19. “Teacher, Moses wrote this law for us: ‘If a man dies and leaves a wife but no children, that man's brother must marry the widow so that they can have children who will be considered the dead man's children.’
20. Once there were seven brothers; the eldest got married and died without having children.
21. Then the second one married the woman, and he also died without having children. The same thing happened to the third brother,
22. and then to the rest: all seven brothers married the woman and died without having children. Last of all, the woman died.
23. Now, when all the dead rise to life on the day of resurrection, whose wife will she be? All seven of them had married her.”
24. Jesus answered them, “How wrong you are! And do you know why? It is because you don't know the Scriptures or God's power.
25. For when the dead rise to life, they will be like the angels in heaven and will not marry.
26. Now, as for the dead being raised: haven't you ever read in the Book of Moses the passage about the burning bush? There it is written that God said to Moses, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’
27. He is the God of the living, not of the dead. You are completely wrong!”
28. A teacher of the Law was there who heard the discussion. He saw that Jesus had given the Sadducees a good answer, so he came to him with a question: “Which commandment is the most important of all?”
29. Jesus replied, “The most important one is this: ‘Listen, Israel! The Lord our God is the only Lord.
30. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’
31. The second most important commandment is this: ‘Love your neighbour as you love yourself.’ There is no other commandment more important than these two.”
32. The teacher of the Law said to Jesus, “Well done, Teacher! It is true, as you say, that only the Lord is God and that there is no other god but he.
33. And to love God with all your heart and with all your mind and with all your strength, and to love your neighbour as yourself, is more important than to offer animals and other sacrifices to God.”
34. Jesus noticed how wise his answer was, and so he told him, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.”After this nobody dared to ask Jesus any more questions.
35. As Jesus was teaching in the Temple, he asked the question, “How can the teachers of the Law say that the Messiah will be the descendant of David?