Monday, July 7, 2008
"Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated – the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground" (Hebrews 11:36-38 NIV).
IDEA: The Sadducees were another powerful religious group that mixed religion with politics.
PURPOSE: To help listeners appreciate why the Sadducees would be opposed to Jesus.
Do you think most people wonder where our political parties come from?
Were there always only two parties in a nation?
Can individual political parties always stand for the same thing?
I. Have you wondered about some of the different groups we meet as we read the New Testament?
Some of the key groups in the Gospels were not mentioned in the Old Testament.
One of the groups was that of the Pharisees; another group was the Sadducees. Both of these groups grew up during the 400 years between the Old and New Testaments.
II. The Sadducees represented a party of wealthy priests and their friends in the aristocracy of Israel.
They combined religion and politics.
They wanted to stay in favor with the Romans, and Rome supported the Sadducees because they supported the status quo in the culture.
The Sadducees were "culturally aware": they supported the Greek culture which was an important part of Roman life.
Why are religion and politics so attractive to each other?
III. The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection of the body.
The Greek culture did not believe in the resurrection of the body. They did believe in immortality, but not that the body would be raised. In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul, writing to the Corinthians, part of the Greek culture, argued for the resurrection of the body.
The Sadducees were not as heretical as that may sound because the Old Testament does not say a great deal about the resurrection of the body.
IV. The Sadducees didn't like Jesus because the people responded to Him, and power is threatened by a movement of the population.