The Week That Changed The World: The Day Jesus Silenced The Skeptics Series

There were two main bodies of religious teachers who operated during the time of Jesus until the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. They each had their respective spheres of influence in Jewish society and beliefs. Scripture gives more attention to the Pharisees, and not in a good light as they continually clashed with the Lord Jesus throughout all four Gospels over the issue of real worship and devotion to God as compared to traditions, rules, and rituals they practiced that came to be identified with worship and faith in Judea. Outwardly the Pharisees were orthodox and what we would refer to as "conservative" when it came to the issue of the Bible and its teachings. They believed all Scripture was inspired of God, the resurrection of the righteous dead and the punishment of the wicked at the last day, the existence of both angels and demons, and the promise of the coming Messiah of God proclaimed by the prophets. They had originally been established as a group of men who returned to Judea after the exile, dedicating themselves to living a holy life consecrated to God and the study of His Word. In light of the idolatry and wickedness that had driven the nation of Israel into exile by Babylon, these men were determined that such behavior never happened in the life of the Jewish nation again. During the time of the Intertestamental Period, lasting four hundred years, many Pharisees were martyred for standing against what they saw as pagan influences being forced on the Jews by rulers such as Antiochus IV, the Seleucid ruler of Syria who was a fanatic about bringing everyone under Greek influence.

These were noble and godly actions, but they also fell into the trap of allowing interpretations of the Scriptures by a succession of teachers to be more important than the Scriptures themselves. Meticulous attention was given to issues such as restrictions one had to follow in order to properly observe the Sabbath, or how to wash oneself in preparation for rituals, or prayers in public, or the wearing of certain items of clothing as a way of appearing pious and devout, or the method of handling wives and women in society, the shunning of those they saw as "vile sinners", and making the worship of God a task and chore of which the Jews came to detest and fear instead of a time of reverence and rest as the Sabbath was designed. By the time of Jesus' arrival, they had turned into a fanatical cabal of religious elites whose hypocritical lives and manners were fixed on traditions, rituals, rote worship, and emotionless devotions, prayers, and the reading of Scripture as a chore and not a blessing (Matthew 3:7, 15:1, 16:1, 19:3, 23:2; Luke 7:30, 18:10; Acts 5:34, 21:6). It is worth noting that when the Pharisees clashed with the Lord on varied issues, they used tradition to justify their actions, while Jesus used the Word of God with reverence and authority for which the people hungered. They flocked to Him for teachings that were not based on the endless opinions of the Pharisees. Little wonder that these "whitewashed tombs" hated and reviled the LORD. Their hatred came to a point where they wanted Him dead and forgotten. He was breaking their grip over the people and this was not acceptable.

The other group with whom Jesus had conflict were the polar opposites when it came to issues such as the entirety of Scripture, the afterlife, the resurrection, and the angelic and demonic world. They were known as the Sadducees and not given as much attention in Scripture as were their conservative rivals for the attention of the people of Israel (Matt. 3:7, 16:1, 6, 11, 22:23-24; Mark 12:18; Luke 20:27; Acts 4:1, 5:17, 23:8). They tended to be materialistic, denying the resurrection, the afterlife, a final judgment, the traditions of the elders, the existence of angels and demons, and that only the first five books of Moses were authentic Scripture and nothing else. Any rewards you received from God were in this life. The question I would ask them is why do you even bother to serve God? Sadducee belief is a philosophy of nothingness. What good is that? They would play a mind game with the Pharisees on the issue of the resurrection by asking them a frankly ridiculous question over an equally ridiculous situation (Mark 12:18-23), done solely to confound them and be able to give a satisfactory answer or a defense of their position on this issue. It would seem that their point of view would be more logical and ultimately acceptable to the public and have the Pharisees abandon the beliefs they held. This seems to be a common attitude of religious liberalism. They believe their opinion is superior over others and that traditional, Biblical, or any related standards are mocked and derided as being outdated, useless, and a relic of ancient thinking best left abandoned.