URC Daily Devotion Wednesday 25 February 2026

St Matthew 22: 23 – 32

The same day some Sadducees came to him, saying there is no resurrection; and they asked him a question, saying,  ‘Teacher, Moses said, “If a man dies childless, his brother shall marry the widow, and raise up children for his brother.”  Now there were seven brothers among us; the first married, and died childless, leaving the widow to his brother.  The second did the same, so also the third, down to the seventh.  Last of all, the woman herself died. In the resurrection, then, whose wife of the seven will she be? For all of them had married her.’ Jesus answered them, ‘You are wrong, because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God.  For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.  And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God,  “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob”? He is God not of the dead, but of the living.’  And when the crowd heard it, they were astounded at his teaching.

Reflection

The Sadducees in our passage sound more like bad stand-up comedians than theologians. A woman marries seven brothers, each one dying in turn. “So,” they ask the audience, “in the resurrection, whose wife will she be?” 

They’re mocking the whole idea of resurrection because they were the theological conservatives of their day believing only in the five books of the Pentateuch – where resurrection is not mentioned.  Jesus, like the Pharisees, accepted more writings – in what we now call the Bible – as authoritative hence his scathing reply:

“You are wrong,” he says, “because you don’t know the scriptures or the power of God.”

This moment in scripture doesn’t tell us what heaven is like — it tells us what it’s not. It’s not a place where patriarchy persists. It’s not a continuation of our unjust social systems. It’s not about ownership or status or who belongs to whom. Jesus says, in the resurrection, people are “like angels” — not locked into old categories, but free.

So maybe now we feel we can heckle these mirthless minstrels, who misunderstood heaven, but are we any clearer?  Do we picture a VIP lounge for the saved? Angels, harps and pot plants?  Somewhere where people understand the rules and do it our way? Somewhere just like here but better coffee?

But Jesus says no. That’s not the point.

God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. Heaven isn’t a reward we wait for — it’s a reality we’re called to reflect. Paul wrote that now we “see through a glass, darkly” — we don’t get the full picture. But we see enough to know heaven has nothing to do with possession, patriarchy, or pious exclusion.
It’s about justice. Liberation. Resurrection life that starts now.
So let’s look for the places where resurrection is breaking in — where the living God is calling us to raise the poor, the excluded, the broken systems.

Heaven is not about who gets what when we die. It’s about what love does while we live.
 
Prayer

God of the living, 
strip back the myths we sell and buy,
of harps and mansions in the sky.
Replace it with something
real, living and now.
Amen.