THE RELIGIOUS AMBIENCE OF ISRAEL AT THE TIME OF JESUS

The Gospels and the Qumran documents reveal that there was, at Jesus' time, a certain religious dispute in Israel. The main groups vied for disagreeing among themselves on the interpretation of the Scriptures. It was these conflicting and misleading visions that led to the incomprehension of the person of Christ and to the appearance of a plot to kill Him (Matthew 26.3,4; Mark3.6). Such texts show that people, even religious, who put their opinions and interests above their love for God and neighbor, become cruel and turn their faith into an oppressive and prejudiced system (John 7:19).

Among the various religious groups, the Sadducees stood out, representing the richest and most sophisticated classes. They were worldly, given to politics, and theologically unorthodox: they denied the resurrection and the existence of angels and spirits (Acts 23: 8). By accepting only the five books of Moses and rejecting the oral tradition (Matt. 15: 2) they had a confrontational stance with the Pharisees and the common piety of the people. But even so, its members came from the priestly line and controlled the temple.

Another important segment was that of the Pharisees, many of whom were teachers of the law. They were reputed to keep strictly the Law of Moses and the tradition of the elders. Jesus, on many occasions, called them hypocrites: "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs: beautiful on the outside, but inside they are full of bones and all kinds of filthiness "(Mt 23:27). They were typical religious who expressed false spirituality. Unlike the Sadducees, they believed in angels, in the resurrection, and nurtured a messianic hope.

There were still the Essenes, according to documents found in 1947, in the Dead Sea region. They completely turned away from the worship of the temple and the synagogues to devote themselves to a much purer and more rigorous piety. They considered themselves the "remnant" who practiced true worship of God. In the concept of their holiness, they did not accept in the community people with physical defects and weak old people who could not stand in the assembly of the "saints". Their zeal preserved manuscripts of almost all of the texts of the Old Testament.

For this reason, the preaching of Jesus caused a scandal for these religious of his time, since it presented a subversive character in revealing a God who wants to deal not with those who are holy and worthy but with sinners (Mark 2: 16,17 ). Jesus, unlike them, approached and walked with those whom they considered to be sinners and impure. Blinded by dead religiosity, they did not realize that salvation is by divine grace and that nothing we do is so high as to make us worthy of God. It is as Isaiah said: "all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away". God, however, receives us when we acknowledge our weakness and give ourselves to Him. 

Antônio Maia – M.Div.

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