Matthew 22:22-46

22When they heard Jesus' answer, they were very surprised. So they left him and they went away.

23On that day, some Sadducees also came to Jesus. Sadducees do not believe that anyone becomes alive again after they die. They wanted to ask Jesus a question.

24‘Teacher,’ they said to him, ‘Moses said in the Bible: A man may die and leave behind a wife but no children. Then that man's brother must marry the woman. Then their children will be called the children of the brother who died.

25Once, there were seven brothers who lived here. The oldest brother married a woman. Then he died before they had any children. So the second brother married the woman.

26But then he also died with no children. So a third brother married this woman. And the same thing happened to all the brothers down to the seventh brother. They all died before the woman had any children.

27After all this, the woman also died.

28You teach that one day dead people will become alive again. On that day, whose wife will that woman be? She had married all seven of those brothers.’

29Jesus said to the Sadducees, ‘You are wrong. This is because you do not know the Bible. And you do not know how powerful God is.

30One day, God will raise people up after they have died. They will become alive again. But then men and women will not marry. They will not have husbands or wives. Instead, they will be like the angels in heaven.

31It is true that one day dead people will become alive again. You have read in the Bible about what God said to you:

32“I am the God of Abraham. I am the God of Isaac. And I am the God of Jacob.” God is not the God of people who are dead. He is the God of people who are alive.’

33The crowd heard this. They were very surprised about what Jesus was teaching.

34The Pharisees heard that Jesus had said these things to the Sadducees. Now the Sadducees could not say anything more to him. So the Pharisees met together. They decided what they would say to Jesus.

35One of the Pharisees had studied God's Law very well. He asked Jesus a question to see how he would answer.

36He said, ‘Teacher, which of God's Laws is the most important rule for us to obey?’

37Jesus replied to him, ‘You should love the Lord your God completely: Love him with all your mind. Love him with all that you are. Love him in all that you think.

38This is the greatest rule and the most important of all God's Laws.

39The second rule is also important, like the first one. You should love other people as much as you love yourself.

40All God's Laws that Moses gave us come from these two rules. All the things that the prophets wrote also come from them.’

41While the Pharisees met together with Jesus, he asked them,

42‘What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?’ The Pharisees replied, ‘He will be King David's son.’

43Jesus said to them, ‘So think about this: God's Holy Spirit helped King David to call the Messiah his Lord. David said,

44“The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right side until I win against your enemies. Then you will be able to put your feet on them.”

45We know that King David calls the Messiah his Lord. So can you really say that the Messiah is David's son?’

46Nobody could answer the question that Jesus asked. After this, everyone was afraid to ask Jesus any more questions.