The Sadducees question Jesus about the Resurrection

In today's gospel (Mark 12:18-27), we hear how a group of Sadducees came to question Jesus about the resurrection. The Sadducees were members of rich families belonging to the elite of Jerusalem. They had a rich and comfortable life and had no concern for life after death. To show that belief in a resurrection was senseless, they invented a story of a woman who had successively married seven brothers as each one had died after his marriage. So, they slyly asked Jesus whose wife she would be in the future life. Jesus reprimands them and tells them that they are ignorant of the scriptures. He teaches that there is a radical difference between life on earth and the new life after death when we will be completely incorporated into the love of God. St Paul knew this and said ''Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has human heart conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.'' (1 Corinthians 2:9). But our faith in the Resurrection does not lead us to give no value to life on earth. When thousands of Africans were cruelly kidnapped and brought to Brazil as slaves, priests baptized them but made no effort to alleviate their sufferings rather they told them to put up with them as they would be rewarded in heaven. No, our belief in a future life leads us to live the values of the Kingdom in this life. Today's Saint Boniface, an English Benedictine of the 8th century, had such faith in the Resurrection that it led him to spend his life reforming the church in Germany so much so that he was known as the Apostle of Germany. May each of us be apostles in our families and communities.