Whose wife will she be? Jesus’ surprising answer

The weekly lectionary, by necessity, leaves out some stories. From last Sunday’s text to next Sunday’s text the lectionary jumps over Matthew 22: 23-33. But this story is worth our time. It is the second in a set of three questions the elites ask Jesus in their attempt to discredit him in the eyes of the Roman authorities and his followers. This exchange takes place during the week ¹between Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem and his trial and crucifixion.

At first glance this question may seem to us, 21st century Western people, as picky legalism. But as always, if we understand some of the context we can grasp what is going on and why it matters.

The Pharisees have left after Jesus’ response to their attempt to ensnare him. Now it’s the Sadducees turn. Sadducees were Temple elites who benefitted from the status quo of Roman rule. They had religious responsibilities in the Temple and responsibilities on behalf of the Roman Empire. Again the idea of separation of “church and state” was not a first century CE concept.

We don’t actually know a lot about the Sadducees. Because their role and work involved the Temple, the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE essentially ends their religious and political influence. They held the written Torah (the first five books of the Old Testament) as their sole religious text and authority. They did not believe in an afterlife or the resurrection of the dead.²

The scenario they present to Jesus is a man dies childless and his brother marries the widow. Then he dies childless, and the next brother marries the widow, and this repeats for a total of seven brothers. This is describing a practice known as levirate marriage. Levirate marriage³ arises out of a belief that men live on in their heirs. This makes sense if there is no resurrection of the dead or life after death. If this life is all there is, it becomes important to protect their memory, family line, property, and inheritance. In a culture where women and children are at great physical risk without a husband/father, it also ensures a male provider and protector.

Since we don’t practice levirate marriage, we might be inclined to think the question is to denigrate levirate marriage. But actually the question is an attempt to show that belief in an afterlife and resurrection is nonsensical. If there is a resurrection of the dead, the woman would have 7 husbands! That’s just ridiculous.

Jesus response is to explain that life in the resurrection is not at all like life as we know it now (or then). By modern standards Jesus’ use of the Biblical statement ” I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” doesn’t seem to be a particularly compelling argument, But for its time and for his audience it was. Particularly because Jesus doesn’t explain or expand his comments. Matthew tells us the crowds were “astounded”.

Often we don’t think about the implications of what Jesus said about life in the resurrection- life in the reign of God. The patriarchal structures that make marriage and levirate marriage necessary for the safety and protection of women won’t exist. The ancient world assumed that a woman belonged to her father and then to her husband. A father, husband or son was necessary for a woman’s safety and security⁴. Wives and daughters were not considered property in the same sense a slaves were, but practically speaking women had great difficulty existing apart from male family members.⁵

Life in the reign of God means women and children won’t need to be protected by men. It also means family inheritance, and land won’t matter. Having heirs won’t be necessary. This one example, posed to Jesus, offers a glimpse of how different life in the reign of God will be. The cultural and economic realities of then (and now) will not matter.

No wonder the crowd was astounded and the Sadducees were silenced. Another attempt to trick Jesus into saying something that will get him into trouble with the authorities- both religious and political- results in Jesus sidestepping the trap while also giving insight into the surprising way of life the kingdom of God.

1. Matthew 21:1-23:39 is presented as all taking place in the Temple, all during what we now call Holy Week. ↩︎
2. Pharisees, on the other hand did believe in the resurrection of the dead and an afterlife. They also believed in what is called the Oral Torah ↩︎
3. Levirate marriage is what this question is describing. Levirate marriage is not only a Jewish concept, other cultures also practiced it. ↩︎
4. Recall any story of marriage in the Old Testament ( especially the patriarchs) or stories of the anguish of childless women. ↩︎
5. This is not to say that spouses didn’t love each other. And there were certainly instances of women, usually wealthy women who lived independent lives without a male family member. These women, did not seem to be the majority. ↩︎