"(which is the sect of the Sadducees)" (Acts 5:17)

The Pharisees and Sadducees by james Tissot

******

INSPIRED PARENTHESES (8)
"(which is the sect of the Sadducees)" (Acts 5:17)

WHAT made Luke insert this information that the ruling clique in Jerusalem were Sadducees? In the Gospels the Sadducees are lumped together with the Pharisees as opponents of Jesus, with the one discrimination that their incredulity over the matter of resurrection made them invent a grotesque story about a woman who had outlived seven husbands. The stratagem misfired; the Lord soon put them right by clarifying the divine truth on this subject from the very books of Moses which they professed to revere. From the Bible, therefore, we have information concerning the Sadducees' denial of resurrection. Later on Luke will amplify his information about them by commenting that: "the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel nor spirit" (Acts 23:8). At this point, though, he simply inserts this brief parenthesis to let us know that it was to this sect that the high priest and his confederates belonged.

We might be slightly interested to know this, but only slightly. It hardly seems a matter of much concern, since we know that both Sadducees and Pharisees were sworn enemies of the gospel. We do right, however, to give the matter some consideration since Luke must have felt impelled to put this in the divine record. He would not do so merely as a matter of passing interest, for the Bible never sets out to interest or inform us but rather to give us spiritual instruction. So I repeat: Why did Luke put in this bracketed phrase?

FIRST of all, perhaps, to assure us that Peter and his companions were not prepared to compromise about their message: "They proclaimed in Jesus the resurrection from the dead". Neither for self preservation nor in an attempt to make their gospel more acceptable, would they lessen their stress on this one point. They knew -- none better -- that the very mention of resurrection would provoke Annas, Caiaphas and their group into a frenzy of hatred against them.

It might be thought that they could have been more tactful, contenting themselves for the moment with references to the teachings of Jesus, or His miracles, or the attractiveness of His life and the dignity of His behaviour at death. This is the kind of approach often made by messengers of the gospel who feel the importance of not antagonising one's hearers. The apostles would have none of this. Whether Sadducees liked talk about resurrection or not, they fearlessly announced it, not as a theory but a fact -- Jesus had risen from the dead. So it may be that Luke inserted this reminder of what the opposition stood for to throw further light on the courageous way in which Peter and the others faced their adversaries.

Two things made the apostles very bold. One of these was the fullness of the Holy Spirit within them. The Spirit always works on the basis of resurrection. The other was the certainty that these top influential men, in spite of all their powers, were completely unable to justify their position by producing the dead body of Jesus. There was no dead body. Perhaps that very fact explains the highly emotional state of the rulers.

THERE is another and perhaps rather amusing implication in the parenthetical remark of Luke's. God released His servants by means of those very angels whose existence the Sadducees so strenuously denied. It was as though God resolved to expose their nonsense by making use of one of those very angelic beings to mock the authority of the Sadducees. The high priestly party scoffed at the idea of angels; yet it only needed one of these spirit-beings to open the prison doors and set their victims free. If the disciples had a sense of humour this must have appealed to it, and if angels have a sense of humour too, then this one must have found peculiar pleasure in proving so dramatically that after all he did exist.

One angel; and the prison doors were opened! Not that the prisoners were set free for flight. No, they were sent back again to the temple to renew their testimony to the risen Lord Jesus. And when they were once more apprehended and brought face to face with the high priest himself, they pressed home the truth: "The God of our fathers raised up Jesus", Resurrection always means that God has the last word.

----------------