The Sadducees were a group of Jews who were very different from the Pharisees. Normally, the two groups did not get on together. The Sadducees were happy when Jesus put the Pharisees on the spot but then they tried to challenge Jesus themselves based on their reading of the Scripture. They only recognised the first five books of the Old Testament as the revealed word of God and so they did not believe in anything revealed only in the later books, such as resurrection from the dead or the existence of angels. This explains the challenge they give to Jesus in today's Gospel. A woman is married successively to seven brothers, all of whom die childless. In the after life, which one is the woman's husband? As they do not believe in life after death, it is a non-problem but they think Jesus will be put on the spot. Jesus answers them in two ways. First, there is no marriage in the after life - all are brothers and sisters, children of God. Secondly, in the Books of Moses - which the Sadducees accept as revealed - Moses at the burning bush spoke of the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. If these patriarchs no longer exist, how can one speak of their God? "God is a God of the living; for to him all people are, in fact, alive."