Matthew 22:23-46

The Sadducees did not believe people would rise to life after death. So that same day some of the Sadducees came to Jesus and said: Teacher, Moses wrote that if a married man dies and has no children, his brother should marry the widow. Their first son would then be thought of as the son of the dead brother. Once there were seven brothers who lived here. The first one married, but died without having any children. So his wife was left to his brother. The same thing happened to the second and third brothers and finally to all seven of them. At last the woman died. When God raises people from death, whose wife will this woman be? She had been married to all seven brothers. Jesus answered: You are completely wrong! You don't know what the Scriptures teach. And you don't know anything about the power of God. When God raises people to life, they won't marry. They will be like the angels in heaven. And as for people being raised to life, God was speaking to you when he said, “I am the God worshiped by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” He isn't the God of the dead, but of the living. The crowds were surprised to hear what Jesus was teaching. After Jesus had made the Sadducees look foolish, the Pharisees heard about it and got together. One of them was an expert in the Jewish Law. So he tried to test Jesus by asking, “Teacher, what is the most important commandment in the Law?” Jesus answered: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. This is the first and most important commandment. The second most important commandment is like this one. And it is, “Love others as much as you love yourself.” All the Law of Moses and the Books of the Prophets are based on these two commandments. While the Pharisees were still there, Jesus asked them, “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose family will he come from?” They answered, “He will be a son of King David.” Jesus replied, “How then could the Spirit lead David to call the Messiah his Lord? David said, ‘The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right side until I make your enemies into a footstool for you.’ If David called the Messiah his Lord, how can the Messiah be a son of King David?” No one was able to give Jesus an answer, and from that day on, no one dared ask him any more questions.