After the Pharisees had asked Jesus a question about loyalty to God and loyalty to government, the Sadducees come along attempting to catch Jesus saying something out of place. The Sadducees were Jews who only accepted the first five books of the Old Testament as important. One of the things which defined their belief system was that they did not believe in any type of resurrection. In a direct attempt to try to trip Jesus up on His words, they posed a question to Him regarding levirate marriage which Moses wrote about in Deuteronomy 25:5-10. This practice said that the brother of a man who died without a child could marry the widow. Doing this would ensure an heir and that the family name would continue. Obviously this was forbidden if the brother was already married. So presenting this scenario to Jesus, the Sadducees asked Jesus that if there was truly a resurrection, who would this woman be married to in eternity. Jesus answers, “For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven” (12:25). Relationships will change in heaven and believers will exist in a completely new environment. Jesus then exposes their false view of the resurrection by taking them back to the first five books of the Old Testament and pointing to God’s conversation with Moses at the burning bush (12:26). He said, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Issac, and the God of Jacob.” All three of these men were dead at the time of God speaking with Moses, but His very words implied His everlasting fellowship with them in heaven (12:27).
Following a little discussion on Jesus’ answer, a scribe steps forward and asks Jesus, “which is the first commandment of all?” Again, the intention was to get Jesus to say something contrary to their belief system. Since the religious leaders had decided that there were more than 600 commandments in the Old Testament law, this question seemed impossible for Jesus to answer. However, Jesus stated that the entire law was based on one great commandment – love for God (12:29-30). Love for God would lead to obedience. Taking it one step further Jesus revealed that the second great commandment was to love others; in other words, love for God results in love for others (12:31). The scribe was impressed with Jesus’ answer and verbalizes his belief in what He has said (12:32-33). Jesus says to the scribe, “You are not far from the kingdom of God” (12:34). His expression of belief with his mouth should have lead him to belief in his heart as well as obedience to God’s laws. May we all see beyond the commandments in order to see that obedience to God is the evidence of our love for Him.
Dear God, teach me to love You first.
