Marriage in resurrection?

Day of Questions Continued

Chief Priest, Scribes and Elders

Pharisee's took a shot too

Today we will see the Sadducee’s go at Him

Sadducee’s

The Sadducee’s were a smaller sect of the governing body, they were considered the aristocrats and were a part of what made up the Sanhedrin. They were in direct conflict with the Pharisee’s on several points and they were not a popular view. The sect of Sadducee’s died out after the first century, but some of their beliefs according to the “Complete Word Study Dictionary for New Testament” says:

They denied the divinity and authority of oral law

They only accepted the teaching of Moses (1st 5 books of Bible)

The denied resurrection

They believed in absolute moral freedom that depended upon the moral quality of one’s actions.

They were considered people of position and more or less wealth, and were worldly minded and had only superficial interest in religion. - one more interesting fact, Annas and Caiaphas were Sadducees!

Thought it would be good to know more about the one’s coming to question Jesus today.

Open Story book to 122, Bible to Mt22:23-33

What do you see, what do you notice, what sticks out to you?

I. The Question in story form

What day did they come to Him (v.23)?

What does scripture say about their belief in resurrection (v.23)? - do you think this is important?

(v.24) is a paraphrase, a very brief one, from Deut25:5-10 but let’t turn there in our bibles and look there for just a few minutes so we can get the full picture. (below not on a slide; keep it that way)

Develop on this some (we have time today to do it)

In looking at this, was it is serious thing to take on a brothers wife? Why? - to keep the family name alive.

what was the consequences if they did not do it?

So now having the background and their belief they bring in their hypothetical story (vv.25-27)

What is the question they raise in (v.28)?

They did not believe Jesus would be able to answer the question since they do not believe in resurrection. So they would think they have discredited Jesus, shown up the Pharisee’s and the Herodians, and to top it off, the Chief priests, scribes and elders of the people. They would be displaying their superiority.

II. The Answer

Jesus points out a flaw in their question in (v.29), what is it? - They do not understand the scripture, or the power of God

Their assumption of the scripture makes it to be that if there is an afterlife, if there is a resurrection that it would be a continuation of life like now. So if married now, would be married in resurrection. - - - there is no place in scripture that says there will be no marriage in heaven except here, but Jesus is the author and perfecter of our faith. Jesus is the law maker and commandment maker so we can take it that this is the new precedence.

There is scripture that is parallel to this.

Mark 12:25 NASB95

“For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.

But I guess I got ahead of myself, look at (v.30) about the resurrection

Matthew 22:30 NASB95

“For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.

There are three points in this one verse, what are they?

(Not on slide)

there is resurrection

there is no marriage in resurrection

will be “like” angels

There is no place in scripture that says angels in heaven marry or procreate. Man here on earth was to procreate and multiply

Genesis 1:28 NASB95

God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

so when we read when someone dies “heaven got another angel” sure isn’t biblical is it?

Now Jesus is going to bring them to what they know, what they trust, Moses to prove His point

Matthew 22:31–32 NASB95

31 “But regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God: 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”

Mt22:

This phrase comes from Exo3:6

Exodus 3:6 NASB95

6 He said also, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

not past tense, present tense even though they were all physically dead they were spiritually alive. Not too long from when Jesus spoke these words would he set them free from the waiting and usher them into their heavenly home.

They believed the teaching of Moses but missed the fact of the spirit life after the physical death.

Now we need to be careful not to speculate too much on the future life but by faith trust what the scripture says. We need to trust the authority and the truth of the Word of God.

There is a major flaw in their belief by denying the resurrection they are denying the power of God and the truthfulness of God to do what He claims.

Now look how this section finishes

Matthew 22:33 NASB95

33 When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at His teaching.

Matthew 22:34 NASB95

34 But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered themselves together.

So there were many others who were there on the day of questioning that were listening in and the things going on were impacting them too.

Matthew 22:22 NASB95

22 And hearing this, they were amazed, and leaving Him, they went away.

The people were amazed in (v.22) and astonished in (v.33); where the others were confused, confronted, challenged, angered the people were amazed and astonished.

They were confronted (v.32)

This is not the only time the crowd was amazed or astonished, or even the disciples

They were angered (v.46)

Matthew 7:28–29 NASB95

28 When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching; 29 for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.

Mt

Matthew 8:27 NASB95

27 The men were amazed, and said, “What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”

Mt8

Matthew 21:20 NASB95

20 Seeing this, the disciples were amazed and asked, “How did the fig tree wither all at once?”

Are you amazed, are you astonished by the Lord and His work and words?

We have more time today, let’s press on to the next section

III. The Greatest Commandment

What do you see, what do you notice, what sticks out to you?

Notice the progression, first we had had the Chief Priests, scribes and elders, then we had the Pharisees, then the disciples of the Pharisee’s then the Sadducee’s now we have our story before us today.

What did the Pharisees hear (v.33)?

What did they do (vv.33-34)

Why was the question asked (v.35)?

Notice how the lawyer addresses Jesus (v.36); same way (v.24, 16)

What was the question that was asked (v.36)?

Jesus answer is really two part that works well together but under the rabbinic law are not linked together, the first love the Lord comes

Deuteronomy 6:5 NASB95

5 “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

Deu

and the second comes from

Leviticus 19:18 NASB95

18 ‘You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord.

Lev

Though we know that they love to argue about who is our neighbor

Jesus spoke to another lawyer about this exact thing before

Luke 10:25–27 NASB95

25 And a lawyer stood up and put Him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 And He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?” 27 And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”

Lk

And the lawyer argued

Luke 10:29 NASB95

29 But wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

Now some back ground into their thinking since it says they wanted to “test” him (Lk10:25) and in our passage (Mt22:35)

There were

613 commandments (rabbinic)

365 are negative / 248 positive

they were categorized by “light” and “heavy”

Light and heavy did not mean important and unimportant, they were all important so they thought if Jesus gave preference to one commandment more than another they had him and give sufficient grounds for immediate repudiation.

Just like with Hosea when asked what does the Lord want, it comes down to love doesn’t it?

Hosea 6:6 NIV

6 For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.

Mercy is a form of love! It is love in action.

It is important that we love, following the commandments with the wrong heart is legalism and avails nothing; we need to filter things through love and mercy and we will fulfill the law of the Lord for all the commandments hinge on that.

Remember the reason for the law, reason for the commandments is to lead you to faith, faith in Christ. The law is not of faith but to lead you to faith where our salvation is found. Where love, is found in the grace and mercy of God!