In this passage, Jesus disputes with the Sadducees about belief in the resurrection of the dead. The Sadducees were the chief political and spiritual rivals of the Pharisees in Israel at this time. They were aristocratic leaders of the temple priesthood who believed temple worship, including regular sacrifices, were most important for the Jewish faith. The Pharisees believed in study of the Law of Moses and living out one’s faith in daily life as what was most important. Also, the Sadducees did not believe in a resurrection from the dead while the Pharisees did. Jesus may have disagreed with the Pharisees on many issues, but he fully agreed with them that there would be a resurrection of those who died. 

The passage starts with the Sadducees coming to Jesus in an attempt to make him look foolish by asking him a hypothetical question. They create a ridiculous scenario where a poor woman who is widowed multiple times has been married to seven different men in her lifetime. The Sadducees ask: who will be this woman’s husband in the resurrection? They aren’t interested in a real answer, however. They ask this question because they believe that it shows how silly a resurrection would be. How would everyone raised possibly relate to each other? Many of our relationships are based on who is there and who isn’t. If you get everyone together all at once, across time and space, how will they be a functioning community? 

Jesus gives them an actual answer to their question, then cuts to the central issue that the Sadducees have with him. First, he says that resurrection life will not be like life is now. People will be like angels and will not be married. And, just like angels, people won’t die anymore. In fact, they aren’t even dead right now because the dead are alive to God currently! Jesus refers to the Old Testament to back this up by saying that God always says God is God to Abraham and Sarah and all other dead ancestors, not “was” God to them, but rather “is” God to them, right now. With this, the scribes realize the debate is over, so they congratulate Jesus and leave him alone, for the moment.

As Christians, rather than Sadducees, we already believe in the resurrection, so what is this passage meant to say to us? I like the idea that God is the God of us right now, not just when we die. But even when we, or our loved ones, die, God is still our God. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. This passage has resurrection hope for us, but that hope is not just left to the afterlife or when Jesus will return in glory. Instead, Jesus’ resurrection hope is for us right now and can empower us to live boldly according to God’s call on our lives. We don’t need to sacrifice goats, like the Sadducees did, we just need to trust in God’s promises and live according to them by the power of God’s Holy Spirit!