Matthew 22:23

²³ That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. ²⁴ “Teacher,” they said, “Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for him. ²⁵ 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.²⁶ The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh. ²⁷ Finally, the woman died. ²⁸ Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?”

It is not easy for the carnal mind (the unconverted mind) to understand the things of the Spirit of God.  We just saw that the Pharisees and Herodians, normally far apart in their views, came together to ask Jesus, “Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” His answer raised even more questions, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”  Pray tell, what is Caesar’s and what is God’s?  No none had thought of that as an answer.

Now, it seems was the time for the Sadducees to ask a question that would certainly “trap” Jesus.  It had to do with the resurrection of the dead which no Sadducee believed, in any case, yet their questions assumed otherwise. In essence they were poking holes in the idea of the resurrection.

“Whose wife shall she be of the seven (who all died)?” v 28  “You are in error,” Jesus said, “because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.  They believed in neither the resurrection or the power of God but Jesus did not go into that.  He raised an entirely new way of viewing all thing. He said simply, “God is not the God of the dead but of the living.” v 32

This gave resurrection a new meaning.  Jesus reminded them of the Scripture that they all knew by heart, Exodus 3:6. “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and God of Jacob.”  All of them were long since dead, of course. He reminded them that “God is the God of the living not the dead.”

What more could be said?  “When the crowds heard this , there were astounded by his teaching.”