For the past couple of weeks, we’ve been exploring the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Essenes at the time of Christ. We’ve considered their beliefs, their positions in Jewish society, and their effects on Jewish culture at the time. This week, we’ll look at why the Pharisees and the Sadducees felt such antipathy toward Jesus and worked together to have him executed.
A brief look back at the Sadducees.
The Sadducees occupied the top position in Jewish society because of their control and operation of the Temple in Jerusalem. They performed all the ceremonies that occurred in the Temple. Their chief priest occupied the top executive position in the Sanhedrin, the body that controlled and directed much of Jewish thought, society and culture. Many of their sect’s members were members of the Sanhedrin also.
They were restricted to activities in the Temple in Jerusalem, so they were geographically limited. As a result, they probably had the smallest number of members of the three leading sects.
Recognizing their importance in Jewish society, the Romans had done much to tie the Sadducees to themselves. The two groups adopted a mutually beneficial arrangement. The Romans allowed the Sadducees to retain their lofty positions, and in return, the Sadducees worked to keep the Jewish populace as compliant with Roman occupation and their laws as possible. They were also worked to keep sedition and rebellion in check and regularly reported potential leaders of dissent to the Roman authorities.
In short, the Sadducees had a lot to lose if the Roman government turned against them.
A brief look back at the Pharisees.
In all probability, the Pharisees had the largest number of followers among the three main sects. Pharisees could be found wherever there were Jews. And membership in the sect was not limited to inheritance or geography as it was for the Sadducees.
Many Pharisees were Pharisees because of prior familial affiliation, much as many members of different Christian denominations today grew up in those denominations. But one could also elect to become a Pharisee by studying Jewish law and theology under a prominent teacher and adopting their ideas and tenants.
Pharisees frequently served as Rabbis or scribes in local Jewish communities across the Jewish world. As such, they were the most accessible religious sect, and were the most influential in daily Jewish belief structures and theology.
The primary idea driving their theology was strict adherence to Jewish religious law, and maintenance of personal purity in accordance with those laws. They believed that an individual’s relationship with God depended on the degree of physical, spiritual, and societal purity that they evidenced.
They greatly resisted and resented any law or activity that they perceived to work against their ability to remain spiritually and personally pure as required by their version of the Jewish faith.
The Roman occupation of their homeland in Palestine was particularly repugnant to them. Not only were they physically subordinated to the Roman government, but Roman ideas, ideals, and theology permeated their entire society and culture. And “purity” was most definitely not a Roman ideal.
To the Pharisees, the Romans were not just heathens worshiping their own gods. They were a toxic and dangerous contagion that threatened everything the Pharisees held dear.
The Pharisees saw anyone who didn’t comply with their strict interpretation of Jewish law as a danger that had to be controlled or removed for the health of the Jewish community.
Pharisee Hatred of Jesus.
Against this background, it’s not at all difficult to discern why Jesus was so hated by these two groups.
To the Pharisees, He represented everything they most despised about a Jew who didn’t strictly follow their laws.
He picked grain on the Sabbath [Mark 2:23]. Jesus healed people on the Sabbath. [Mark 3:1-6] He refused to condemn a woman when she had been caught in the act of adultery. [John 8:3-11]
Jesus regularly associated with the “dregs” of Jewish society, prostitutes, tax collectors, the poor, and the diseased. Just being around such people was an affront to the Pharisaic idea of “purity”.
Jesus even acknowledged the worth of Romans. On one occasion, He healed a Roman Centurion’s servant and then remarked how He’s not seen such deep faith in many of His own followers. [Luke 7:1-10]
Jesus was also aggressive at calling attention to the Pharisees’ many kinds of hypocrisy. In Mark 7:6 He says, “How rightly Isaiah prophesied about your hypocrites…” In Matthew 23:6, he says, “Alas for you…Pharisees, you hypocrites!” And in Luke 20:46-47 He says, “Beware of the scribes who like to walk about in long robes and love to be greeted respectfully…to take the front seats in the synagogues…” Jesus utters not one phrase that lauds this group of self-centered, self-righteous men. Instead He held their own hypocrisy up for all to behold.
Of course, there were members of the Pharisee sect who believed in and followed Jesus’ teachings. Nicodemus is a notable example. [John 3:1-21] Another Pharisee who invited Jesus into his home is mentioned in Luke 11:37.
But the great majority of the Pharisee sect saw Jesus as a threat to their entire body of belief. And when He began to attract larger and larger crowds of followers, they became concerned that they were losing their hold over the general population’s spiritual affection. They sensed that they could be replaced, and they did not like it.
As we know, the cheering crowds that greeted Him in Jerusalem for the week of the Passover pushed them ‘over the edge.’ After that display of public adoration, their leaders concluded that Jesus had to go.
Sadducee fear of Jesus.
The Sadducees weren’t really concerned about Jesus’ disregard for the purity laws of the Pharisees. They didn’t’ see those laws as necessarily applicable outside of the Temple or of worship services. Nor were the Sadducees overly concerned with Jesus’ impact on the general populace. Their place at the “top of the food chain” rendered them contemptuous of anyone other than members of their own sect. What happened to the Jews outside of the Temple was of little concern to them.
However, when Jesus began to challenge their position as the chief channel of communication between Jews and God, they became concerned. His instruction of them regarding resurrection and life after death in Matthew 22 implied that He had knowledge of God’s will that they did not.
Of greater meaning and danger to them was Jesus’ claims that He was the Son of God. In John 5:18 we read, “…Jews (meaning the religious leadership) … intent on killing Him, because … He spoke of God as His own Father and so made Himself equal to God.” On another occasion Jesus said, “…the Father and I are One…” [John 10:30]
Jesus also made it clear that He was the Messiah who had been promised to the Jews by prophecy. When the Samaritan woman at the well asked Jesus if He were the Messiah, He responded, “That is who I am…” [John 4:26] Again, in John [10:36] He declares, “The Father is in Me and I am in the Father.”
And in Luke 4:16-19, Jesus’ reading of the scroll of Isaiah is widely interpreted to mean that He was publicly declaring Himself to the be promised Messiah.
But it was when the crowds in Jerusalem began to proclaim Jesus as the “King of the Jews,” that they became genuinely disturbed. In Matthew 21:9 we are told that the crowds were shouting, “Hosanna to the son of David!” It was widely believed that the Messiah would come from the Line of David and be crowned King of the Jews upon his arrival.
In Luke [19:28] we are told that the crowds sang, “Blessed is he who is coming as King…”
And in John [12:13], we hear that they were shouting, “Blessed is He who is coming in the name of the Lord, the king of Israel.”
Now, let’s not forget that the arrangement the Sadducees had with Rome was in effect only so long as Rome was confident that they’d not allow any rebellion or sedition to flower in Palestine. The Romans could topple the Sadducees from their lofty perch upon a whim. And they were certain to do so if the Jews declared one of their own as their king!
And, here was this itinerant preacher from the backwaters of Palestine being proclaimed “king” by throngs of people. They did not see this as a good thing.
For me, their attitude is best summed up by Caiaphas during one of his early songs in the musical, “Jesus Christ Superstar.” There, he says, “…I see … Our elimination because of one man.” [Decca/MCA records, 1969, Andrew Lloyd Weber and Tim Rice Producers]
In other words, if they didn’t get rid of Jesus, the Romans could well get rid of them. Jesus was an existential threat to their survival. And they were determined to survive, whatever the cost.
Their cooperation.
There was no “love lost” between the Sadducees and the Pharisees. They had deep divisions of theology and practice. They catered to completely different groups of people. And although both sects were members of the Sanhedrin, they couldn’t always agree among themselves in that theater. Either would have been happy to see the other gone and out of the way.
But then came Jesus. There is an old saying, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” And in Jesus, each sect perceived a threat to itself greater than the threat that the other presented. Jesus, His actions, and His teachings drove these two groups together as never before.
His dismissal of the Pharisees’ affectation of purity, combined with His bold proclamation that He was the Messiah gave them common cause to seek His removal.
The rest of the story.
We all know what happened after the Pharisees and Sadducees decided to work together to remove Jesus from the scene. They went to the Roman Governor in a united front and were able to brow-beat Pilate into condemning Jesus to die on the cross.
Problem solved. Threat removed. Their respective positions saved.
But they’d not counted on the Resurrection! Now THAT was a game-changer.
Final thoughts.
I suggest that we all need to reflect on the Pharisees and the Sadducees and upon the characteristics that rendered them blind to the once-in-history opportunity that Jesus offered. Most Christians would like to believe that we’d fare better than the Sadducees and the Pharisees if we were to be confronted by the real, physical presence of Jesus. But for myself, I’m not so sure.
For to Christians, Jesus is not dead. He is alive and accessible to each of us through the revelation and guidance of the Holy Spirit. But even with over 2,000 years of testimony, continuing miracles, study and revelation, many of us are as unsure about who and what Jesus is as were the Pharisees and the Sadducees.
We can be just as fearful of His truth as they were. And, many of us still miss the clear signs of His presence that Jesus drops in our paths each day.
So, maybe we’re not all that different from the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Worth thinking about.
Until next time,
God’s Blessings on You All.
Richard
February 22, 2019
