Many people take this passage to be about the resurrection from the dead and marriage, but I’m not entirely convinced that it is the main point. I think the key here is Luke’s reminding of his hearers/readers that the Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection. So, in fact in asking Jesus about marriage after the resurrection, it is possible to suggest they were making fun of Jesus, or trying to trap Him in to making a fool of Himself. After all, if they don’t think the resurrection will happen, why does it matter to them who is married to who? If you don’t think they are truing to, at best, be funny, read verses 28-33 fast a few times and see if you manage not to get confused.
Jesus, as normal, gets to the heart of the matter.Verses 34-38 include a key teaching for all of us to hold on to – those who are deemed worthy (because Jesus died for them, rose for them and intercedes for them at the Father’s right hand today, we could add now, although His hearers at the time could not) are chidden of God, “since they are children of the resurrection”. Jesus moves beyond questions of marriage, and asserts there is a resurrection, where relationship with God matters more than anything else. More than this, He beats the Sadducees at their own game by showing that it was all in the teachings of Moses too.
For us, it is very easy to cynically question whether there is life after this, or whether this is all there is. Some of the key thinkers of our age attempt to narrow our field of vision to simply this life, this time, these places. It is not for us to have to bend to the logic of the age, however, just as Jesus did not bend to the logic, or fall into the trap of the Sadducees. Wen have a promise of life, today, tomorrow and for eternity to share with the world. The world can never take that away, however hard it tries.