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In Mark 12:18-27 and in Matthew 20:27-40 is told of an encounter between Jesus and Sadducees, who questioned Jesus about the resurrection.
We are informed that the Sadducees did not believe in a resurrection; so, their question was setting a trap for Jesus, where he would have no way of explaining belief in such a concept as spirits rising from dead bodies, based on Scripture. Based on Mosaic Law dealing with childless widows and remarriage to a living brother, the Sadducees posed the ridiculous scenario of seven brother having been all married to the same woman (one at a time, each following an elder brother’s death), with no children born to that woman. The question was, “In the resurrection whose wife will she be?”
In response, Jesus first asked these Judaic philosophers, “Is not this the reason you are wrong, that you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God?” (Mark 12:24, NRSV) This says the Sadducees came up with an idiotic question, because they had no understanding of Scripture, with no idea what abilities God has.
In Luke 20:34-35, Jesus added, saying “Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage.” (NRSV) In this, the Greek word “aiōnos” is written twice, each time translated as “age,” which is a difficult to grasp statement of timing. The word can equally say “space in time,” which makes the meaning be “in the now and present.” That present equated to that time, when Jesus and the Sadducees were standing, talking, and being alive in their “age” on earth. Thus, Jesus said marriage is only a legal coupling of two living human beings (those of the opposite sex), for the purpose of having babies. When Jesus said the “space in time” after death yields no necessity for human marriage, that was setting up what he said next.
In Luke 20:36, Jesus continued, by stating “Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection.” (NRSV) Mark reported Jesus saying, “For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.” (Mark 12:25, NRSV) This says that a soul is an eternal entity that only experiences death when it fills a body of human flesh. The comparison to “angels” says a soul is unseen, because it is immaterial. It is like an “angel” in the fact that it is an extension of Yahweh (God); thus, a soul is one of the “children of God.”
This element of “children” then hints of the reason mankind (in two sexes, designed to create children) is expected to be fruitful and multiply. That is why Mosaic Law speaks of marriage, because a soul’s sole purpose is to make babies, so Yahweh can place more souls (His children) back into human flesh. In the heavenly realm, only Yahweh creates “children” – some “angels” and some souls.
When Jesus then asked the Sadducees, “And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the story about the bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? (Mark 12:26, NRSV) [Also stated as: “And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” – Luke 20:37, NRSV)] This answered the first question posed, where Jesus said the Sadducees did not know the scriptures.
The combination of “mē eidotes” and “ouk anegnōte,” translated as “not perceiving” and “not have discerned” does not mean Jesus told the Sadducees that they had not memorized scripture correctly. They certainly had done that; but they knew nothing of the meaning behind the words they memorized. That ignorance made them pose idiotic scenarios, based wholly on how little truth they had discerned from scripture.
In Exodus 3:1-6 (and more), we read of Moses having a divine experience of Yahweh. The “bush” is metaphor for the children of God, which (remembering what Jesus had already said to the Sadducees) are “angels” that had entered souls in human flesh, becoming “Yahweh elohim.” Yahweh elohim are the Sons of God, which are His children. The Sadducees (like most all teachers of scripture in the twenty-first century) could not see the “bush” as anything more than a desert shrubbery that had some mysterious fire upon it, which was not consuming it.
The “blazing bush that was not consumed” (paraphrase of Exodus 3:2b, NRSV) was the ‘family tree’ that Moses had just entered and became a limb of. Thus, when Exodus 3:6 has Yahweh say to Moses, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,” that means Yahweh’s earthly angelic children were those whose souls had received the soul of Yahweh’s elohim Son (Adam-Jesus). Moses had just been added to the list that included Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob [call that last one “Israel” – his elohim name].
This has to be understood or one becomes a stump just as dumb as the Sadducees. Luke has Jesus next saying, “Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.” Mark wrote, “He is God not of the dead, but of the living.” (Mark 12:27a, NRSV) This says that Moses, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were examples of human beings who were alive, because they had become “children of God.” The aspect of “the dead” is not some corpse buried in the ground, or bones gathered in some urn, but those souls walking around in bodies of human flesh thinking that is life. Simply because flesh is dead matter, animated by a soul; and, a soul can only animate dead matter for a limited amount of time (certainly not an “age”), a soul waiting for death to come and release the soul to be judged by Yahweh will never find resurrection. [Give the Sadducees a point for being right, as far as there is no resurrection when dead matter returns to death.]
Mark had Jesus add, “you are quite wrong.” (Mark 12:27b, NRSV) That says the Sadducees concept of life and death was upside down. They did not understand the “ability of God” to bring life to the dead flesh that a soul inhabited, prior to the soul’s release. They had wasted time memorizing scripture quotes; but they did not know the meaning behind any of them. The reason is they were dead spiritually. They had souls in bodies of dead flesh; and, they were doing nothing to ask Yahweh to use His miraculous powers and come save their souls – raising life into that dead. [Take a point away from the Sadducees, because that says Resurrection is true … just misunderstood by ignoramuses.]
Certainly, the Sadducees got down on their knees each night, before going to sleep [metaphor for death] and prayed, “Thank you God for making me all wise and able to memorize the Laws and point out the errors in other Jews. Amen.” There are plenty of Christians and Jews that are souls animating dead flesh today that say the same prayer. It is so easy to worship a Big Brain. The lesson of this conversation between Jesus and Sadducees is based on a rejection of Resurrection. When Jesus said, “Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living,” the only Resurrection of importance is “Now.”
If one is not a saint, one is dead. One has not resurrected the “angel” Son of Yahweh within one’s soul. Yahweh’s ability had Jesus raise Lazarus from death, to demonstrate that the resurrection of the dead meant true life entering into a soul covered in dead flesh. Yahweh showed His abilities when He sacrificed His Son on a cross, so his soul would be released to enter into those souls who were like Moses – sinners that were walking dead. One has to do like Moses and “turn aside” from the way the world is leading one’s soul-in-the-flesh to go. One needs to hide one’s face of self-importance and become the face of Yahweh on earth.
When one does that, then Yahweh is the God of one living. Death of the old has brought about the resurrection of the new. One no longer needs to fear physical death, because when one becomes a child of God, then one has gained eternal life. One becomes Jesus reborn; and, that means confronting the idiots that think they are living the good life because they memorize scripture and make a good living doing that. The hidden humor in this confrontation between the Sadducees and Jesus is they reflected the seven brothers who could never produce an heir. Their knowledge of Law becomes the reason they all had become sterile.
The poor woman that had to endure being married to all of those barren men reflects on the Law of Moses as their wife. Each man took control over scripture, but none could ever make it come alive – to give birth to meaning. So, when everyone was dead, there is no need for marriage vows [the Covenant] anymore. The union of a soul in human flesh [a brother] and the Law [the wife to all brothers] is meant to create a resurrection on earth – a most divine marriage – where two are joined as one anew, never again to be separated. [Human marriage is a reflection of humans playing god; Holy Matrimony is when a soul submits to Yahweh’s Spirit and becomes Resurrected in dead flesh.]
The misconception that the physical realm is a mirror image of the spiritual realm has a male dominated world look down on women as nothing but their possessions. Thus, the Sadducees wanted Jesus to tell them who would still possess the woman after death. The fact that the physical realm is the only realm that requires two sexes to make a new human being makes it appear that men are Godlike, while women are just one of the many pleasures God gives to men. This is where it is wrong to think that way.
All human beings are sexless souls [colorless too], which are all in need of marrying Yahweh to find salvation. That means all human beings are expected to be the wives of Yahweh and submit to him like this poor old woman did in the imaginations of idiots. The problem always stems from thinking one is a god, equal to Yahweh, missing the point that says all human beings are Yahweh’s possessions. He is the Father. Spirits are His male children. Everything made of matter is feminine and designed to spread wide and receive Him.