Jesus recites Exodus 3:6 to the Sadducees

After reading N.T. Wright’s “Surprised By Hope”, I can’t help but find scripture dealing with the idea of heaven interesting. I was reading the classic “marriage in heaven” piece with Jesus and the Sadducees (who are so sad, you see) and these are some thoughts. I believe Wright brings this up at one point in his book, but very briefly.

Matthew 22:23-33 (NIV)

23That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. 24“Teacher,” they said, “Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and have children for him. 25Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. 26The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh. 27Finally, the woman died. 28Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?”

 29Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. 30At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. 31But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you, 32‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”

 33When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.

     First of all, the point of this passage seems to be the ressurection itself, not marriage in the afterlife. Matthew notes that the Sadducees say there is no resurection even before the discussion begins. In verse 31 Jesus says, “Now as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God,” and then He quotes Exodus 3:6. That seems like a strange verse to quote when dealing with the resurection. What are you doing, Jesus? “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” What does that have to do with the resurection?

Exodus 3:6-10 (NIV)

6 Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

 7 The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

     I find this incredibly interesting because Jesus seems to be reading this in light of the ressurection, which is definately not the way the Sadducees read it, nor the way I have ever read it. Maybe that’s what Jesus was talking about in Matthew 22:29…the whole “you don’t know the scriptures” thing. But anyways, God declares himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and then promises deliverance of His people. He talks of the promise land.

 7 The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.

     I don’t think Jesus just picked out a random verse from Exodus to recite to the Sadducees. He is reading Exodus completley different then they do. Jesus seems to be associating the promise land with the ressurection! Now that’s cool. That’ll change the way you read things.