The Question about the Resurrection

Mrk 12:18–27

1. 18 There were some Jewish people that believed that after somebody dies they will stay dead and they will never come alive again. They were called Sadducees. They tried to trick Jesus too.
2. 19 They said to him, “Teacher, Moses wrote down God’s law like this, ‘If a man is married but dies with no kids, then his brother has to marry that woman. That man and that woman have to have a kid for that dead brother.’
3. 20 But what about this. There were 7 brothers. The oldest one got married but died before his wife could have a baby.
4. 21 So the next brother married the woman to follow God’s law, but he died too before they could have a baby. After that the next brother did the same but he too died before they could have a baby.
5. 22 The same happened to all of those brothers. They all followed God’s law and married the woman, but each of them died before they could have a kid. And in the end that woman died too, last of all.
6. 23 Well, you reckon that one day all the dead people will get up alive again. So here is the question. If all those brothers and the woman get up alive again, which brother will have that woman as his wife? All 7 brothers had her as wife before she died.”
7. 24 Jesus said, “You mob have a problem. You don’t know God’s word properly and you don’t know about God’s power.
8. 25 At the time when all the dead people come alive again, they will be like God’s messengers in heaven, called angels. They never marry each other. And people in heaven will be the same. Nobody will promise a wife to anyone, and nobody will marry anyone.
9. 26 You mob reckon that the dead people will not come alive again one day. But think about the story about Moses. You have read it, in God’s book. Moses saw a little tree on fire, and God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and I am the God of Isaac, and I am the God of Jacob.’ He didn’t say that at one time he used to be the God of those men. He said that he is their God now. That means those men are still alive, they aren’t dead. They are living now with God. You mob are really wrong.”
10. 27 One of the Jewish law teachers listened to Jesus and thought that Jesus answered them well. Then he asked Jesus, “Which one of God’s laws is the most important one?”