People might ask this question for a variety of reasons.  Perhaps they long to be reunited with a loved one, or maybe they feel they’ve missed out on marriage in this life.  Whilst Jesus seems to give a straight-forward answer to this question it’s worth slowing down to see exactly what Jesus means.  

Jesus said:

‘The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. ³⁵ But those who are considered worthy of taking part in the age to come and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, ³⁶ and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. (Luke 20:34-36). 

As with understanding anything, context is important: Jesus’ statement comes in response to a question designed to discredit Him, some religious leaders think they have come up with a logical argument to undermine Jesus’ teaching.  They cite an ancient Middle Eastern practice: If a man died childless then his brother was expected to marry his widow to continue the family line.  The idea seems to be that descendants were an extension of one’s own life, your name lived on through your children.  The Jewish Scriptures taught that a man should take this responsibility seriously so that his brother’s name would not be blotted out (Deut 25:6).  These religious leaders then create a hypothetical scenario where seven brothers end up marrying the same woman, but no children are born to any of them.  In the end the woman dies also.  Since no children were born to any of the brothers an afterlife would provide a future opportunity for raising up offspring, but there’s a problem – which of the brothers will be married to the widow in the next life?  We’re told these religious leaders did not believe in life after death, their aim was to prove that the Jewish Scriptures made life after death a practical impossibility. 

Part of Jesus response includes the passage cited above.  Jesus highlights that their error is to assume that ‘the age to come’ would simply be a continuation of this present life.  Jesus says the practice of marrying to raise up offspring, so your name lives on, is not needed in the age to come.  Rather those who get to share in that future life will no longer die, like the angels they will not be subject to physical aging and decay.

Jesus’ statement that there will be no marriage in the age to come addresses one particular aspect of marriage but what about other aspects of marriage, companionship and intimacy?  Will they be lost if there’s no marriage in the age to come?  Though the religious leaders’ question may be slightly different to ours, the principle remains the same – Jesus says that our error is to assume that the age to come is simply a continuation of life now, as though our best day goes on forever.  Jesus teaches that our view is just too small. 

When I was around three years old, I had a plastic guitar with nylon strings that I loved to play.  Had you told three-year-old me that one day I wouldn’t get to play that guitar anymore I might have been distraught but only because I couldn’t imagine I would eventually play the real thing. When Jesus taught there would be no marriage in the age to come the emphasis was not on loosing something but gaining something even greater.  Intimacy of relationship in the age to come will look different to this present age, not because it will be less real but because it will be more real.  But Jesus’ statement raises another question:  What does it mean to be considered worthy to take part in the age to come?  That’s going to be something of our focus the next few articles as we begin to explore the question, ‘What happens when we die?’