No Marriage in the Resurrection
March 14, 2023
Matthew 22:23-33 | Revelation 7:9-12 | Gospels in Lent Track: Luke 1-2
The Walt Disney Company probably doesn’t like this passage.
While Jesus’ Kingdom is all about “Happily Ever After,” it apparently won’t be about eternal marital relationships. And why would it be? In the beginning, God established community. Marriage is a boundary set for humanity in these times. The eternal will be much different.
But as it was yesterday and as it will be tomorrow, this isn’t just about the pragmatics of marriage. It’s about power. The Sadducees are after Jesus as much as the Pharisees were yesterday.
And again…Jesus thwarts the attempted bamboozlement.
Matthew 22:23-33
That same day Sadducees, who deny that there is a resurrection, came to Jesus. They asked, “Teacher, Moses said, If a man who doesn’t have children dies, his brother must marry his wife and produce children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married, then died. Because he had no children he left his widow to his brother. The same thing happened with the second brother and the third, and in fact with all seven brothers. Finally, the woman died. At the resurrection, which of the seven brothers will be her husband? They were all married to her.”
Jesus responded, “You are wrong because you don’t know either the scriptures or God’s power. At the resurrection people won’t marry nor will they be given in marriage. Instead, they will be like angels from God. As for the resurrection of the dead, haven’t you read what God told you, I’m the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He isn’t the God of the dead but of the living.” Now when the crowd heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.
Revelation 7:9-12
After this I looked, and there was a great crowd that no one could number. They were from every nation, tribe, people, and language. They were standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They wore white robes and held palm branches in their hands. They cried out with a loud voice:
“Victory belongs to our God
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.”
All the angels stood in a circle around the throne, and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell facedown before the throne and worshipped God, saying,
“Amen! Blessing and glory
and wisdom and thanksgiving
and honor and power and might
be to our God forever and always. Amen.”
Prayer
God,
So my spouse won’t be my spouse in the eternal Kingdom? I admit this catches me somewhat off-guard. In many ways, my spouse is the closest thing I know to heaven.
Give me the faith to imagine that things could be even better.
I suppose if you mean for all humans to be in community, the comfort and peace we find in our closest relationships would be extended beyond to many more.
Again, I find it hard to believe. So help me, God.
Nonetheless, help me to love people today to fuller extents than yesterday.
By your Spirit & in Christ,
Amen.