17. So tell us what you think. Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”
18. But Jesus knew that these men were trying to trick him. So he said, “You hypocrites! Why are you trying to trap me?
19. Show me a coin used for paying the tax.” The men showed him a silver coin.
20. Then Jesus asked, “Whose picture is on the coin? And whose name is written on the coin?”
21. The men answered, “Caesar’s.”Then Jesus said to them, “Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s. And give to God the things that are God’s.”
22. The men heard what Jesus said, and they were amazed. They left him and went away.
23. That same day some Sadducees came to Jesus. (Sadducees believe that no person will rise from death.) The Sadducees asked Jesus a question.
24. They said, “Teacher, Moses told us that a married man might die without having children. Then his brother must marry the widow and have children for him.
25. There were seven brothers among us. The first one married but died. He had no children. So his brother married the widow.
26. Then the second brother also died. The same thing happened to the third brother and all the other brothers.
27. The woman was last to die.
28. But all seven men had married her. So when people rise from death, whose wife will she be?”
29. Jesus answered, “You don’t understand because you don’t know what the Scriptures say. And you don’t know about the power of God.
30. When people rise from death, there will be no marriage. People will not be married to each other. They will be like the angels in heaven.
31. Surely you have read what God said to you about the rising from death?
32. God said, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ God is the God of living people, not dead people.”
33. All the people heard this. They were amazed at Jesus’ teaching.
34. The Pharisees learned that the Sadducees could not argue with Jesus’ answers to them. So the Pharisees met together.
35. One Pharisee was an expert in the law of Moses. That Pharisee asked Jesus a question to test him.
36. The Pharisee asked, “Teacher, which command in the law is the most important?”