The religious teachers continue to challenge Jesus. They have their favorite nuggets to throw at him. "Can God make a stone so big He can't move it?" No, that is not one of the questions... but the questions are on that simplistic level.
Matt 22:23-33, Who is a man's wife in heaven?
That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. "Teacher," they said, "Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and have children for him. 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. The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh. Finally, the woman died. Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?"
Jesus replied, "You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.
"But about the resurrection of the dead--have you not read what God said to you. `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."
When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.
That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. "Teacher," they said, "Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and have children for him. 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. The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh. Finally, the woman died. Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?"
Jesus replied, "You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.
"But about the resurrection of the dead--have you not read what God said to you. `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."
When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.
The Sadducees also attempt a direct line of questioning, hitting Jesus with one of their conundrums intended to show that the resurrection is a foolish idea. Jesus's response is more direct here and he confronts the foolishness of the Sadducees by confronting their underlying assumptions.
(This reminds me of some of the silly things I see on Facebook, ideas that only make sense to those who have already bought into them....)
(This reminds me of some of the silly things I see on Facebook, ideas that only make sense to those who have already bought into them....)
The quote in verse 32 is from Exodus 3:6. This quote is significant, I think, to one's view of the afterlife and the "restoration" mentioned in an earlier passage. The afterlife is not going to be like the popular church description, sitting high above the clouds, looking down on the earth. It will be on the earth, in a new, restored earth and universe.
Matt 22:34-40, Greatest commandment
Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"
Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"
Jesus replied: "`Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: `Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
Jesus quickly summarizes the Law in a way that shows he has thought deeply about it.
The quote in verse 37 is from Deut. 6:5. The quote in verse 39 is from Lev. 19:18.
While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, "What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?"
"The son of David," they replied.
He said to them, "How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him `Lord'? For he says `The Lord said to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet."' If then David calls him `Lord,' how can he be his son?"
Jesus has saved up a question for the Pharisees: why did David call his chosen descendant, "Lord"? The quote in verse 44 is from Psalm 110:1 and hits at the Pharisees' narrow view of the coming Messiah.
No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.
Jesus seems to know the entire Old Testament by heart, and to have thought deeply about it. The Pharisees' trick questions (over the last two chapters of Matthew) have been futile and Jesus has ended the session with a question that has caught them out.
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