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

Wedding at Cana.  Fresco, 14th century.  Serbian Orthodox Monastery of Visoki Decani, Kosovo

 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

On Saturday we read that the Pharisees went and plotted how they might entangle Jesus in His talk in the temple at Jerusalem.  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."  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 say here that in this passage Christ confirms that there will be a resurrection, but it is not at all what the Sadducees are imagining.  There are some important things to understand for us in this passage.  First of all, the Sadducees consider that resurrection would be a continuation of earthly life (including earthly marriage), therefore they mock the doctrine with this absurd scenario.  But they are ignorant of the Scriptures, as Jesus says, which reveal a complete transfiguration of life in the resurrection, and makes their particular question irrelevant.  Moreover, they can't understand how Abraham and his sons can be alive in God, even if they are physically dead, thus Jesus says they do not know the power of God.  My study bible says that it is the clear teaching of Christ that the souls of the faithful who have departed this life are sustained before the face of God in anticipation of the final joy of the resurrection.

Perhaps the most important thing we can take from Christ's response to the Sadducees is that God's power of life is so total that even the dead live in God, that God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.  In the power of God, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all live, regardless of earthly time period in which they walked in this world, regardless of the generations to which each belonged.  Whatever the power of God and the power of life in God, all live outside of time and present with one another.  Moreover, Jesus teaches us that in the resurrection there is no reproduction, and additionally, there is no marriage -- they neither marry nor are given in marriage -- and so the entire organization of life as we know it is quite different.  The significance of this we must ponder, as well, in the context of Jesus' teachings on marriage, and that in the married couple, "the two shall become one flesh."  Therefore what Christ implies is that earthly marriage has an eternal character due to the power of God, but that the character of life is changed in the resurrection.  What we are given to understand is the extraordinary power of life in God; that the things which are temporal pass away, but that somehow life itself becomes magnified, more potent and powerful.  Life in God is without time as we know it, which implies that it is without the types of changes that occur with time as we understand life in this world.  This is why the call of repentance in earthly lives is so strong and powerfully emphasized in our faith; it is in this world that time brings its changes and adaptations, and thereby we are given periods and lessons for learning, teachings to adapt to, possibilities which repentance gives us before the eternal reality of the resurrection and a different sort of life.  Then we become, in Christ's words, like angels of God in heaven.  One may only stand and ponder what these words mean; surely Jesus suggests the aspect of that life that there is no more earthly marriage, but what else does this imply about what our lives are like?  Angels are beings of immense light and beauty, whose thoughts themselves carry the power of great beauty.  What then will we become, and what are we being prepared for by the words and teachings of Christ?  Surely we must come to understand that the great emphasis on materialism as an end in itself, and whatever that brings to us, is out of focus and balance.  We are given to know that we are called to something while still in this worldly life, a set of values which are eternal, a holiness which links us to the life of God which will carry over into the resurrection, the power of the Holy Spirit which permeates even our worldly lives, and certainly our prayer which also links the living and the dead -- or rather those who live in the power of God though they do not live in this world.  The Sadducees are those who placed great stock in their worldly lives, wealthy landowners who did not believe in the Resurrection and held only those first five books (the Pentateuch or Torah) as sacred, in contrast to the Pharisees.  They formed a kind of aristocratic class which disappeared after the Siege of Jerusalem.  Note that Christ says they know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.  In Christ's words -- and possibly even in the disappearance of the Sadducees -- we can read something about the power of God and the enduring, overriding reality which permeates this world and establishes life in the next.  Regardless of the presence and power of the sheer material the world seems to present to us, the whole message of Christ's ministry is one of a revelation of God which endures and grows in its power and effect.  His greatest caution comes in the form of an absolute statement regarding the allegiance we choose in life, when He says, "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon" (Matthew 6:24).  There is a way to look at life and the world as purely material, and there is a way to look at life and the world as a place in which all things intersect, even our lives are held by God, our souls have weight and bearing, and the spirit interacts with all as one whole -- even in preparation for a continuation of life we know is to come.  All of it counts, all of it important; there is no part to be left out, and no part without life that is in God. In the icon, above, of the wedding at Cana, site of Christ's first sign in John's Gospel, we have displayed not only the eternal quality of marriage, but a number of other signs we can contemplate about God's life and presence.  The water turned to wine is a sign of God's extraordinary power of life and presence among us.  The communion between Mary and her Son present to us an image of intercession, the saints in heaven who continually pray on our behalf, and in particular Mary, the Theotokos or "God-bearer."  Let us consider what Christ's holiness is for, and the entire power and revelation of the Incarnation, as we go forward in this time of expectation in Advent.  Christ came that we might have life, and have it abundantly (John 10:10) -- and all of His teachings and presence reflect this.