own relationship with God. My study bible has called the Church a "divine-human organism" and in this sense we - each one of us - is also a microcosm of the whole great Church in its eternal and cosmic sense. We need to love God "with all our heart and soul and mind" and bound up in this source that is Love is the love of our neighbor, our comprehension of what makes for righteousness in our lives. We have so much to help us, but we can't forget this. It is the thing that Jesus constantly brings us back to, and it is the thing he came to teach us. God, who loves us so dearly, wants us back, and he won't take second place to anything; he wants entry into our hearts and soul and mind and to dwell there with us, and the Son's mission is to rectify this situation and address our separateness, our alienation from that relationship. It always comes down to this. For the Sadducees, it is this spiritual experience that is missing from their perspective. For the Pharisees, it is this simple return home that is the whole of the Law and the Prophets. Where is this middle way for us? It is the "middle" in the sense that it cuts right down to the heart that is at the center of all that we are, each one of us, and takes us to a dwelling place in the heart of God, in the Kingdom. This is the narrow gate by which we enter, and where we dwell in order to learn to love our neighbor as ourselves, and the ways of righteousness, humility, authority and all the things that are of Grace Itself. Without it, we miss all that these books have to offer and to teach. We miss the relationship with Him that he asks of us, and for which he awaits our response. You can follow all the rules and theories you want to, you can study the hard-headed reality of the "real world" all you want, but you still need Love Itself. On this hangs all the rest we claim to seek.