Introduction

If you spend any time watching movies or binding TV shows, you quickly learn the common tropes of storytelling. The heroes may be flawed, but they’re almost always sympathetic. Villains, on the other hand, feel like they were assembled in a lab somewhere to function with improbable motives, just to drive the story forwards. How many people do you know that are bent on world domination?

But if you look at ordinary life, things are far murkier. We don’t encounter many psychotic megalomaniacs bent on ruling the world. Most people believe they’re living reasonably, and that they are at least trying to do good. Real life seldom has the sharp moral contrast we see in the movies.

The moral clarity of the movies isn’t accidental. It’s market tested. Clarity sells, while ambiguity unsettles. When you’re trying to maximize profits the incentives will always be to tells stories that entertain rather than challenge.

These expectations of stories can bleed into the way we read the stories in the Bible. We can easily forget this isn’t a pulp novel designed to divert us. That this is a book designed to unsettle and challenge us, So that ultimately it can play a part in our transformation.

This is especially true when we read the gospels. It’s tempting to see the people who oppose Jesus as caricatures, mustache-twirling villains whose only job is to introduce the conflict Jesus must overcome. But most of them aren’t villains in their own minds. They are convinced they are right, that they are honouring God. But somewhere along the way, they got off track. They were beset by a subtle sin that corrupted their devotion, and now, tragically, they oppose what God is doing when they think they are on God’s side.

And that’s where the story holds up a mirror to us, its readers. Because the real tension in the gospels isn’t between Jesus and the bad guys. Rather it is between the characters’ ideas of who they are, and who their response to Jesus reveals them to truly be. It’s the unsettling possibility that we can be deeply sincere, even devout, and still be wrong in ways that matter.

I think this is why Jesus gives us this stern warning: He says, “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it” (Matthew7:13-14, NLT). Who is this directed to? It’s not the tax collectors, prostitutes and unwashed sinners. Those people probably don’t believe they’re headed for God’s kingdom. He’s warning those who think they’re on the way to God’s kingdom, to really examine their own hearts, because many who assume themselves to be on the right way are, in fact, on the wrong way.

Today, I want to look at four groups in Jesus’ day who thought they’re headed God’s way, while they were headed the wrong way: The four groups correspond to the four major parties in Judaism described by the 1st century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus. All of them thought they were on on the inside track of following God, but each got something wrong that led to them opposing God when they supposed they were following. I also want to look at how Jesus’ disciples sometimes fell for the same temptations. And then we’ll look at the alternative Jesus shows us. All of this is meant to give us a framework to examine our own hearts so we can follow the way of Jesus—the narrow way—rather than the broad road to destruction.

I. The Sadducees

A. Who Were the Sadducees?

The first group are the Sadducees. They are the Jewish aristocracy related to the priests. Among the Jews, they are the leaders. They collaborated with the Romans on the things the Romans care about. As long as security and tax revenues weren’t compromised, the Romans were happy to let them be in charge of the rest.

Because the Sadducees controlled the priesthood they were very concerned with worship at the temple. The sacrificial law appoints them as middlemen between God and anyone wishing to receive forgiveness for their sins. This, it turns out, is very lucrative business.

The Sadducees were unlike the other parties in that they didn’t believe in a resurrection of the dead. You received all the rewards and punishments God would give you in this life. When you died, you just ceased to exist.

The Sadducees’ ‘bible’ only included Genesis to Deuteronomy. They didn’t believe in the authority of the prophets. They didn’t long for the return of the king. A New king from David’s line would only take away from their authority, after all. While they might not love playing second fiddle to the Romans, on the whole, they found life pretty good.

The Sadducees’ greatest concern was to preserve the system that made them wealthy and important. Their focus on life in this world distorts what their idea faithfulness to God looks like. They saw their positions of authority as proof that God favoured them. Since they didn’t believe in rewards and punishments after death, they didn’t concern themselves with the kingdom of God. The kingdom of this world was enough for them.

We can see this stubborn refusal to look beyond the here and now in their response to Jesus raising Lazarus. Shortly before Jesus entered Jerusalem for Holy Week, his friend Lazarus died. Jesus shocked everyone by raising Lazarus from the dead, after he had been dead for four days. Notice the response of the leading priests (they were Sadducees):

Then the leading priests and Pharisees called the high council together. “What are we going to do?” they asked each other. “This man certainly performs many miraculous signs. If we allow him to go on like this, soon everyone will believe in him. Then the Roman army will come and destroy both our Temple and our nation”(John 11:47–48, NLT).

The Sadducees don’t question what God is doing (or reconsider their position on resurrection now that someone has been…you know…raised from the dead). Instead, they begin to conspire against Jesus and Lazarus because they see it as a threat to the temple and nation,  which is really about the things that give them privilege in this life.

B. The Sadducean Temptation

Of course, this temptation isn’t one to which the Sadducees alone are susceptible. It’s easy for us to get hung up on the things of this world, so that we forget what God wants. We see Peter making this same mistake when Jesus first outlines the plan for him to go to Jerusalem to die. Here’s the exchange:

Then Jesus began to tell them that the Son of Man must suffer many terrible things and be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but three days later he would rise from the dead. As he talked about this openly with his disciples, Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things. Jesus turned around and looked at his disciples, then reprimanded Peter. “Get away from me, Satan!” he said. “You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s”(Mark 8:31–33, NLT).

Peter doesn’t want Jesus to die die, because Peter’s hopes for Jesus are for the hear and now. It looks like Peter’s expectation is that Jesus will seize the throne and make Peter part of his inner circle. He is so enamoured with this idea, that he’s incapable of considering that God might have an agenda that goes beyond this life. So Peter and the Sadducees are so focused on this world, that they don’t see the alternative.

C. Jesus’ Alternative to the Sadducees

What is the alternative? Jesus shows us. Continuing where we left off, we read, “Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it” (Mark 8:34–35, NLT). Jesus focuses his attention on the age to come. Because he is focused on that age, he’s willing to sacrifice even his own life, trusting that God rewards him for doing that.

The Sadducees’ temptation, their kingdom of this world focus, can easily trap us too. For many of us, this life is pretty comfortable, and the kingdom of God seems like an abstraction in which we’re not sure we can trust. As a result, we can focus on making this life better and so lose track of the life God promises to us, and we become unwilling to make the sacrifices a kingdom-focused life requires.

The way that we combat this is to realign our imaginations so that we, like Jesus, have a kingdom-of-God focus. We pray the Lord’s prayer, “Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” We resist the temptation to set our hopes on things in this world, asking God to help us focus on his kingdom, so we become willing to make sacrifices here. We become so heavenly minded—so captured by the vision of God’s promised future—that we actually become earthly good.

II. The Pharisees

A. Who Were the Pharisees?

The second group I want to look at are the Pharisees. They were a lay-holiness movement, so they didn’t have the institutional power of the Sadducees. At the same time, though, they were highly regarded by many of the people for their impressive piety.

The Pharisees believed that the Roman occupation was happening because the Israelites weren’t being faithful enough to the Jewish law. They reasoned that if everyone were as faithful as they were, God would send the Messiah, and inaugurate his kingdom So when they looked around, they saw themselves as the solution, and everyone else—the tax collectors, the prostitutes, and the unwashed sinners—as the problem. In short, the Pharisees’ besetting sin was hubris.

Jesus tells a parable about a Pharisee that illustrates the pride that he sees in them:

“Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a despised tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer: ‘I thank you, God, that I am not like other people—cheaters, sinners, adulterers. I’m certainly not like that tax collector! I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income.’ 

“But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’ I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted” (Luke 18:10–14, NLT).

The Pharisee in Jesus’ story felt so proud of his piety he was incapable of seeing his need for God’s mercy, so he never humbled himself to ask for it.

B. The Pharisaical Temptation

But just as the Sadducees didn’t have the corner on the market of this-worldly thinking, so the Pharisees aren’t the only ones who struggle with pride. The disciples do too. A story that illustrates this point happens immediately after Jesus predicts his humiliation and death for a second time.

After they arrived at Capernaum and settled in a house, Jesus asked his disciples, “What were you discussing out on the road?” But they didn’t answer, because they had been arguing about which of them was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve disciples over to him, and said, “Whoever wants to be first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else” (Mark 9:33–35, NLT).

The Pharisees’ pride may be toxic, but, if we’re honest, it’s easy for us to fall into too.

C. Jesus’ Alternative to the Pharisees

The disciples’ argument about who was the greatest stands in shocking contrast to Jesus, who showed a willingness to humble himself to death. Jesus doesn’t concern himself with how he looks to others, but instead focuses on obedience to God, not matter the cost.

If we’re honest, we struggle to follow Jesus’ example of humility. Pride comes more naturally. We might look at other Christian groups and see them as the problem. We look down at unbelievers as if our beliefs make us morally superior. Jesus shows us that the Kingdom isn’t compatible with hubris. Instead, he models the way of humility. To follow him we must humble ourselves before God to receive grace, embracing a humble life that might not look like much to people, but is impressive to God. Remember, we follow a God who expresses his heart by humbly dying a shameful death to save us. So let’s remember to follow Jesus’ example of seeking the lowest place.

III. The Zealots

A. Who Were the Zealots?

Third group are the Zealots, an offshoot of the Pharisees who were willing to employ violence in pursuit of God’s kingdom. As an ideology, the Zealotry was born because of taxes. Judas the Galilean said that paying taxes to Rome was the same thing as slavery, so he told the people to resist. That ended with Judas and his followers being crucified, but a violent nationalist ideology was born, and it found fertile soil in the resentments of the Jews living under occupation.

The Zealots’ beliefs grew out of Jewish national humiliation. It’s not unusual for people who feel like they’ve been humiliated to long for violent revenge as a means of regaining a sense of agency. This is the same psychology that produces many Islamists today.

The Zealots believed that while Rome had a large and powerful army, if they could be drawn into war, that God would fight on the Jews’ side. So they tried to pick fights with Rome. But Jesus knows that this doesn’t lead to freedom, but to destruction. That’s the reason why Jesus weeps over Jerusalem in Luke’s account of the triumphal entry:

But as he came closer to Jerusalem and saw the city ahead, he began to weep. “How I wish today that you of all people would understand the way to peace. But now it is too late, and peace is hidden from your eyes. Before long your enemies will build ramparts against your walls and encircle you and close in on you from every side. They will crush you into the ground, and your children with you. Your enemies will not leave a single stone in place, because you did not recognize it when God visited you” (Luke 19:41–44, NLT).

If the Zealots would humble themselves and pursue reconciliation, The Jews could have lived in peace, but instead, their assumption about what pleased God led them to pursue a disastrous policy of jihad, that ended with Jerusalem in ruins, many of its inhabitants dead, and the survivors exiled all over the Roman Empire in a new exile.

B. The Zealot Temptation

But—and you may be seeing a pattern here—the Zealots weren’t the only ones who felt that violence might be necessary to bring about God’s kingdom. We see this in one of the disciples’ response when the crowd comes to arrest Jesus. He draws a sword and cuts off someone’s ear, and Jesus rebukes them.

Jesus said, “My friend [Judas], go ahead and do what you have come for.” [betraying Jesus] 

Then the others grabbed Jesus and arrested him. But one of the men with Jesus pulled out his sword and struck the high priest’s slave, slashing off his ear. 

“Put away your sword,” Jesus told him. “Those who use the sword will die by the sword. (Matthew 26:50–52, NLT)

This disciple (revealed to be Peter in John’s account), must know that Jesus calls on him to love his enemies, but when Jesus is threatened, Peter threw out that teaching in favour of force.

This is a temptation for Christians today who, seeing the rising tide of secularism, feel justified in lashing out. Perhaps they use physical violence, but more often with political coercion. Many excuse their desire to humiliate and dominate those who reject the kingdom because they are pursing ‘noble goals.’ But how do we bring about God’s reign on earth (which is about obeying him) by doing what he says not to do? We cannot receive God’s kingdom by rejecting it.

C. Jesus’ Alternative to the Zealots

Jesus rejects the myth of redemptive violence, instead embracing a life of radical reconciliation. As Jesus says, “Love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, offer the other cheek also. … Do to others as you would like them to do to you” (Luke 6:27–29, 31, NLT). Jesus could call down legions of angels to smite his opponents. But, he refuses the way of violence, absorbing the hatred and violence of sinful humanity, thus nullifying it.

We can’t fight for God’s kingdom, because by engaging in that battle, we lose the war. So how do we rightly respond in the face of this temptation? As Jesus say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who hurt you. Our every inclination may scream against these commands, but its only as we learn to faithfully do them that God’s power is unleashed in the church. So start small. Chose to let go of slights and insults. Resolve to do some small kindness for people you don’t like very much. As you master these small things, you’ll grow your capacity to do the big things that Jesus requires.

The Zealots got off track because they allowed themselves to be captured by their rage, but Jesus shows that God responds to injustice not with rage, but with reconciliation.

IV. The Essenes

A. Who Were the Essenes?

I’m going to guess that while you’ve likely heard of Pharisees, Sadducees and Zealots, you may never have heard of the Essenes. They were the communities that produced the Dead Sea Scrolls. The reason they are so obscure is that they don’t appear in the New Testament.

The Essenes were so disgusted by the compromises of the priests to the Romans that they declared the temple system invalid. They left Jerusalem altogether, forming communities in the wilderness From there they awaited the outpouring of God’s wrath on their fellow Jews, like Jonah, sitting outside Nineveh, waiting for the fireworks to begin.

The Essenes practiced as ascetic form of faith that emphasized frugality, justice and piety. No fault for that, but they lived their life in isolation, saying, with their actions, “The rest of you can just go to hell”. They loved God, but that didn’t feel the same way about the people God loves.

B. The Essenes’ Temptation

This attitude of disengagement was something the disciples were also capable of. In Luke we read this story when Jesus begins his journey to Jerusalem in advance of Easter and he tries to stop in Samaria.

As the time drew near for him to ascend to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. He sent messengers ahead to a Samaritan village to prepare for his arrival. But the people of the village did not welcome Jesus because he was on his way to Jerusalem. When James and John saw this, they said to Jesus, “Lord, should we call down fire from heaven to burn them up?” 55 But Jesus turned and rebuked them (Luke 9:51–55, NLT).

James and John were a captured by the same prejudices against Samaritans that were common in their culture. They assumed Samaritans were irredeemable heretics. When the Samaritans refused them hospitality, James and John’s response is to write them off. But Jesus understands the Samaritans are working through their own prejudices too. To them, Jesus is just another Jewish religious pilgrim trying to get through their territory as fast as they can to go worship at what they thought was an illegitimate temple in Jerusalem.

Even though they didn’t receive Jesus at the time, when we look at how they respond to the Apostles’ message in Acts, we can see that the Samaritans weren’t as far from God as James and John assumed. James and John and eager to see God judge the Samaritans, but God, it turns out, would rather forgive and transform sinners than destroy them.

James and John and the Essenes failed to love those who didn’t live up to their expectations, so they withdrew, leaving those they saw as sinners to their own fate. Their actions are not all that dissimilar to those of our Anabaptist forebears. After the savage persecution that European Anabaptists faced, when they came to North America they tended to build isolated communities. This protected them from persecution, but it also stopped them from actively loving outsiders. We were content to reserve God’s love for us, keeping that love from those we assumed were outsiders.

C. Jesus’ Alternative to the Essenes

In Jesus, we see the alternative. Even when we turned our back on God, and he pursued us: “So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son (John 1:14, NLT). The Essenes’ besetting sin was indifference. But Jesus shows us the way of incarnation.

We practice the way of incarnation by being God’s loving and saving presence in the places we live. Our community, like every community, is hurting and broken. We can hide from the brokenness, and so keep ourselves feeling clean and safe, but the example Jesus gives us is to wade out into the brokenness. To live incarnationally, we must live differently—demonstrating God’s holiness—but not separately. As we incarnate God’s presence, we allow others to see past their misconceptions and see who God really is, because Christians are the only Jesus most non Christians will ever see.

Conclusion

If the gospels were a Hollywood summer blockbuster, these groups of antagonists would be destroyed and the true good guys would be vindicated. But the problem is that the same wickedness that infects the characters we think of as the bad guys, also lives in the characters we think are the good guys, and, if we’re honest, those flaws are a part of us too. The Pharisees, the Sadducees and the rest are a mirror that the gospel writers are holding up to themselves, and to us, showing that even when we try to follow God, we can still mess up. Only Jesus gets it right.

This has two major implications. The first, of course, is that we cannot save ourselves. No matter how much we throw ourselves into being religious, we can still fall short. This ought to give us a profound humility, because we realize it’s only because of God’s great love for us, that we can be made right with God. In Jesus, God reaches out for us, because all of our attempts to reach out to him fall short in spectacular ways, as the characters in our story demonstrates.

The second implication is that we must continually examine our hearts. Certainty in our righteousness does not guarantee we’ll get it right. Actually, it guarantees we will fail. We can be certain in God, in his mercy in his love. But while we can trust God, we can’t trust ourselves. 

Understanding our own fallenness changes our posture towards God. It makes us humble and receptive to God’s correction. We have nothing to prove, and we can trust that he sees our worst, and still loves us anyway. But this knowledge also changes our outlook towards others. We can be patient with others’ failings because we see in ourselves the capacity for the same failure.

I don’t say this because I want us to go around feeling like worms. The point is that if we recognize that we can fail like the Sadducees, Pharisees, Zealots or Essenes. If we understand this, we can be wary of the same sins We can see them starting to take root, and nip them in the bud, before they have a chance to flower into something more harmful.

The stories we read in the Scriptures may make us feel the bite of conviction in the short term, but the goal is never for us to stay there, but for us to find a better way, the way that leads to greater satisfaction, to greater fulfillment, to greater belonging. God is always leading us on the journey that leads to life.