Matthew 22:23-33 23On that day Sadducees came to him, saying that there is no resurrection, and they asked him, 24saying, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies having no children, his brother must marry his widow and raise up offspring for his brother.’ 25So, there were seven brothers among us. The first after being married died, and having no offspring left his wife to his brother. 26Likewise for the second and third until the seventh. 27And last of all, the woman died. 28In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will she be of the seven? For they all had her.”
On the same day that the other Jewish sects tried to trap Jesus, the Sadducees show up with a problem. The Sadducees did not get along with the Pharisees and had opposing views on many matters. The cooperated with the Romans and tried to maintain the status quo. They viewed Jesus as a threat to keeping the peace. Verse 23 gives a big hint into one of their tenets. They did not believe in the resurrection or life after death. Their focus was on this life time. They did not see this teaching in the Old Testament and believed it was an idea that came from Persia. If they could get Jesus to make a claim about resurrection that was against Scripture, then they could use their influence to get rid of him.
They acknowledge Jesus to be a teacher, although they do not state what kind of teacher he is. Much of the controversy at this point in the week focuses around Jesus as a teacher. They quote a statement from Moses as their authority, assuming that their scenario will have a strong basis for it. They paraphrase Deuteronomy 25:5-6, which summarizes a cultural practice of early Israel. It was important for a man to have offspring, especially sons, so that his name could continue on. If a man died without children, it was expected that his widow would marry his brother and have children in his name. They would not be considered the brother’s children but the deceased man. The Sadducees had thought about this command and wondered how it related to their beliefs about no resurrection.
Their scenario is obviously fictitious to draw out the absurdity of resurrection. The situation can be stated simply: multiple men marry the same wife. In the resurrection, whose wife will she be? It was absurd to their thinking that a woman could have seven husbands, although they seemed to have had no problem with a man have multiple wives.
The Sadducees reveal the danger of humanistic thinking and speculation. They wanted everything to be logical according to their own presuppositions. They had essentially the same deep problem as the Pharisees and Herodians. Their interpretation of the Bible was agenda driven, and this agenda had a lot to do with their selfishness. The best thinkers of Jesus’ day were trying to trap him intellectually, which only revealed the emptiness of their hearts.
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