Today we will consider the second of three questions Israel’s leaders asked Jesus in order to trap Him and thereby diminish His popularity among the people (Mat 22:15-46). This one was posed by the Sadducees who did not believe in the resurrection (Mat 22:23-33). They referenced the law of levirate marriage which required a man to marry a deceased brother’s wife if he died without having a son to carry on his name. The Sadducees attempted to make a mockery of bodily resurrection by asking whose wife she would be in the after-life if seven brothers married her, but died before producing a male child. It appeared that no matter how Jesus answered, He would alienate either the Sadducees or Pharisees (Acts 23:8), and diminish His popularity.
Jesus in Whom dwells all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge once again answered with great skill. The Lord Jesus indicated that in the age to come men will be like the angels in heaven who neither marry nor be given in marriage (cp. Luke 20:34-36). Instead of diminishing His popularity among the people, the multitudes were astonished at His teaching!