Fr Paul Gooley reads from Luke’s Gospel (20: 27-40) in which Jesus is questioned about the resurrection of the dead. Fr Paul says today’s Gospel is a discussion between the Sadducees and Jesus on faith in the resurrection. Straight away we are told that the Sadducees do not believe in the resurrection. The Sadducees were a group of aristocrats. They were conservative and they were invested in Roman rule and order. The Sadducees were typically well off and content with the way things were. As we hear, Fr Paul says, they create the story of the woman married 7 times in which faith in the resurrection seemed absurd. The response of Jesus though leaves no doubt that he is irritated by the deceit and hypocrisy of the Sadducees. Firstly, he tells them that they understand nothing about the resurrection and that they understand nothing about God. This response earns praise from some scribes that hear it because it is possible that some of them were Pharisees and Pharisees, unlike the Sadducees believed in the resurrection. For our personal reflection today, Fr Paul invites us to consider the following questions, ‘Do I believe in the resurrection? Have I ever had an experience of resurrection in my own life?’