Those in heaven neither marry nor are they given in marriage. It must have been a busy day for Jesus, for after seeing off the Pharisees and Herodians who had been sent with a question to trap him, Jesus is approached by another religious group who also came with their question. Now we are not told whether the motive for their questioning of Jesus. But we can assume that after witnessing Jesus’ manner of addressing issues, they genuinely wanted to know Jesus’ opinion (the fact that this group did not believe in the resurrection should not mean that they couldn’t be genuinely interested in knowing the answer). Once again, Jesus lived up to his billing, for he answered their question without pitying Moses (the giver of the law) against God (the author of marriage). So why would there be no marriage in heaven?
The first answer would be that in heaven there is no corporeality- that it is all things spiritual therein. One might also argue that with the leaving behind of our bodies, we also leave behind our sensual abilities and longings such that things that really matter here on earth would lose their importance in heaven. Another answer would be that marriage is for the continuation and preservation of the family lineage- a preoccupation that would not arise in heaven since there is no death in heaven.
While the assertion by Jesus that there is no marriage in heaven was his subtle answer to a certainly complex question, I believe that it is something worth reflecting about. This should be especially so for one who believes that eternal life is but a continuation of the life we are already living here on earth (a belief that there is a continuity and never a disconnect between our lives on earth and the life that follows it). With the end of our earthly existence comes the end of many things, those things that were meant to make our earthly existence meaningful. Marriage is one of those things. Whether for mutual support and love, raising of a family, or any other reason for which one enters into a marriage, marriage is meant to achieve an end, and end which endures even after we are physically gone. A new marriage contract in heaven would nullify the marriage that was contracted here on earth. This is something that surviving family members would not be really happy about. For we would like to believe that there is a continuity between our lives here on earth and in heaven. It is this continuity, for me, that would render a new marriage in heaven unnecessary.