December 11th, 2023
Scripture
The same day some Sadducees came to him saying there is no resurrection, and they asked him a question: 24 “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies childless, his brother shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother.’ 25 Now there were seven brothers among us; the first married and died childless, leaving the widow to his brother. 26 The second did the same, so also the third, down to the seventh. 27 Last of all, the woman herself died. 28 In the resurrection, then, whose wife of the seven will she be? For all of them had married her.”
29 Jesus answered them, “You are wrong because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God. 30 For in the resurrection people neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like angels of God in heaven. 31 And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God, 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is God not of the dead but of the living.” 33 And when the crowds heard it, they were astounded at his teaching.
--Matthew 22:23-33
Caricature and Curiosity
Too often when we have prolonged exposure to a worldview that differs from ours, especially one we find irritating, we start to caricature both the opposing view and our own. We usually compare the best parts of what we think with the worst parts of what an opposing group thinks. In so doing, we become cartoonishly virtuous while the other guys become cartoonishly nonsensical or villainous.
This is sort of what happens in this encounter between the Sadducees and Jesus. The Sadducees were traditionalists, and they knew their scriptures very, very well, particularly the Torah. They talked about it a lot, and their interpretations of it were always very keen to stay close to the text itself. They didn’t want a lot of what they saw as extraneous stuff added in.
There’s virtue in this: they’re trying to be faithful to an authority that all Jewish people, including Jesus, relied on. Moreover, the questions the Sadducees brought to the Torah were often immensely practical. “Okay, let’s say this happens. What does faithfulness look like then?”
You can see how they play up their strengths in their question to Jesus. They quote Deuteronomy 25:5, demonstrating their faithfulness to what Moses taught about the death of a spouse. So far, so good. They then apply that text to a practical situation: multiple brothers die, so multiple brothers marry the woman.
But then they go wrong. They set everything up on their terms, and then use that to make fun of the resurrection group around Jesus. You can hear them snickering. “This’ll show him!” They turn resurrection into a caricature rather than exhibit any genuine curiosity.
What if they had simply said something like, “It’s important to us that our lives be based on the Torah. We don’t understand how you get to the resurrection of the dead from the Torah. How did you get there, and why is it important to you?” That’s a very different conversation.
But that’s not the one Matthew gives us. Jesus’ response is combative. “You are wrong” is a hot take. “You are wrong because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God” is a very hot take. Jesus challenges the authority the Sadducees claim—the Torah as it is written—and adds something a bit more mysterious: the power of God. It’s as though he says, “On your own terms, your position is weak. And let’s not forget who gave us the Torah to begin with.”
To top it all off, he quotes the bible back to them, reminding them how God names Himself to Moses in Exodus 3:13-15. “I am the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob.” There’s a hint here of something hard to describe, something not in the text itself (I am no Sadducee!) but which later generations of Christians might call the communion of saints.
Both Jesus and the Sadducees respected Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But when Jesus responds as he does—He is God not of the dead, but of the living—he seems to suggest that the resurrection faction actually has more respect for these patriarchs than the Sadducees do. For Jesus and his followers, the patriarchs and matriarchs are living not because there is some ‘back room’ to the universe where we’ll have to sort out (again) who is married to whom after we die. No, the resurrection just means that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are still living simply because that is Who God is. God is eternal; God is our creator; and God’s power is such that death cannot prevent Him from relating to us as He sees fit. Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Leah and Rachel—all these patriarchs and matriarchs are still living because they are still God’s. To be raised is to continue to be God’s person. When Christians affirm the resurrection of the dead, that’s all we’re saying. We are affirming something about God, not about us.
That’s worth being curious about. As we contemplate the coming of Christ this Advent season, maybe the mystery of God incarnate will provoke our own curiosity about those around us and help heal some of our Sadducee ways.
The Rev. Daniel P. Strandlund, Rector
St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church
High Point, NC