Word to the Wise
Saturday, November 21, 2009 - Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
[1 Maccabees 6:1-13 and Luke 20:27-40]That the dead will rise even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, when he called "Lord" the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.[Luke]
The great Anglican scripture scholar, N. T. Wright, warns that it is misleading to refer to "Judaism" in Jesus' time. It is far more accurate to refer to "JudaismS" (plural). Today's gospel gives a good example of what he means. Jesus is approached by a group called the Sadducees. These folks belonged to an aristocratic priestly elite in Jerusalem and were connected with the temple. They also refused to accept any scriptures as binding except the Torah (the Pentateuch - first five books of the Bible). For this reason, they denied anything like resurrection from the dead because they could find no reference to it in the Torah. The Pharisees (about whom we hear much more) were a lay movement dedicated to meticulous observance of the Torah but they also accepted other scriptural writings, in which they found references to resurrection. In the incident from today's gospel, the Sadducees seek to score a point both against the Pharisees and Jesus at the same time. Much later on, St. Paul would exploit the differences between Pharisees and Sadducees in Acts 23 by claiming to be a Pharisee and believing in the resurrection. He nearly starts a riot! Note that the "scribes" who were a group of people considered "experts" in the law rather smugly respond, probably with a smirking "take that!" look at the Sadducees, "Teacher, you have answered well." From the patently absurd fact situation presented to him, Jesus draws a wonderful truth. God is God of the living. Resurrection is a certainty. Whether one is scribe, Pharisee or Sadducee or Essene or Christian or Moslem or Buddhist or whatever......there will be a resurrection. AMEN The great Anglican scripture scholar, N. T. Wright, warns that it is misleading to refer to "Judaism" in Jesus' time. It is far more accurate to refer to "JudaismS" (plural). Today's gospel gives a good example of what he means. Jesus is approached by a group called the Sadducees. These folks belonged to an aristocratic priestly elite in Jerusalem and were connected with the temple. They also refused to accept any scriptures as binding except the Torah (the Pentateuch - first five books of the Bible). For this reason, they denied anything like resurrection from the dead because they could find no reference to it in the Torah. The Pharisees (about whom we hear much more) were a lay movement dedicated to meticulous observance of the Torah but they also accepted other scriptural writings, in which they found references to resurrection. In the incident from today's gospel, the Sadducees seek to score a point both against the Pharisees and Jesus at the same time. Much later on, St. Paul would exploit the differences between Pharisees and Sadducees in Acts 23 by claiming to be a Pharisee and believing in the resurrection. He nearly starts a riot! Note that the "scribes" who were a group of people considered "experts" in the law rather smugly respond, probably with a smirking "take that!" look at the Sadducees, "Teacher, you have answered well." From the patently absurd fact situation presented to him, Jesus draws a wonderful truth. God is God of the living. Resurrection is a certainty. Whether one is scribe, Pharisee or Sadducee or Essene or Christian or Moslem or Buddhist or whatever......there will be a resurrection. AMEN
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