pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: Sadducees


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Walk the Walk

Reading: Matthew 3:7-12

Matthew 3:8 – “Produce fruit that shows you have changed hearts and lives.”

Photo credit: Felipe Correia

Continuing in Matthew 3 today we see that many Pharisees and Sadducees come to John the Baptist in the wilderness. These two religious groups were very different. The Sadducees came from the ruling class, didn’t believe in an afterlife, and interpreted the scriptures much differently than the Pharisees. Both groups were powerful and popular amongst the people. The fact that these two groups both came to be baptized by John is a testament to the appeal of John’s message. Even the religious leaders were looking for the kingdom of God to draw near.

Even though the scripture tells us that the Pharisees and Sadducees came to be baptized, John goes on the offensive. He begins by calling them “children of snakes.” He then asks them about who warned them to flee the coming wrath and judgment. This calling out is exactly the opposite of ‘Welcome! Step on down into the water!’ John’s assault on their status and place in society continues with this charge: “Produce fruit that shows you have changed hearts and lives.” John has been around these groups long enough to know that what they teach and what they live do not line up. Status, heritage, popularity… do not matter to John. It’s all about walking the walk.

John then points to the coming Messiah. His or her baptism will not be with water but with the Holy Spirit and with fire. John references the “coming judgment” in verse 12. The Messiah will sift the wheat from the husks, the good from the bad. Those not producing good fruit will suffer “a fire that can’t be put out.” Confession and repentance must lead to a change in heart and life, to turning back to the path that we are called to walk in and through Jesus Christ. May we daily choose to walk the walk of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Prayer: Lord God, we can be tempted to think, ‘I read my Bible, I go to church’ as our justification for being a ‘good’ person. Checking boxes, though, will not equate to eternal life. So Lord we ask that the fire of your Holy Spirit would burn away our selfish desires and actions. And may the fire of the Spirit ignite our love of you and of neighbor, leading to humble service, producing fruit that lasts. Amen.


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Alive and Connected

Reading: Luke 20:27-38

Luke 20:38 – “He [God] isn’t the God of the dead but of the living.”

The Sadducees come to Jesus with a question. The Sadducees were a group of religious scholars who were committed to a literal interpretation of the Law and to then applying this understanding to life. This group enjoyed challenging one another’s interpretation of the Law. What they are doing with Jesus was partly this practice. But it is also partly a power play. Because they interpret so literally, the Sadducees cannot make room for concepts like resurrection from the dead. In this interaction with Jesus, the Sadducees want to prove that their interpretation is correct, that their understanding is right. We too can be guilty of wanting scripture to fit our needs or to feel that our reading of this or that passage is the correct reading. We can, at times, want scripture to conform to our way instead of allowing scripture to conform us to God’s way.

In today’s interaction with Jesus, the Sadducees take a Mosaic Law and they run it out to the extreme. In Jewish culture, the oldest male in a family was privileged. For example, they received a double portion of the inheritance. They usually married first. If the oldest brother died without a male heir, the next brother would marry the widow to continue the oldest brother’s family name. So Jesus, in heaven, does the woman belong to the seventh brother or what? Well, Jesus tells them, in heaven there is no marriage. Like the angels, all who are worthy of this resurrection life are simply God’s children. That relationship will be all that we care about in the age to come.

As the interaction closes, Jesus brings the idea of being God’s children into this age too. He tells the Sadducees that God “isn’t the God of the dead but of the living.” This age matters. How we live in this age matters. Our relationship with God is paramount here too. Jesus adds, “To God they are all alive.” Living or dead as we see it is not how God sees us. Living or dead, our spirit, our connection to God, that is always alive. For this unchanging relationship, for this unending love, we say thanks be to God.

Prayer: Lord God, thank you for being our God, our Father, both in this age and in the age to come. Your love for us never changes. When we want to get a bit like the Sadducees, wanting our way to be the right way or the only way, remind us that your ways are far above our ways. Turning to the Spirit within, guide us to seek your voice, to discern your purposes. Help us to walk in faith each day in this life so that one day we can see you as you truly are. Amen.


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The Great Commands

Reading: Matthew 22:34-40 and 7:9-12

Matthew 7:12 – “Treat people in the same way that you want people to treat you.”

Photo credit: Shane

In Matthew 22 the Pharisees get together and decide to test or trap Jesus. Their religious rivals, the Sadducees, have just been left speechless after their attempt to trap Jesus in his words. The Pharisees send one forward to test Jesus with a question: What’s the greatest commandment? The Law has 613 (or 623) commands. Which is the most important one Jesus?

Quoting from the Law, Jesus identifies the Deuteronomy law to love God with all that you are. He quickly adds one from Leviticus: “love your neighbor as you love yourself.” For a devout Jew these are the two core commands. These two verses form the heart of a prayer offered each and every day, both morning and night. While the concept of loving God and neighbor is easy to understand, the actual execution of these commands can be very hard. To date, I believe that Jesus is the only one with a 100% success rate.

Jesus offers some practical application tips in chapter 7, verses 9-12. Here he uses parenting as the analogy. If your child asks for bread or fish because they are hungry, who would give them a rock or a snake instead? Well, no good parent would. Jesus then reminds us that the one who loves us as children will do the same and even more. He then generalizes this teaching on loving well to others, adding, “Treat people in the same way that you want people to treat you.” Give that person in need not just bread but some water too. Give that stranger not just a fish but a place to stay too. Just as the Lord our God is good and loving and generous, Jesus says, you do the same.

Prayer: Lord God, the call is clear: love well, love deeply, love genuinely. You have modeled this and your son Jesus modeled it. We have no excuses. We can’t play dumb. Yet we sure can struggle to love you with all that we are and to love others as we love ourselves. Lord, encourage and empower us today to love as you call us to love. When we waver, strengthen us by the power of your Holy Spirit. Thank you, God. Amen.


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Resurrection Life

Reading: Luke 20:27-38

Verses 35-36: “Those who are considered worthy of taking part in the resurrection… are God’s children… are children of the resurrection.”

Photo credit: Greg Rakozy

In our gospel lesson this week the Sadducees come to Jesus and pose what they believe to be an impossible scenario. We read that they do not even believe in the resurrection. Yet they ask to solve a riddle about the resurrection. Their question is really about legacy and power – two things that they think are in their hands, not God’s. Jesus, as he often did, answers the impossible question as well as the real but unasked question.

Jewish law required a brother to marry a dead brother’s wife if they had no children. There were two factors behind this law. First, the family name would be carried on (legacy.) Second, children were produced to provide needed labor (which equals power.) In their wild scenario, 7 brothers marry the woman and none produce children. They all die. The Sadducees want to know whose wife she’d be in this resurrection thing. Again, this is a question of power for these religious leaders. Who would have full authority over this woman in your imaginary place, Jesus?

Jesus explains that the resurrection life isn’t like our earthly life. He begins by clarifying who will experience resurrection: those who are “worthy.” Jesus tells them that in the resurrection all are alive in God, all there are God’s children – not yours or mine or anyone else’s. Then Jesus turns to the unasked question. Yes, gentleman, there is a resurrection. He quotes from Moses, the one in whom the Sadducees place all authority, pointing out that Moses himself speaks of resurrection, naming God as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Moses did not say God was their God, but the God IS their God. Gentlemen, the soul, the spirit, our essence – who we are at our core – this remains alive in God.

In verses 39-40, the non-Sadducee religious leaders score one for Jesus. Debate over. Jesus 1, Sadducees 0.

Prayer: Lord God, to stand one day in your presence, a day without equal. It is so without equal that we can only begin to imagine how awesome it will be. We’re at maybe a 1 or 2 out of a million in our understanding. Yet we trust absolutely in the promise of life eternal. Day by day may we live worthy of the resurrection. Amen.


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Love Eternal

Reading: Luke 20: 27-38

It is odd that the Sadducees ask Jesus a question about relationships in heaven when they themselves do not believe in the resurrection.  They thought long and hard about how to ask a question with a hypothetical problem whose circumstances are based solidly in the Law of Moses.  The hypothetical location of this problem is heaven.  No one, including us, really knows exactly what heaven will be like.  The exception is, of course, Jesus.  He has been there in heaven so he can answer their ridiculous question from a position of authority.

I can picture Jesus’ smile turning to a grin as He begins to answer their question.  He begins by explaining that our earthly relationships will be secondary at best in heaven.  The only relationship that will matter in heaven, Jesus says in essence, is that we are the children of God.  In other words, the only relationship that will really matter in heaven will be our relationship with the Lord.  It will be true in the eternal but it is also true here in the temporal.  Relationships with spouses, family, friends, and so on makes life here much more pleasant and enjoyable.  But many here have these relationships but no relationship with God.  For these, their eternity will be much different than for those who claim a personal relationship with Jesus, our Lord and Savior.

Jesus explains to the Sadducees that to God we are all alive, whether living or dead.  This is clearly true now.  Jesus says it will also be true in heaven.  The constants are God’s love for us and our status as children of God.  Although we do not clearly know what we will be like in heaven, we do know that some representation of us will be with God if we have a personal relationship with Jesus while here on earth.  At least the part of us that has a relationship with God will remain alive with God in heaven.  To me, this is our spirit or soul.  But this is a guess at best.  What we do know is that God’s love never ends and that it remains the same here on earth as it will one day be in heaven.  For God’s unfailing love and eternal claim bonus ad children of God, we say thanks be to God.