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NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mar_12:18-27
18Some Sadducees (who say that there is no resurrection) came to Jesus, and began questioning Him, saying, 19"Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves behind a wife and leaves no child, his brother should marry the wife and raise up children to his brother. 20There were seven brothers; and the first took a wife, and died leaving no children. 21The second one married her, and died leaving behind no children; and the third likewise; 22and so all seven left no children. Last of all the woman died also. 23In the resurrection, when they rise again, which one's wife will she be? For all seven had married her." 24Jesus said to them, "Is this not the reason you are mistaken, that you do not understand the Scriptures or the power of God? 25For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. 26But regarding the fact that the dead rise again, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the burning bush, how God spoke to him, saying, 'I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? 27He is not the God of the dead, but of the living; you are greatly mistaken."
Mar_12:18 "Sadducees" This was an aristocratic, priestly sect of Judaism that controlled the High Priesthood and the Sanhedrin. They were the wealthy, politically powerful "in" group. They were very conservative and accepted only the writings of Moses (i.e., Genesis through Deuteronomy) as authoritative (i.e., rejected the Oral Tradition).
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Mar_12:19 "'Moses wrote for us'" This is referring to Moses' discussion of Levirate marriage found in Deu_25:5-10.
▣ "'that if a man's brother dies'" This Jewish law came to be known by "Levirate marriage." The term was from Latin for "a husband's brother." Inheritance rights were very important in Israel because God had given the Promised Land to the tribes by lot (cf. Joshua 12-19). Therefore, if a man died with no male heir, his brother was expected to marry the widow and father a child by the widow; the child then became the heir of all of the dead brother's property.
Mar_12:23 Here is the purpose of the question, to ridicule the concept of a bodily resurrection in a physical afterlife.
Mar_12:24 Jesus' withering question focuses on the Sadducees' lack of understanding of both the Scriptures and God. Its grammatical form expects a "yes" answer.
Mar_12:25 "'but are like angels in heaven'" This brief reference has caused much speculation. Angels in the OT are usually masculine (except for Zec_5:9). Does this brief comment of Jesus refer to their sexuality or sexual unions? How does this affect one's understanding of Gen_6:1-2? Maybe we are trying to infer too much theology from this Sadducean encounter. Heaven is an entirely different relational experience than earth. Exactly how this new interpersonal, eternal, spiritual realm functions is uncertain. The Bible has chosen not to reveal much information about the afterlife. The Sadducees took this lack of information as an excuse to deny the reality of the afterlife. It is better to affirm the reality based on the promises of God and Christ, but be willing to remain uninformed until death. The Bible provides all that believers need to know!
Jesus asserted that there is no sexual aspect (i.e., procreation) to existence in heaven. There are many questions one would like to ask about this, but no further clarification is given in the NT. It may simply refer to the fact that angels are created by God and not by sexual procreation.
Mar_12:25-26 "'angels. . .But regarding the fact that the dead rise again'" The Sadducees denied both the existence of angels and the resurrection. The Pharisees affirmed both.
Mar_12:26 "'But regarding the fact that the dead rise again'" There are several texts in the OT that affirm this truth (cf. Job_14:14-15; Job_19:25-27; Psa_23:6; Isa_25:6-9; Isa_26:14-19; Dan_12:2). Yet the afterlife in the OT is a veiled reality. The progressive revelation of the NT clarifies and defines the reality, but still in veiled, metaphorical language. Heaven is a sure promise and truth, but its exact nature is a mystery.
▣ "'in the book of Moses'" Jesus asserts that Moses is the source of Deuteronomy. This question also expects a "yes" answer.
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▣ "'I am the God of Abraham'" This reference to Exo_3:2-6 is a play on the tense of the Hebrew verb "to be." A form of this verb (i.e., causative) becomes the covenant name for the God of Israel, YHWH (cf. Exo_3:14). The title implies that God is the ever-living, only-living One. Because He lives, His people live also (cf. Mar_12:27; Psa_103:15-17; Isa_40:6-8; 1Pe_1:24-25). Notice that Jesus affirms the reality of the afterlife from the writings of Moses, which was the only section of the Hebrew canon that these Sadducees accepted as authoritative for doctrine.