Hi Sosscc,

Looking at the context, Jesus is answering a series of trick questions designed by various authorities.

This answer is to a question by the Sadducees (see verse 27). They didn't believe in the afterlife to begin with. They simply followed Judaism as law and believed in all of God's blessings and punishments for this life.

So they asked him, what appears to be, a legalistic question about marriage and how it worked in the afterlife. Essentially, they were trying to trap him into saying something that they believed violated the Mosaic law.

Jesus not only explains how marriage works in the after life — but also clarifies that there is an afterlife. He precedes verse 38 by saying even Moses (the one who the Sadducees revered as a law giver) called God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and in verse 38 Jesus says Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are living.

Hope this helps,

John DiMascio