23That same day Jesus was approached by some Sadducees—religious leaders who say there is no resurrection from the dead. They posed this question:24“Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies without children, his brother should marry the widow and have a child who will carry on the brother’s name.’25Well, suppose there were seven brothers. The oldest one married and then died without children, so his brother married the widow.26But the second brother also died, and the third brother married her. This continued with all seven of them.27Last of all, the woman also died.28So tell us, whose wife will she be in the hresurrection? For all seven were married to her.”
29Jesus replied, “Your mistake is that you don’t know the Scriptures, and you don’t know the power of God.30For when the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage. In this respect they will be like the iangels in heaven.
31“But now, as to whether there will be a resurrection of the dead—haven’t you ever read about this in the Scriptures? Long after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had died, God said,32‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ So he is the God of the living, not the dead.”
33When the crowds heard him, they were astounded at his teaching.
The politics of Jesus’ time was a bit complicated. The Romans ruled, but they allowed the Jews to be self-governed to some extent by their religious leaders. The religious leaders were generally divided into two groups, the Pharisees and and Sadducees. The Pharisees were the most powerful. They were very strict observers of the law and believed in life after death. The Sadducees were their rivals for power who believed there was no life after death.
These Sadducees take their shot at tripping up Jesus with an impressive scenario, but Jesus of course answers them without pause. But he doesn’t only answer the question they asked, but he goes on to answer their real question: “Is there life after death.”
Jesus’ makes it 100% crystal clear that life is eternal and God is the God of the living, not the dead. So lets be sure we are alive! Is my faith truly alive in how I live every day? Am I hopeful, joyful and helpful? I need to be those things and more. I need to truly be “alive”.
Now what about that sticky marriage question. Jesus just said there would be no marriage in heaven. What will there be then? I don’t really know for sure but I personally suspect that all of us will be so unified with God and with each other, that marriage and sexuality will be completely unnecessary. But that is only my opinion. The Bible simply says we can’t imagine what God has in store for us. Beginner’s Online Bible Study *obbs*