As the Gospel tells us, the Sadducees did not believe in a life after death. In general, they only accepted the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Hebrew Testament, as being revelation. They did not accept the later books but it is in these that the concept of life after death begins to be spoken of. In order to discredit Jesus (and other Jews such as the Pharisees), they come up with what is to them an unanswerable proposition. A woman marries each of seven brothers who all die without giving her a child. In the next life - if there is a next life - whose wife will she be? For the Sadducees who do not believe in resurrection there is no problem. Jesus replies with two arguments. First, that in the next life there is no marriage. All become simply children of God; all human contracts no longer apply. Jesus also quotes Moses who spoke of God as the God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob. But how can God be the God of those who no longer exist? The point of this argument is that Jesus is quoting from a part of the Bible which the Sadducees accept as the word of God. They are reduced to silence, much to the delight of a nearby Scribe. For our reflection the passage is an affirmation that, for us, life is changed and not taken away. Jesus is our Resurrection and our Life. We pray that we, like the martyrs in the First Reading, may some day hear the same words from God: 'Come up here'.