Lesson 13 - Looking for Jesus - His Life and Times

 The Good, the Bad and the Ugly:

Essenes, Sadducees, Pharisees, Zealots and Bandits

A quick review of our photos shows that for the last two hundred years Jews have been obsessed with the growing belief that God was going to have to clean up the political oppression and torments visited upon them. The first great Temple had been destroyed and this was not to be forgotten or forgiven. Though the present Jewish client king, Herod Antipas renovated the second Temple bigger and better, he kept sabotaging his efforts through cruelty and love for all things Roman. Bad move.

Since Jews weren’t able to accomplish it themselves they began asking for God to do the deed and bring an end to the outrage. Added to this, like a first century TV show of ‘Survivor’, there was also no end to prophets, followers and their crazy, violent schemes all hoping to end the oppression and win, with or without God. So, let’s grab our cameras and zip back to the first century and record the major sectarian groups that had to have influenced, for good or for bad, Jesus and his ministry.

 Just as the title above announces, several groups could be found stomping, raging, sermonizing, robbing, pillaging and some just trying to escape it all. Here are a few to capture on camera, each one leaving its mark on Jesus, his ministry, his disciples and his listeners, creating personal agendas for each.

Jerusalem was a showplace and the Temple complex was an immense tourist attraction, one of the more famous in the whole world. Lots of money was coming and going and bandits were a real and violent problem. Several are noted by name by the ancient historian Josephus. We also can see the Sadducees the monied Jews with noses in the air, who were ultra conservative and pro-Roman. Judaism in the first century had a fluid philosophy, but the Sadducees refused to adjust their religious views to the times and staunchly backed the oppressor. A double whammy. Then we have the Pharisees who were just beginning to relax religious standards and views but were terribly pompous about it all.

But wait, there’s more. Those who hated the Romans with political venom and would eventually lead the country into political destruction by 70 A.D. were the Zealots. Note that one of Jesus’ disciples was named Simon the Zealot, a hint at how diversified the personal agendas were for each disciple. Later we will explore the pressures they put on Jesus to be as they each desired. And then later we will explore how those desires colored the early church.

The most well known group was the Essenes. After thousands of years, fate and great weather conditions have given us the Dead Sea Scrolls and an extensive look into this reclusive group. Did they influence John the Baptist? Did they influence Jesus? I know I am interested!

. . . So, let’s take a rest for now so I can do some research and then we will be back to take some great new snapshots.

Questions to Contemplate and Discuss

1.     Which of the many and varied groups of Jews in the first century had you heard of and what were your impressions about them?

2.     Have you read or studied about the Dead Sea Scrolls and what did you learn from and about them?

3.     In what ways do the variety of Jewish sects in the first century remind you of the Christian sects of today?