Gospel MK 12:18-27
Some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection,
came to Jesus and put this question to him, saying,
“Teacher, Moses wrote for us,
If someone’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no child,
his brother must take the wife
and raise up descendants for his brother.
Now there were seven brothers.
The first married a woman and died, leaving no descendants.
So the second brother married her and died, leaving no descendants,
and the third likewise.
And the seven left no descendants.
Last of all the woman also died.
At the resurrection when they arise whose wife will she be?
For all seven had been married to her.”
Jesus said to them, “Are you not misled
because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?
When they rise from the dead,
they neither marry nor are given in marriage,
but they are like the angels in heaven.
As for the dead being raised,
have you not read in the Book of Moses,
in the passage about the bush, how God told him,
I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob?
He is not God of the dead but of the living.
You are greatly misled.”
Reflection:
Some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection,
came to Jesus and put this question to him, saying,
“Teacher, Moses wrote for us,
If someone’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no child,
his brother must take the wife
and raise up descendants for his brother.”
They then present a scenario where seven brothers die after having been married to the same woman, who has never given birth to a child.
Finally, the Sadducees posed a question, “At the resurrection when they arise whose wife will she be?”
We have all experienced someone asking a question with the ulterior motive of trying to trap us into giving an answer that confirms their own opinion.
The Sadducees clearly were not seeking Jesus’ advice; they instead wanted to trap Jesus.
The Sadducees were more interested in being right than sincerely trying to discover the “correct” answer.
Jesus responded by telling the Sadducees about the nature of the resurrection, “When they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but they are like the angels in heaven.”
The Sadducees were blind to the reality of life after death because their view of heaven was limited to what they knew of life on earth.
The reality of Heaven and the resurrection are beyond what we can imagine.
Heaven and life after death are not a matter of proof; they are a matter of faith.
Jesus then quotes their own scriptures to prove to the Sadducees that life after death is a reality. Their own God said, “I -am- the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,” all of whom had long since passed from this life.
“When we attempt to trap others into validating our opinion, we often trap ourselves.” – – Unknown