Some of the Sadducees, a religious group that denied there was a resurrection of the dead, came to ask Jesus this question: “Teacher, the law of Moses teaches that if a man dies before he has children, his brother should marry the widow and raise up children for his brother’s family line. Now, there was a family with seven brothers. The oldest got married but soon died, and he had no children. The second brother married his oldest brother’s widow, and he also died without any children, and the third also. This repeated down to the seventh brother, none of whom had children. Finally, the woman died. So here’s our dilemma: Which of the seven brothers will be the woman’s husband when she’s resurrected from the dead, since they all were once married to her?”
Jesus answered them, “You are mistaken because your hearts are not filled with the revelation of the Scriptures or the power of God. For when they rise from the dead, men and women will not marry, just like the angels of heaven don’t marry. Now, concerning the resurrection, haven’t you read in the Torah what God said to Moses at the burning bush? ‘I AM the living God, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? God is not God of the dead, but of the living, and you are all badly mistaken!”
Now a certain religious scholar overheard them debating. When he saw how beautifully Jesus answered all their questions, he posed one of his own, and asked him, “Teacher, which commandment is the greatest of all?”
Jesus answered him, “The most important of all the commandments is this: ‘The Lord YAHWEH, our God, is one!’ You are to love the Lord YAHWEH, your God, with a passionate heart, from the depths of your soul, with your every thought, and with all your strength. This is the great and supreme commandment. And the second is this: ‘You must love your neighbor in the same way you love yourself.’ You will never find a greater commandment than these.”
The religious scholar replied, “Yes, that’s true, Teacher. You spoke beautifully when you said that God is one, and there is no one else besides him. And there is something more important to God than all the sacrifices and burnt offerings: it’s the commandment to constantly love God with every passion of your heart, with your every thought, and with all your strength—and to love your neighbor in the same way as you love yourself.”
When Jesus noticed how thoughtfully and sincerely the man answered, he said to him, “You’re not far from the reality of God’s kingdom.” After that, no one dared to question him again.
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