Matthew 22:23-40
23 That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. 24 “Teacher,” they said, “Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for him. 25 Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. 26 The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh. 27 Finally, the woman died. 28 Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?”
29 Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. 30 At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. 31 But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you, 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”
33 When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.
34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ i 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ j 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” [1]
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The Sadducees attempt to trap Jesus into making unorthodox statements either about marriage or death elicits a fascinating reply from Jesus. His comment that we will “neither marry nor be given in marriage” in the resurrection points to the awful tragedy that death is to marriage. Behind this discussion is the painful reality that we have all witnessed in others, and some have experienced personally: Death painfully ends a marriage.
God’s intent is for relationships to be loving and that they be lasting. Eternally lasting. We are made in His image, His relational image (think Trinity), and so are made for relationship. Some relationships are very close, very fulfilling, and can even serve as signposts pointing to the love within Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
These relationships aren’t supposed to end. But they do. It is surely the most painful part of living in a fallen creation. Relationships are torn apart by sin. Relationships are torn apart by death. Nowhere else do we feel so deeply and profoundly the sense of wrongness that permeates our fallen world as at the graveside of someone we love.
But thanks be to God! Thanks be to Jesus for resurrection, and the gift of New Creation. Certainly one of the blessings of the new creation, building upon the blessing of being “given in marriage” as the bride to the bridegroom Jesus, is that the relationships of the saints will never again be tarnished by sin or by death. The deep sense that we have, the knowledge we feel in our bones, that relationships should not have to end will finally be realized, celebrated, and enjoyed forever. God truly is the God of the Living.
Lord Jesus, I lift to you today those who are grieving the loss of someone whom they have dearly loved. You have promised comfort to all who mourn. Keep all your saints until the day of the complete fulfillment of that promise in the resurrection.
What is the Word leading you to pray about today?
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[1] The New International Version. (2011). (Mt 22:23–40). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
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