NOTES for Mat 22:15-40
For the disciples of Christ for whom this Gospel was written, their faith and hope were most closely bound to the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead after His execution and burial. This is precisely why the brief account of Jesus' opponents trying to prove that resurrection was impossible mattered so much to them. Their argument, which at first may appear to be meaningless casuistry about a nonexistent situation—seven brothers sharing one wife—is in fact powerful precisely because of its absurdity! There is so much absurdity and evil in the world that death seems more like a remedy for pain and dead ends. What, then, will happen if everyone suddenly “rises,” that is, returns to this life with all its imperfection and limitations? How are seven brothers to share the unfortunate woman? Christ answers from an entirely different standpoint. Resurrection is necessary because every person is connected in one way or another with the living God. And this means that in the resurrection a person lives the life of God Himself, free from human absurdity and pain.