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-- THE RESURRECTION
Luke
20:27-40
Then some of the Sadducees, who deny that there
is a resurrection, came to Him and asked Him,
saying: "Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man's brother dies,
having a wife, and he dies without children, his brother should take
his wife and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were seven
brothers. And the first took a wife, and died without children. And
the second[e] took her as wife, and he died childless. Then the third
took her, and in like manner the seven also; and they left no children,
and died. 32Last of all the woman died also. Therefore, in the resurrection,
whose wife does she become? For all seven had her as wife."
Jesus answered and said to them, "The sons of this age marry and
are given in marriage. But those who are counted worthy to attain
that age, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are
given in marriage; nor can they die anymore,
for they are like the angels and are sons of God, being
sons of the resurrection. But even Moses
showed in the burning bush passage that the dead are raised, when he
called the Lord "the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob.' For He is not the God of the
dead but of the living, for to him all are alive."
Then some of the scribes answered and said, "Teacher, You have spoken well." But after that they dared not question Him anymore.
Jesus' encounter here with the Sadducees, group of leading priests who denied the reality of the resurrection, shows just how far logical argument can sometimes lead us astray in dealing with the scriptures.
Many mistakes, even in everyday problem solving, are made on the basis of faulty premises -- and at the heart of the Sadducees apparently cast iron argument was the erroneous assumption that the state of marriage will continue to exist in the age to come, after the resurrection.
Although the resurrection is taught in the Old Testament, in the book of Job, for example (Job 19:25-26), the Sadducees only accepted the five books of Moses as having divine authority -- which is why their clever argument against the resurrection was based on his writings (see Deuteronomy 25:5-6).
This is also why, in correcting their mistaken belief, Jesus also bases his argument on the writings of Moses. In brief, since the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob is not the God of the dead but of the living, the faithful patriarchs had not actually perished although they were dead and buried, but would live again, i.e. through the resurrection, the truth of which was the topic under discussion.
Although as we saw earlier, there are actually two resurrections, it was sufficient to solve the problem here for Jesus to confine his comments to the first one, the resurrection of the just. As we have also seen, the resurrection plays a key part in the coming of the Kingdom of God, because the resurrection of the disciples of Jesus who will rule with him in that kingdom actually takes place at his return (1 Corinthians 15:23).
Notice, however, Jesus' astonishing statement that those who attain the resurrection of the just will be the sons of God -- a literal truth denied by some but which is made clear in many places in the New Testament.
In the eyes of the Jews, the Lord's prayer would have been regarded as blasphemous, since it addresses God as our Father -- and it was with the charge of blasphemy for referring to God has his father too that the Jews sought to stone Jesus to death on one occasion (John 10:25-33). However, in his defense, in the next verse, Jesus quotes a verse from the Hebrew scriptures which says: "You are gods, you are all sons of the Most High" (Psalm 82:5).
Notice also the words of John when he says to the disciples of Jesus: "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of god! And that is what we are! . . . Dear friends, now we are the children of God, and what we will be has not been made known" (1 John 3:1-2). John apparently draws this conclusions from the fact that: "when he (Jesus) appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is" (verse 3).
Notice too the words of Peter as he urges us to persevere and make our calling sure in order that we "may participate in the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4).
Paul makes the same point in different words, saying that at his return, Jesus Christ: "will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body" (Philippians 3:21). He makes the same point again in a long section on the resurrection when he says: "Just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man (Adam), so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven" (1 Corinthians 15:49). He also discusses this amazing truth at some length in his letter to the Hebrews (Hebrews 2:6-18).
In that same section Paul then goes on to explain that it is only by means of the resurrection and transformation of our bodies from flesh and blood to spirit that we actually enter the Kingdom of God (verse 50-57). In light of this astonishing hope, Paul concludes by urging Christians: "Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain" (verse 58).