St Mark Chapter XII : Verses 19-27
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| And there came to him the Sadducees... James Tissot |
[20] Now there were seven brethren; and the first took a wife, and died leaving no issue.
[21] And the second took her, and died: and neither did he leave any issue. And the third in like manner. [22] And the seven all took her in like manner; and did not leave issue. Last of all the woman also died. [23] In the resurrection therefore, when they shall rise again, whose wife shall she be of them? for the seven had her to wife.
[24] And
Jesus answering, saith to them: Do ye not therefore err, because you know not the scriptures, nor the power of God?
Jesus answering, saith to them: Do ye not therefore err, because you know not the scriptures, nor the power of God?
[25] For when they shall rise again from the dead, they shall neither marry, nor be married, but are as the angels in heaven.
[26] And as concerning the dead that they rise again, have you not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spoke to him, saying: I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?
[27] He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You therefore do greatly err.
[18] Et venerunt ad eum sadducæi, qui dicunt resurrectionem non esse : et interrogabant eum, dicentes : [19] Magister, Moyses nobis scripsit, ut si cujus frater mortuus fuerit, et dimiserit uxorem, et filios non reliquerit, accipiat frater ejus uxorem ipsius, et resuscitet semen fratri suo. [20] Septem ergo fratres erant : et primus accepit uxorem, et mortuus est non relicto semine. [21] Et secundus accepit eam, et mortuus est : et nec iste reliquit semen. Et tertius similiter. [22] Et acceperunt eam similiter septem : et non reliquerunt semen. Novissima omnium defuncta est et mulier. [23] In resurrectione ergo cum resurrexerint, cujus de his erit uxor? septem enim habuerunt eam uxorem. [24] Et respondens Jesus, ait illis : Nonne ideo erratis, non scientes Scripturas, neque virtutem Dei? [25] Cum enim a mortuis resurrexerint, neque nubent, neque nubentur, sed sunt sicut angeli in caelis. [26] De mortuis autem quod resurgant, non legistis in libro Moysi, super rubum, quomodo dixerit illi Deus, inquiens : Ego sum Deus Abraham, et Deus Isaac, et Deus Jacob? [27] Non est Deus mortuorum, sed vivorum. Vos ergo multum erratis.
Notes
18. the Sadducees. This is the first time we find them in contact with Jesus. Hitherto they had held aloof.
Though few, they were an important sect, since they were very wealthy, and were mostly priests.
who say there is no resurrection: St Luke confirms this. For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection , neither angel nor spirit : but the Pharisees confess both (Acts xxiii. 8).
19. Moses wrote unto us, etc. This law is laid down in Deut. (xxv. 5, 6) —
When brethren dwell together, and one of them dieth without children , the wife of the deceased shall not marry to another ; but his brother shall take her, and raise up seed for his brother : and the first son he shall have of her he shall call by his name, that his name be not abolished out of Israel. It is sometimes called the “ Levirate Law,” from Lat. levir, a brother-in-law. The same law exists in various Eastern nations. The first child of this second marriage was considered as the son of the deceased brother and bore his name. Thus we read that when Her the son of Juua died, Onan married Tliamar, his widowed sister-in-law (Gen. xxxviii.). The law seemed also to apply to near kinsmen, as we see in the case of Booz marrying Kuth when a nearer kinsman gave up his right, saying, I yield up my right of next akin : for I must not cut off the posterity of my own family. Do thou make use of my privilege, which I prof ess I do willingly forego (Ruth iv. 6)
raise up seed : offspring who should perpetuate the family.
20. there were seven brethren. It was probably an imaginary case since the Jews objected greatly to obeying this law.
23. In the resurrection. This question was often proposed by the Sadducees in their discussions with the Jewish Rabbis. Their object was to ridicule the doctrine of the resurrection. The Pharisees generally solved the problem by replying that the woman would be the wife of the first husband.
24. Do ye not therefore err ? Jesus assigns two reasons for their error —
(1) They are ignorant of the Scriptural doctrine of the resurrection.
(2) They are ignorant of God’s power to change the human fleshly body into a spiritual body when He shall raise it from the dead.
25. when they shall rise again. Jesus deals with the second error first, and shews that life after death will be under totally different conditions, for men will not marry, neither will women be given in marriage, nor is there any need of marriage, since death will no longer exist, but they are equal to the angels , and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection (St Luke xx. 36).
marry, nor be married. The men married, women were married.
In Latin there is generally a different verb to express whether it is question of a man or a woman marrying.
26. that they rise, etc. Jesus now refutes the first error, and shews that the words I am the God of Abraham , Isaac and Jacob, imply that there is a resurrection, otherwise God would be the God of the dead. The argument stands thus : God is the God of the living only. He is the God of Abraham, etc. ; then Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are living. Further, we infer that since they, the ancestors of the Jewish race, are living, therefore their descendants are also to live eternally.
have you not read, etc. Our Lord appeals to the Pentateuch, and refutes the Sadducees by quoting the very prophet whom they had mentioned.
in the bush : better on the bush, a reference to Exod. iii., which was known from its contents as the Bush. It was customary to name chapters and sections after their contents.
Thus David’s lament over Saul and Jonathan was called the Bow (2 Kings i. 17-27), and the vision of Ezechiel (i. 15-28) was known as the Chariot.
We notice that Jesus corrects all their false views in detail, since He touches on —
The resurrection, angels and spirits ( i.e . disembodied souls and resuscitated beings).
St Paul, speaking of the resurrection, also says of it, that it is a different state of existence. So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption , it shall rise in incorruption. It is sown in dishonour , it shall rise in glory. It is sown in weakness , it shall rise in power. It is sown a natural body, it shall rise a spiritual body. If there be a natural body , there is also a spiritual body, etc. (1 Cor. xv. 42-44).
27. You therefore do greatly err. An emphatic repetition after Christ had pointed out wherein they erred, and had instructed them on these points.
Note. — Three results followed from our Lord’s forcible answer to the Sadducees —
(a) The multitudes hearing it, were in admiration at his doctrine (St Matt. xxii. 33).
(b) And some of the scribes answering, said to him; Master, thou hast said well (St Luke xx. 39).
(c) And after that they durst not ask him any more questions (St Luke xx. 40).
It is highly probable that the Sadducees had previously proposed this question concerning the seven brothers to the Pharisees, and that it had invariably been unsatisfactorily solved ; hence when Jesus gave a positive answer, and refuted their absurd, material ideas, the admiration of the multitude was called forth.
Additional Notes
26. have you not read , etc. The Jews held the doctrine of the resurrection as a necessary consequence of the immortality of the soul. The Sadducees denied the resurrection, precisely because they disbelieved in the immortality of the soul, rejecting both angels and spirits. In the Creed we profess our belief —
(1) “in the resurrection of the body and
(2) the life everlasting,”
and the Catholic Church bases these doctrines on the following grounds : —
I. THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY
(a) Proofs from the Old Testament —
“ And I shall be clothed again with my skin, and in my flesh I shall see God ” ( Job xix. 26). “And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to grow over you, and will cover you with skin : and I will give you spirit, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord ” ( Ezech . xxxvii. 6). “ And many of those that sleep in the dust of the earth, shall awake : some unto life everlasting, and others unto reproach, to see it always ” (Dan. xii. 2). The Jews thought “ well and religiously concerning the resurrec¬ tion ” (2 Mach. xii. 43).
(b) Proofs from the New Testament —
“And they that have done good things, shall come forth unto the resurrection of life ; but they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment ” (St John v. 29). “ He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath everlasting life : and I will raise him up in the last day” (St John vi. 55).
(c) The Catholic Church, inspired by the Holy Ghost, teaches this doctrine in her creeds.
Reason teaches us that —
(1) When sin ceases, death, the punishment of sin, must cease also.
(2) If the soul is to be punished or rewarded eternally, it is but just that the body, which was the instrument of the soul, should share its lot eternally.
(3) The soul has a natural affection and longing for the body, its dwelling-place, and this desire cannot remain eternally unaccomplished.
(4) Even Pagans hold this doctrine as conformable to nature.
II. THE IMMORTALITY OE THE SOUL
Reason teaches us that —
(d) There is a general law in nature that nothing is annihilated.
(e) Man has an inborn desire for immortality.
(f) It is a universal belief, both of time and place, common alike to Pagans and Christians.
(g) Since sin is so often unpunished in this world, there must be some retribution in the next world.
Scripture teaches the immortality of the soul.
Old Testament. “ And he said to her : What form is he of ? And she said : An old man cometh up, and he is covered with a mantle. And Saul understood that it was Samuel, and he bowed himself with his face to the ground, and adored ” (1 Kings xxviii. 14). “ And making a gathering, he sent twelve thousand drachms of silver to Jerusalem for sacrifice to be offered for the sins of the dead, thinking well and religiously concerning the resurrection ” (2 Mach. xii. 43).
(If the dead are not alive, it is useless to pray for them.)
New Testament. “ And these shall go into everlasting punishment : but the just, into life everlasting” (St Matt. xxv. 46).
The Church has always taught that the soul is immortal.
The Saducees
The name “ Sadducee ” is said to be derived from Zadok. There were two celebrated men who bore this name —
(1) Zadok, a high-priest who lived in the time of Solomon.(2) Zadok, a disciple of Antigonus Socheus (a “ Nasi ” of the Sanhedrin, circa B.c. 250).
From their priestly descent and pure Jewish blood, the Sadducees could claim to be the descendants of Zadok the high-priest, while they certainly followed the teaching of Zadok, the professed disciple of Socheus. This Zadok taught that the fear of punishment or hope of reward was not to be inculcated as an incentive to virtue. In a word, future rewards and punishments held no place in his teaching; hence he practically denied the immortality of the soul. The Sadducees were all Jewish aristocrats of the priestly caste. Josephus thus sums up their creed : —
“ They believe that souls die with the bodies ; nor do they regard the observation of anything besides what the law enjoins them ; for they think it an instance of virtue to dispute with those teachers of philosophy whom they frequent ; but this doctrine is received but by a few, yet by those still of the greatest dignity ; but they are able to do almost nothing of themselves ; for when they become magistrates, as they are unwillingly and by force sometimes obliged to be, they addict themselves to the notions of the Pharisees, because the multitude would not otherwise bear them.” — ( Antiq ., xviii. 1. 4.)
“The Sadducees are those that compose the second order, and take away fate entirely, and suppose that God is not concerned in our doing or not, what is evil ; and they say, that to act what is good, or what is evil, is at men's own choice, and the one or the other belongs so to everyone, that they may act as they please. They also take away the belief of the immortal duration of the soul, and the punishments and rewards in Hades.”— ( Wars, ii. 8. 14.) Further, in the Acts we read, “ the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel nor spirit, but the Pharisees confess both ” (xxiii. 8).
In these three citations we have their doctrine laid down. They were bitterly opposed to the Pharisees, because the latter were of less noble birth, and also because the Pharisees had introduced many traditions, all of which the Sadducees rejected, as far as they dared. While the Pharisees added to the law, the Sadducees accepted the Pentateuch as the most important of the canonical books. Their tendency was to minimize both doctrines and religious observances, but they held jealously all that they considered to have been delivered to the Israelites by Moses, and had far less esteem for the other canonical books. They denied the existence of God’s providence, and taught that good or evil is solely in the power of man.
The Sadducees were supreme in the Temple; they held aloof from the people, by whom they were hated for their worldliness and irreligion, and also because the Sadducees flattered the foreign rulers, and were willing to adopt Hellenistic and Roman customs and literature. To the Sadducee, his worldly position was everything ; he mocked at the Pharisees’ dream of a Messianic deliverer, and looked to Rome for his personal aggrandisement and that of his nation. As a rule, the Sadducees were men to whom religion was little or nothing, and wealth and power everything. The Sadducees did not come in contact with our Lord as often as the Pharisees. Only one instance is recorded in St Mark, namely, when they questioned Jesus concerning the resurrection of the dead (xii. 18). We know, however, since the chief priests were all Sadducees, that it was a member of this sect who formally condemned our Lord as “ guilty of death.”
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
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