Gospel: Luke 20:27-40

 

The Sadducees were an elite type of aristocrat. They were conservative, insisting on a literal interpretation of the Law, and were invested in Roman rule and order. They did not accept faith in the resurrection. At that time, this faith was beginning to be valued by both the Pharisees and by ordinary people. This motivated people to resist the dominion of the Romans and of the priests, elders, and the Sadducees for whom the Messianic Kingdom was already present in the status quo. 

 

The Saducees were typically well off and content with the way things were at the time. They wanted religion to remain immutable like God himself. To ridicule faith in the resurrection, they created fictitious cases in which faith in the resurrection seemed absurd.

 

The Sadducees invented the story of a woman who buried seven husbands, brothers among themselves, and then she herself also died without children. This was invented in order to show that faith in the resurrection creates absurd situations, and exemplifies the literal interpretation the Saducees gave to the Law.

 

Jesus cannot bear hypocrisy on the part of the elite which manipulates and ridicules faith in God to legitimize and defend its own interests. The response contains two parts: you understand nothing of the resurrection, and Jesus explains that the condition of persons after death will be totally different from the current condition; you understand nothing about the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. 

 

The disciples are attentive and learn! Those who are on the side of the Sadducees find themselves on the opposite side of God.