Yehuda ben Yitzhak here, reporting now from Jerusalem. I’ve been following behind the itinerant Galilean rabbi, Yeshua ha Notsri, Jesus of Nazareth to you. If you’re just joining us, we’ve been walking here from Galilee. It’s been a long walk. Of course, Jesus’ healing people and stopping along the way to teach his disciples slowed us down some. We reached Jerusalem a few days ago. And what do you know? The crowds came out in droves to greet Jesus. They waved palm branches and looked like they were ready to crown him king, but he wouldn’t let them. Then when he came to the temple and saw the money-changers at their tables, Jesus got all red in the face. He started shouting, and he pushed the money off their tables. You can imagine how that went over! Since then, it’s clear that the religious establishment – to say nothing of the Roman government – has been spying on him and his followers. I think they’re looking for ways to trap him so that they can bring him up on charges – either blasphemy or fomenting rebellion, or both.
So who are these folks in the religious establishment anyway? A little background here, as we walk around Jerusalem with Jesus and his friends. Actually there are five different groups you need to know about.1 There are the temple clergy led by the high priest. They belong to the tribe of Levi and inherit their offices. Then there’s the Sanhedrin, the religious Supreme Court. They’re led by the high priest. The Sanhedrin usually has both Pharisees and Sadducees, parties who interpret Scripture differently and are both very influential among the rabbis. The Sadducees, you remember, hold only the first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures as authoritative. They don’t believe in resurrection, because it’s not mentioned in the Torah. The Pharisees, on the other hand, accept the prophets and other writings. Most people think of them as reformers. They do believe in the resurrection of the righteous, although for them the righteous are those who keep every jot and tittle of the law and who separate themselves from Gentiles as much as possible. Finally, there are the scribes, the religious lawyers. Their job is to apply the Law of Moses to everyday life.
Jesus, of course, isn’t a member of any of these parties. As far as we know, he hasn’t had any formal religious training. He’s just a hill country preacher. It’s just astounding how well he can match wits with all these religious professionals and can make the Law understandable. And of course, he’s such a popular preacher. And it doesn’t hurt that he can drive home his point with a miracle or two! The religious leaders don’t trust him – of course they’re afraid of losing their influence – and the Romans are sure he wants to stir up popular rebellion. Folks, it’s a recipe for trouble.
Oh, Jesus and his friends have stopped walking. We’ve gathered in a square by the temple. The money changers seem to have set up their tables again, and there are lots of folks milling around. First, some Pharisees ask Jesus by what authority he is teaching. Now here come some Sadducees trying to test him. Since the Sadducees don’t believe in the resurrection, their spokesman paints this ridiculous scenario about a woman having had to marry seven brothers. He probably means to ridicule those who do believe in the resurrection, but, really, what does he take Jesus for? An utter fool? Fortunately, Jesus doesn’t take the bait. He cuts right through the man’s assumptions, doesn’t he? He tells him and the other Sadducees that they don’t understand either God or the Scriptures. God is not God of the dead, God is God of the living. So everyone who is faithful to God will pass through death and, like Abraham and Moses, be united with God forever. And because they are united with God, obviously there’s no need for marriage.
Whoa! The Sadducees’ faces are bright red! That’s a stinging rebuke to those who think they are among the most respected members of the religious hierarchy. They are clearly outraged. Are they also just a little afraid of Jesus? Because the Sadducees only read part of the Scripture, they miss all the prophetic calls for justice and care for the poor. And since they don’t believe in the resurrection, or any kind of afterlife, they don’t think God will ever hold them accountable for how they live. No wonder they’re all so comfortably rich. Jesus talks a lot about caring for the poor, but these folks seem to care only about themselves. Did what Jesus just say change their mind any? I don’t know what will happen next, folks, but, you can be sure, when news breaks Yehuda ben Yitzhak will be here reporting it.
Where are we in this scene? Maybe we’re like Jesus’ friends, just tagging after him, confused and wondering what will happen next. Maybe, though, we’re not so different from the Pharisees and Sadducees. Maybe we’re like the Pharisees. Maybe we believe that all God wants of us is that we be good, decent folks and live a pure and personally upright life. Go to church, read the Bible, tithe, pray seven times a day, don’t cheat on our spouses or drink too much. Never mind those poor people who are too lazy to work and would rather live on government handouts. Never mind those of other faiths – they’re doomed. If we keep ourselves pure we’ll be saved.
In this country, perhaps we’re more like the Sadducees. Maybe we hear only the parts of Scripture that we want to hear. Maybe we miss the parts about caring for the widow and orphan, about making just provision for the alien in our midst, about pursuing peace, about caring for creation, about loving one another. Franciscan spiritual teacher Richard Rohr reminds us that page after page of the Gospels call us to “the work of justice and generosity toward the poor and the outsider.” Yet “most Christians have indeed been ‘cafeteria Christians’ when it comes to this. Usually they will markedly emphasize something else (often a sexual issue) to divert attention from what Jesus did not divert attention from.”2 Perhaps, like the Sadducees, we also think that we won’t be held accountable by God for how we’ve lived our lives, for “what we’ve done and left undone,” for “the evil we have done and the evil done on our behalf.”
Jesus has called us to lives that are better and richer. For us, to postpone accountability is to postpone discipleship. Heaven and hell are not something we experience only after death. We experience heaven and hell right here in this world, in our daily lives, through our choices to listen for God’s voice or ignore it, to love others or to isolate ourselves, to pursue justice, to care for those in need. Perhaps like the Sadducees, we let our wealth numb our consciences and blind us to the needs of others. While reassuring us that we are God’s forever, Jesus calls us to open our eyes and look around. Jesus calls us to read all of Scripture and to understand God’s preference for the poor and marginalized. Jesus calls us to give up our trust in following myriad rules of personal purity. Jesus calls us to give up our belief that it doesn’t matter how we live our lives. Jesus calls us to begin seeing our neighbors, all our neighbors, and all of creation through God’s eyes and to begin partnering with God in realizing God’s future.
Most of all, Jesus calls us to believe in resurrection, to believe that God has and will overcome every negation, including the ultimate negation of death. Because Jesus has risen we will rise because of him. Because Jesus has risen we can hope and trust in the future. Because Jesus has risen, we can experience resurrection here and now. And how do we experience that resurrection? When we see the poor lifted up out of poverty, when we see those who are lonely restored to community, when we see those who are sick brought back to life, when we raise our own voices against violence and injustice. Resurrection means feeding the hungry and housing the homeless, it means visiting those in prison and witnessing to the good news not only with our lips but with our lives. While we wait for the one who has died and risen, so that we too may experience full life with God, we are to press forward, devoting ourselves, our time, our talent, and whatever treasure we have, to sharing with others the experience of resurrection.
My sisters and brothers, this is the good news. Jesus has revealed to us a God who profoundly loves all of us, who calls us into a resurrection life of both deeper relationship and more faithful service, and who assures us that once we are joined to God our connection with God will never be broken. Thanks be to God.
1. With thanks to Pat Marrin, Celebration, Nov. 10, 2013 for much of the following.
2. Daily Meditation, Nov. 7, 2013 (electronic message).
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