Mark 12:18-27

Lectio (Reading)

Some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection,
came to Jesus and put this question to him, saying,
“Teacher, Moses wrote for us,
If someone’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no child,
his brother must take the wife
and raise up descendants for his brother.
Now there were seven brothers.
The first married a woman and died, leaving no descendants.
So the second brother married her and died, leaving no descendants,
and the third likewise.
And the seven left no descendants.
Last of all the woman also died.
At the resurrection when they arise whose wife will she be?
For all seven had been married to her.”
Jesus said to them, “Are you not misled
because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?
When they rise from the dead,
they neither marry nor are given in marriage,
but they are like the angels in heaven.
As for the dead being raised,
have you not read in the Book of Moses,
in the passage about the bush, how God told him,
I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob?
He is not God of the dead but of the living.
You are greatly misled.”

Meditatio (Reflecting)

The children of this age marry and remarry; but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage.

Oratio (Responding)

I love this passage. Here we have the Saduccees trying to capture Jesus in a false teaching. The Saduccees were different from the pharisees, in that they only believed that the torah (first five books of the bible), were the divine word of god, and that all other books should not be considered canonical. To that end, they believed that the torah did not discuss life after death, at all. And as such they did not believe that eternal life was possible.

Jesus, spoke often about the kingdom of heaven, and taught about the resurrection just as often. As such, the Sadducee’s believe that they could trap Jesus in this question about the woman with 7 husbands. The technique they used here is called “reductio ad absurdum,” In philosophy, reductio ad absurdum (Latin for “reduction to absurdity”) is a logical fallacy that attempts to establish a claim by showing that the opposite scenario would lead to an absurd contradiction. Basically, the Sadducees have no way to prove their theory (that there is no afterlife), by positive evidence. So they must come up with this utterly ridiculous example to prove their theory. They ultimately assert that god would not ever allow this most absurd set of circumstances to happen, and so we thus conclude that Heaven is not possible. This is why it is a logical fallacy, because it requires the proof of a negative. It sounds good in debate, but it will never hold up against scrutiny from a trained logician. That is where we are in this passage today, the sadducees find themselves tangling with the most cunning debater of all time.

The Sadducees, in this crazy example of the 7 times widow are attempting to catch Jesus in a trap. The sadducees believed that if Jesus says yes (that the woman will only be one mans wife), then that will be an obvious insult to the 6 other men. This would ultimately have rendered those other marriages meaningless, and would have diminished Jesus’ credibility among His disciples. On the other hand, if Jesus were to say no (that she would be all their wives), then He would be making a mockery of the law of Moses and the clear teaching of the sacrament of Marriage. So it appears there is no good answer to this question. But once again Jesus answers perfectly, not only making a point that they never anticipated, by using their own faulty reading of the torah against them.

Jesus starts by clarifying that marriage is only a institution between man and woman in this world, and does not exist in Heaven. Marriage is a sacrament that is meant for the procreation and for the raising of children in the faith. It is a way of baptizing sex and putting it into the context of what God ultimately intended. In the next life, we will be espoused to christ, and all of our fellow men and women will be brothers and sisters in christ. One big family, and sex will literally be the last thing on our minds. But while we are here in this world we should not forget that we are blessed to partake, in an ordered way, this beautiful gift of lovemaking, and the sacrament of marriage.

Then finally Jesus lowers the boom on them. He says “As for the dead being raised, have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God told him, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not God of the dead but of the living. You are greatly misled.” I cannot emphasize strongly enough how this must have ‘gobsmacked’ these sadducees. They were so sure of their reading of the torah, that they had never considered that Moses declaration about “the god of the living” was a direct affirmation of Heaven and the resurrection of the dead at the end of time. Jesus used the only books they recognized as legitimate, to prove that they were completely wrong about their interpretation of them. Truly magnificent. Jesus truly is the greatest of all teachers and his teaching is truly the divine word of God.

Let us honor Him, and honor our spouses, and honor finally the whole of Gods creation by being the best spouses, parents and friends that we can be every day. And to sit humbly at the feet of the great teacher, Jesus Christ, listening to what He has to tell us.

Contemplatio (Contemplating)

Take time to simply remain in the presence of God.

Resolutio (Resolving)