Lk. 20:32. After all of them, the woman died as well.
Lk. 20:33. Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife of them will she be, for seven had her as wife?
The Sadducees, basing their speculations on a weak foundation, did not believe in the teaching of the resurrection. Assuming that after the resurrection there would be a bodily life, they naturally fell into error. Therefore, mocking the teaching of the resurrection as absurd, they invented the present senseless story.
Lk. 20:34. Jesus said to them in answer: The children of this age marry and are given in marriage;
Lk. 20:35. But those who are counted worthy to attain to that age and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage,
But the Lord refutes their premise and declares that life there is not bodily. And together with this weak premise and assumption He destroys their teaching as well, saying: you are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures and misinterpreting their meaning. "The children of this age," that is, those who beget and are begotten in this world, "marry and are given in marriage," that is, "are wed." But the sons of that age do none of such things, for they cannot even die; therefore there is no marriage there either, but life is angelic, divine. Here there is marriage because there is death, and there is death because there is marriage. But there, when death is abolished, what need is there for marriage? For marriage was established as an aid to mortality and to make up for what is lacking. And where there is no lack whatsoever, what need is there for replenishment?
Lk. 20:36. Neither can they die any more, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.
"For they are equal to the Angels and are sons of God." Why? Because they are sons of the resurrection. These words have the following meaning: I, He says, called them sons of God because in their birth nothing bodily is perceived, but everything is divine. For in the resurrection there is no preceding of union, nor seed, nor womb, nor conception, but God gives birth to our bodies in a way known to Him. Since God acts in the resurrection, those who are reborn through the resurrection are rightly called sons of God.
Lk. 20:37. But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed at the bush, when he called the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.
Lk. 20:38. God is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for all are alive to Him.
To His logical argument the Lord also adds testimony from Scripture. Moses says that God said to him from the bush: "I am the God of Abraham" and so forth (Exod. 3:6). If the patriarchs had been utterly destroyed and were not alive before God by the hope of the resurrection, He would not have said "I am," but "I was." For concerning things damaged and lost we usually say: I "was" the owner of such-and-such a thing. But now, when God said "I am," He showed that He is the Lord and God of the living, and not of those who have been utterly destroyed. For although they have died, yet by the hope of the resurrection they are alive, just as Adam, although he was alive, was nevertheless mortal, and it is said of him that he died at the very moment he tasted the forbidden fruit.
Lk. 20:39. And some of the scribes answering said: Master, You have well said.
Lk. 20:40. And they no longer dared to ask Him anything.
When the Sadducees were thus put to shame, the scribes, pleased with the victory over them, approved of Jesus as their adversary.
Lk. 20:41. He said to them:
Lk. 20:41. How is it that they say that Christ is the Son of David,
Lk. 20:42. And David himself says in the book of Psalms: The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at My right hand,
Lk. 20:43. until I make Your enemies the footstool of Your feet?
Lk. 20:44. So David calls Him Lord; how then is He his Son?
Soon about to go to His sufferings, the Lord preaches about His Divinity, and not openly or with pride, but very humbly. For He asks them and, having brought them to perplexity, leaves it to them to draw the conclusion. David, He says, calls Him Lord (Ps. 109:1): how then is He merely his Son? He was indeed a son of David according to the flesh, but at the same time also his God, yet they considered Him only the son of David. Therefore He refutes this opinion of theirs, that Christ is merely a son of David, and declares that He is not opposed to the Father, but has great unity of mind with Him, for the Father vanquishes His enemies. This He said to the scribes.
Lk. 20:45. And while all the people were listening, He said to His disciples:
Lk. 20:46. Beware of the scribes, who love to walk in long robes and love greetings in public gatherings, the chief seats in the synagogues, and the chief places at feasts,
Since He was sending the disciples as teachers into the world, He rightly urges them not to imitate the Pharisees in their love of glory, their love of preeminence, and in general their worldliness and people-pleasing. For to carefully seek out greetings in the marketplaces is characteristic of those who flatter every person they meet and curry a favorable opinion of themselves, or who use this as a means of collecting money.
Lk. 20:47. who devour the houses of widows and for a pretense make long prayers; they will receive the greater condemnation.
"They devour," He says, "the houses of widows," filling their bellies and squandering beyond what is proper. And the pretext for this is seemingly pious. For, under the pretense of prayer and spiritual benefit, they teach not fasting, but drunkenness and gluttony, and for this, He says, "they will receive the greater condemnation," because they not only do evil, but also cloak it with prayer. Their appearance is pious, yet they make virtue a pretext for wickedness. Therefore they deserve even greater condemnation, since they bring reproach upon what is good. Widows ought to be pitied, but these men enter their houses supposedly to bless them with lengthy prayers. Meanwhile, the widows are compelled on account of their visits to bear expenses, and are thus ruined.