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But Jesus didn't back down. "Why, then, do you think this was written: That stone the masons threw out - It's now the cornerstone!?
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"Anyone falling over that stone will break every bone in his body; if the stone falls on anyone, it will be a total smashup."
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The religion scholars and high priests wanted to lynch him on the spot, but they were intimidated by public opinion. They knew the story was about them.
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Watching for a chance to get him, they sent spies who posed as honest inquirers, hoping to trick him into saying something that would get him in trouble with the law.
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So they asked him, "Teacher, we know that you're honest and straightforward when you teach, that you don't pander to anyone but teach the way of God accurately.
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Tell us: Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"
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He knew they were laying for him and said,
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"Show me a coin. Now, this engraving, who does it look like and what does it say?"
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"Caesar," they said. Jesus said, "Then give Caesar what is his and give God what is his."
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Try as they might, they couldn't trap him into saying anything incriminating. His answer caught them off guard and left them speechless.
27
Some Sadducees came up. This is the Jewish party that denies any possibility of resurrection. They asked,
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"Teacher, Moses wrote us that if a man dies and leaves a wife but no child, his brother is obligated to take the widow to wife and get her with child.
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Well, there once were seven brothers. The first took a wife. He died childless.
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The second married her and died,
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then the third, and eventually all seven had their turn, but no child.
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After all that, the wife died.
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That wife, now - in the resurrection whose wife is she? All seven married her."
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Jesus said, "Marriage is a major preoccupation here,
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but not there. Those who are included in the resurrection of the dead will no longer be concerned with marriage
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nor, of course, with death. They will have better things to think about, if you can believe it. All ecstasies and intimacies then will be with God.
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Even Moses exclaimed about resurrection at the burning bush, saying, 'God: God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob!'