vv. 27–33: The challenge
Sadducees approach Jesus; Luke notes they deny resurrection (Luke 20:27). They cite Moses about a brother taking a childless widow. Seven brothers each marry the same wife; each died without children, and then the woman dies. They ask whose wife she will be in the resurrection.
vv. 34–36: Jesus’ distinction of the ages
Jesus contrasts ordinary patterns of marriage in “this age” with conditions in “that age,” where those who attain it do not marry and “cannot die anymore,” being “like angels.”
vv. 37–40: Appeal to Moses
Jesus returns to Moses, citing the bush passage: the Lord is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He concludes that God is not God of the dead but of the living, and the exchange ends with opponents no longer pressing questions.