#sadducees

04/19/2024

John's lucky they hadn't invented buses yet.

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[In Mark 12:18-27,] the Sadducee critics challenge Jesus on the notion of the afterlife. They propose to Jesus the example of a woman who has been married seven times and ask him, 'In the resurrection, whose wife will she be? For the seven had married her' (Mk 12.23).

Jesus responds, 'For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven' (Mk 12.25).

In my years in religious life, I heard several sermons on this passage.

'Like angels in heaven' justified celibate religious life, 'Like angels' was understood as 'sexless' by centuries of Christian thought that transformed angels from sexual beings in the intertestamental period to sexless, disembodied spirits. 

Biblical scholar William Countryman writes:

Think...of the little letter of Jude, where it appears that early Christians were teaching that you needed to have sex with angels in order to gain high standing in heaven, Jude refers io this teaching only in veiled ways, but that is what he's attacking. Of course, his readers knew the Hebrew Bible (mostly in Greek translation), and they knew the story in Genesis 6.1-4 about angels having sex with human women and the offspring being giants, Jude refers to that story and also to the story of the men of Sodom who in the same manner as these angels 'went after strange flesh' (Jude 7, referring to Genesis 18).

Even today if you suggest that angels were sexual in a sermon, many Christians suffer an erotophobic panic attack, picturing their sacred icons of angels popularized by such a program as Touched by Angel. The idea of a 'sexual' Delia Reese as an angel is too much to bear, even for some queer Christian imaginations.

But if you strip away the overlay of more than a millennium and a half of Christian readings of sexless angels and ask what is intended by the phrase 'like the angels', the intent of Jesus' logion is that there is no marriage and family in God's coming reign. 

God abolishes the institution of marriage, which is understood as a property right and ownership of women. 

But traditionally, ecclesial exegetes have understood that this text not only abolishes marriage but also sexuality because of its narrow interpretation of marriage for the purpose of procreation. But nothing merits such a reading of the abolishment of sexuality, and a queer reading can restore sexuality to the coming reign of God.

Certainly, Jesus attacked marriage as the patriarchal possession of women in marriage and the patriarchal family, on which the Jewish and Roman political order of domination was based. One can maintain that Jesus was asserting the abolishment of patriarchal marriage in the coming reign of God. 

Virginia Moiienkott writes:

Milton interpreted Jesus' remark about no heavenly marrying or giving in marriage (Matt, 22,29-30} to mean not that there would be no sex in heaven, but rather that sex in resurrection bodies would have none of the binary possessiveness and constriction of marriage in a fallen world, instead, as Jesus put it, resurrection bodies would be 'as the angels in heaven' — a vision of astonishing freedom.

A queer reading might likewise affirm that there is no marriage and patriarchal family, but it also might assert that there is sexuality without procreation in the coming reign of God. But there is no more marriage. This is confirmed in the Lukan version of the story when Jesus says, 'Indeed they cannot die anymore because they are angels in heaven' (Lk. 20.36).

The Leaders Question Jesus

1 One day Jesus was in the Temple, teaching the people and telling them the Good News. The leading priests, teachers of the law, and Jewish elders came up to talk with him. 2 They said, “Tell us! What authority do you have to do these things? Who gave you this authority?”

3 Jesus answered, “I will ask you a question too. Tell me: 4 When John baptized people, did that come from God or from man?”

5 The priests, the teachers of the law, and the Jewish leaders all talked about this. They said to each other, “If we answer, ‘John’s baptism was from God,’ then Jesus will say, ‘Then why did you not believe John?’ 6 But if we say, ‘John’s baptism was from man,’ then all the people will kill us with stones because they believe that John was a prophet.” 7 So they answered, “We don’t know the answer.”

8 So Jesus said to them, “Then I will not tell you by what authority I do these things!”

God Sends His Son

9 Then Jesus told the people this story: “A man planted a vineyard. The man leased the land to some farmers. Then he went away for a long time. 10 Later, it was time for the grapes to be picked. So the man sent a servant to those farmers to get his share of the grapes. But they beat the servant and sent him away with nothing. 11 Then he sent another servant. They beat this servant too. They showed no respect for him and sent him away with nothing. 12 So the man sent a third servant. The farmers hurt this servant badly and threw him out. 13 The owner of the vineyard said, ‘What will I do now? I will send my son whom I love very much. Maybe they will respect him!’ 14 When they saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the owner’s son. This vineyard will be his. If we kill him, then it will be ours!’ 15 So the farmers threw the son out of the vineyard and killed him.

“What will the owner of this vineyard do? 16 He will come and kill those farmers! Then he will give the vineyard to other farmers.”

The people heard this story. They said, “No! Let this never happen!”

17 But Jesus looked at them and said, “Then what does this verse mean:

‘The stone that the builders did not want became the cornerstone’? Psalm 118:22

18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken. If that stone falls on you, it will crush you!”

19 The teachers of the law and the priests heard this story that Jesus told. They knew the story was about them. So they wanted to arrest Jesus at once. But they were afraid of what the people would do.

The Leaders Try to Trap Jesus

20 So they waited for the right time to get Jesus. They sent some spies who acted as if they were good men. They wanted to trap Jesus in what he said so they could hand him over to the authority and power of the governor. 21 So the spies asked Jesus, “Teacher, we know that what you say and teach is true. You teach the same to all people. You always teach the truth about God’s way. 22 Tell us, is it right that we pay taxes to Caesar or not?”

23 But Jesus knew that these men were trying to trick him. He said, 24 “Show me a coin. Whose name is on the coin? And whose picture is on it?”

They said, “Caesar’s.”

25 Jesus said to them, “Then give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s. And give to God the things that are God’s.”

26 The men were amazed at his answer. They could say nothing. They were not able to trap Jesus in anything he said before the people.

Sadducees Try to Trick Jesus

27 Some Sadducees came to Jesus. (Sadducees believe that people will not rise from death.) They asked, 28 “Teacher, Moses wrote that a man’s brother might die. He leaves a wife but no children. Then that man must marry the widow and have children for his dead brother. 29 One time there were seven brothers. The first brother married, but died. He had no children. 30 Then the second brother married the widow, and he died. 31 And the third brother married the widow, and he died. The same thing happened with all the other brothers. They all died and had no children. 32 The woman was the last to die. 33 But all seven brothers married her. So when people rise from death, whose wife will the woman be?”

34 Jesus said to the Sadducees, “On earth, people marry each other. 35 But those who will be worthy to be raised from death and live again will not marry. 36 In that life they are like angels and cannot die. They are children of God, because they have been raised from death. 37 Moses clearly showed that the dead are raised to life. When Moses wrote about the burning bush, he said that the Lord is ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ 38 God is the God of living people, not dead people. All people are alive to God.”

39 Some of the teachers of the law said, “Teacher, your answer was good.” 40 No one was brave enough to ask him another question.

Is the Christ the Son of David?

41 Then Jesus said, “Why do people say that the Christ is the Son ofDavid? 42 In the book of Psalms, David himself says:

‘The Lord said to my Lord: Sit by me at my right side, 43 until I put your enemies under your control.’ Psalm 110:1

44 David calls the Christ ‘Lord.’ But the Christ is also the son of David. How can both these things be true?”

Jesus Accuses the Leaders

45 While all the people were listening, Jesus said to his followers, 46 “Be careful of the teachers of the law. They like to walk around wearing clothes that look important. And they love for people to show respect to them in the marketplaces. They love to have the most important seats in the synagogues and at the feasts. 47 But they cheat widows and steal their houses. Then they try to make themselves look good by saying long prayers. God will punish these men very much.” — Luke 20 | International Children’s Bible (ICB) The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Cross References: Deuteronomy 25:5; Psalm 110:1; Psalm 118:22; Isaiah 5:1; Isaiah 8:15; Ezekiel 12:3; Daniel 6:4; Matthew 8:10; Matthew 11:9; Matthew 12:32; Matthew 16:7; Matthew 17:25; Matthew 20:2; Matthew 21:23; Matthew 21:34; Matthew 22:16; Matthew 22:46; Matthew 23:1; Matthew 23:6; Mark 11:18; Mark 12:4; Mark 12:9; Mark 12:18; Mark 12:26; Mark 12:28; Mark 12:35; Luke 16:8; Luke 21:1; Acts 13:10; Romans 8:16; Romans 13:7; Romans 14:8

Sadducees

The Sadducees were part of the upper-class aristocrats and provided much of the priesthood, categorized through the lineage of priestly houses. They served on the Sanhedrin, the city council that organized law courts and regulations, which were established throughout Israel. The Sadducees were a distinct sect of Judaism from roughly 200-150 BCE to 70 CE, when the Temple complex in Jerusalem was destroyed by Rome.

“Be careful,” Jesus said to them. “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

They discussed this among themselves and said, “It is because we didn’t bring any bread.”

Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked, “You of little faith, why are you talking among yourselves about having no bread?”

Gospel LK 20:27-40

Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, came forward and put this question to Jesus, saying, "Teacher, Moses wrote for us, If someone's brother dies leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married a woman but died childless. Then the second and the third married her, and likewise all the seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be? For all seven had been married to her." Jesus said to them, "The children of this age marry and remarry; but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. They can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise. That the dead will rise even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, when he called  'Lord' the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive." Some of the scribes said in reply, "Teacher, you have answered well." And they no longer dared to ask him anything.

For the readings of the Optional Memorial of Saint Clement I, please go here.

For the readings of the Optional Memorial of Saint Columban, please go here.