Wicker Park Lutheran Church
Vicar Sarah Freyermuth
November 9, 2025
If you’re anything like me, hearing this passage may make you feel confused and stressed out. It may make you feel confused because the question the Sadducees ask Jesus feels like the longest, most convoluted, “what if” scenario they could have possibly come up with. And it may make you feel stressed because it seems like Jesus responds to their question by saying that marriage doesn’t exist in the resurrection, which can be a scary proposition to those who are married, or those who have lost their partners and hope to be reunited with them. This confusion and stress is a valid and understandable reaction to this passage and if I thought that’s what Jesus was doing here, I would spend this sermon pastorally responding to those concerns. But what if I told you that I think Jesus is doing and saying something entirely different here? What if I told you Jesus isn’t talking about marriage at all, but is instead revealing something about God’s justice?
We’re introduced to this issue of justice immediately, although it might not be obvious to our modern-day ears. We hear that the Sadducees are “those who say there is no resurrection.” And this, in the ancient world, was a topic of fierce debate between the Sadducees and the Pharisees, two of the most prominent Jewish sects. Their beliefs came out of their different opinions on what could be considered scripture—the Sadducees only recognized the Torah, or the first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures, which they believed offered no evidence of the resurrection, while the Pharisees recognized the Psalms and the Prophets as scripture, which they believed provided proof of a resurrection to come. Seems like a simple, theological disagreement that they could have agreed to disagree on, right?
Except it was really a disagreement about the promise of God’s justice. In a world where Rome held ultimate power, where a majority of the Jewish people lived under its brutal occupation, where it seemed impossible to imagine that they would ever be free from Roman oppression, the promise of the resurrection was the promise that this world wasn’t the end of God’s justice. The promise of the resurrection was the promise that God would have the final word, that God would deliver on God’s covenantal promises, that one day those living under occupation and oppression would be free and would receive the justice they had long waited for. For those living under Roman occupation, the idea of the resurrection was life-saving good news that allowed them to imagine a different world, that allowed them to better survive the conditions they lived in, that allowed them to begin working toward that new world in the here-and-now. But to the Sadducees, who were also members of the priestly, aristocratic class, who enjoyed a good relationship with the Romans because they kept the peace, this idea of God’s ultimate justice was also a threat to the status quo.
And so, the Sadducees ask Jesus a “gotcha” question to end all “gotcha” questions, not in an attempt to genuinely understand the resurrection, but in an attempt to point out how ridiculous they believe it is. They ask Jesus a “gotcha” question, not because they’re interested in genuine intrareligious dialogue, but because they want to entrap him, to humiliate him, to discredit his declarations that God will bring justice to God’s people.
Unfortunately, what the Sadducees are doing here is still familiar to many of us today. How many times have we seen scripture twisted into “gotcha” questions, with a goal of denying that God’s justice extends to all of God’s people? How many times has scripture been used, not to build a larger table, but to build higher walls? How many times has scripture been weaponized to fulfill political aims instead of used as a guide of how to be in solidarity with the most marginalized?
Thankfully, Jesus makes sure that he, not the Sadducees, have the final word on God’s ultimate justice. He first addresses their convoluted question about Levirate marriage, a law which declared that a deceased man’s brother must marry his widow, a law that was absolutely patriarchal in how it treated women as property, but one that also protected women by ensuring that widows would be taken care of in a society that otherwise left them vulnerable. Jesus’ response here isn’t a clear statement about the particulars of what marriage looks like in the resurrection; rather he’s using the institution of Levirate marriage to challenge the very premise of the Sadducees question. He uses the institution of Levirate marriage to point out that, even within the framework of their silliest question, even when considering something as “unbelievable” as they found the resurrection to be, the Sadducees still couldn’t imagine a world where women weren’t treated as property, where women didn’t need to be protected by being married off. He uses the institution of Levirate marriage to point out that the Sadducees fundamentally misunderstand the power of God’s justice. They could only imagine the resurrection as a continuation of the same old world, the same old injustices. Jesus’ response here challenges the idea that the kingdom of God is anything like this world, that the justice that comes with the resurrection will look anything like the piecemeal, inadequate justice that exists on earth.
And then, Jesus goes on to challenge the Sadducees’ disbelief in the resurrection itself. He cleverly reinterprets an example from the Torah to prove that even in their own sacred books, there is evidence of resurrection. That even in their own sacred books, there is evidence that all are alive in God. That even in their own sacred books, there is evidence that the injustice of this broken world will not have the final say.
In the face of a “gotcha” question, Jesus reminds the Sadducees, and all of us, that the power of the resurrection is not constrained by the limits of this world. In the face of a convoluted “what if,” Jesus reminds the Sadducees, and all of us, that the power of God’s justice is not constrained by the limits of our imagination. In the face of those attempting to warp scripture to deny justice, Jesus provides a new, life-giving interpretation to remind the Sadducees, and all of us, that God’s justice belongs to all of God’s people. The resurrection is a promise that God’s justice will not stop where the world’s often does. The resurrection is a promise that no one will be treated as property, that no one will be left vulnerable or oppressed, that no power of empire will have the final word. The resurrection is a promise that God is not done yet.
This is a promise we desperately need today. As we look around at the injustices of our world, we remember that God is not done yet. As we hear Job cry out in our first reading “for I know that my vindicator lives!” we remember that God is not done yet. And as we enter into this Advent season, into this period of anticipation and longing, we remember that God is not done yet. God’s justice is still unfolding in ways that are far beyond the Sadducees — or our own — imagination. May it be so. And as we live between the promise of God’s justice and its fulfillment this Advent season, may God grant us the courage to join in this unfolding. Amen.