Category Archives: Passover to Pentecost

Jesus Knew and Told the Disciples 

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Jesus knew He was to be sacrificed and told His disciples about it frequently. If you want to do your own study, I used search words like: reject, suffer, third day, decay, raised, resurrect, crucify (ide), deliver, and lifted up. These are NIV words, so KJV and other translations may be different. After much thought, I am going to list references and clues of the verses from the different writers. Yes, there will be an overlap in the stories or settings, but I hope this is the best way to make a reference work. A separate post on “God Raised” is in the works and will follow very soon.

Christians, writers, and moviemakers all seem to have an opinion about the disciples and how they act at Jesus’ last Passover. I will say this the matter of His crucifixion was not a hidden topic, Jesus taught them. He also said several times that the disciples were to go to Galilee and the mountain after He was killed. It took them a while to act on that also; even after two personal visits from our risen Lord. To be fair, I am not sure I would have been any better.

Matthew  

  • 16:21 – This is the tell all of the predication verses. They are in Caesarea Philippi (north of Lake Galilee) and Jesus ask the disciples who He is? Jesus clearly states He will be killed by the Sanhedrin and three days later He will rise to life again. The group travels to the “mountain of transfiguration”.  
  • 17:9 – Jesus, Peter, James, and John are in the presence of Moses and Elijah during the transfiguration. They were coming down and the disciples were told not to speak of this until He has been raised from the dead. 
  • 17:22,23 – There may have been some R and R because they come together in Galilee and Jesus adds that He will be betrayed (delivered), killed, and rise in three days. They are going to the East Bank to prepare for the trip into Jerusalem and Passover.
  • 20:18,19 – On the East Bank, Jesus teaches about the kingdom and adds that He will be handed over to the Gentiles (Romans) mocked, beaten, and crucified before being dead three days and coming back to life.
  • 21:42 – Jesus quotes Psalm 118 in His silencing of the leaders. On the Temple Mount, who were challenging His authority. This is about the stone being rejected but it was needed to build the Temple. 
  • 26:2 – This is the same day, Tuesday of Holy Week, and Jesus and the disciples are on the Mount of Olives. He has given them a series of parables on the kingdom and the end times. He tells them His death will be in two days. 
  • 27:64 – Even the Sanhedrin knew Jesus had prophesied that He would be killed and raised to life in three days. The leaders were talking to Pilate. 

Mark

  • 8:31 – This is the same as Matthew 16.
  • 9:12 – The same as Matthew 17:9.
  • 9:31 –   The same as Matthew 17:22,23.
  • 10:33,34 – The same as Matthew 20:18,19.
  • 12:10 – The same as Matthew 21:42.

Luke 

  • 9:22 – The same as Matthew 16. SEE PSALM 88 + 89.
  • 9:44 – The same as Matthew 17:9. Luke changes or adds that Jesus told all of the disciples after the boy was healed, but the meaning was hidden from them.
  • 13:32 – No one else has this story. Jesus has been told that Herod (the fox) is looking for Him. The reply is that He will reach His goal on the third day.
  • 17:25 – This is with several teachings about the kingdom and end times. Jesus uses Noah and Lot as comparisons to how it will be.
  • 18:32,33 – The same as Matthew 20:18,19 or at least set on the east bank or Mount of Olives.
  • 20:17 – The same as Matthew 21:42.
  • 24:7 and 24:46 are given after the fact. 24:46 says that He opened their minds to understand what happened.

John 

In keeping with John’s mission to show Jesus as the Son of God many of his references are out of the above timeline. He also likes the phrase “lifted up” because it identifies with Moses.

  • 2:22 – This is more about the disciples believing the scriptures about Jesus’ death.
  • 3:14 – Jesus talking to Nicodemus about Moses’ bronze serpent.
  • 8:28 – Jesus is talking to Pharisees and says He will be lifted up then they will know the father spoke to Him.
  • 12:32 + 34 – A voice from heaven had spoken and said He would die and bring people to Him. The crowd then questions why the Messiah would die.

Some of the Scriptures that are about Jesus’ suffering, death, and rising to new life.

  • Psalm 16:10
  • Psalm 49:9
  • Psalm 22:24
  • Psalm 42:10
  • Psalm 55:3
  • Psalm 88:15
  • Psalm 119: 50 + 107 +153
  • Then there are the types and shadows of Jonah, Joseph, and Isaac. 

The Sermons on Two Mounts-Son of Man

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As Jesus preached His sermons on the mounts, He said things to trigger responses from the audiences. One from the Mount of Olives was “son of man”. The Chosen series uses the phrase a lot, just as Jesus did according to the four Gospels. The Chosen, however, shows a very irate response from the Pharisees. Why was this so infuriating to them? A point for me to ponder from Tuesday of Holy Week is that Jesus did not use “son of man” on the Temple Mount. He said other things that I would label as “fighting words”-

  • The Parable of the Two Sons and the landowner’s vineyard were against the religious rulers, and they knew it. Matthew 21:45-46.
  • Matthew 22:18 Jesus called them hypocrites.
  • 22:29-32 Jesus said they were in error and did not know the Scriptures.
  • Matthew 23-the seven woes and denouncing the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law. That would include the Sadducees. Part of the woes is 23:33, where the leaders are called snakes and vipers.

Son of Man—On the Mount of Olives (Matthew 24 -26:1 NIV) Jesus refers to Himself eight times as the Son of Man. The Chosen referenced Daniel 7:13 as the verse for the son of man as the Messiah. A genuine issue with this term is that it refers to the Messiah and to sons born to women (Daniel and Ezekiel are just a few). Because of my study about the Kingdom, I came to this conclusion a while ago-The Son of God became a son of man, so that children of man can become sons of God. Because Jesus’ blood covers us, all the Father sees when He looks at us is Jesus.

This study will not have many of the types and shadows that reveal Jesus, like Joseph, carrying the wood to the sacrifice. My study of Water and Blood led me to the beginning.

Messiah

  • Genesis 3:15 Her (Eve) offspring will crush the head of the serpent.
  • Isaiah 9:6 A child is born to us; a son was given, and the government was his. He would have the names of Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace.
  • Isaiah 11:1 A shoot or Branch would come from Jesse and bear fruit. The Spirit would rest upon Him. 
  • Psalm 80:17 The son of man that was raised up would be at the right hand of God. 
  • Daniel 7:13 The son of man was on the clouds of heaven being led into the presence of the Ancient of Days.
  • Acts 7:56 Stephen looks up and sees heaven, with the Son of Man (Jesus) at the right hand of God. Think why the Sanhedrin was mad-Jesus and His miracles, Pentecost, and the Apostles doing miracles.
  • Revelations 1:13, 12:5,14:14 All references to the son of man or male child being the ruler. 
  • Hebrews 2:6 is a reference to Jesus being a son of man.

Men 

  • Daniel 8:17 refers to Daniel himself.
  • Ezekiel has over ninety times God calls him the son of man. 
  • Psalm 90:3 sons of men returning to dust (by Moses).

Water and Blood in Passover and Easter

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Water and blood are key elements in the “Passover to freedom” story and in the Easter story. Their connection with the act of birthing was also poured into this study. This inquiry sprung out of the writings of John the Apostle. John was a young fisherman, who got the title of “Son of Thunder”, and reported seeing blood and water flowing from Jesus’ side (John 19:34), he had the love and the bravery to be at the cross when others did not. 1 John 5 has this theme discussed in verses 26-28 when he links to water, blood, and Spirit agreeing about Jesus and His coming. The birthing connection is in verse 26 where it states-He did not come by water only, but by water and blood (NIV). The “come by water only” statement needed investigating. I have heard and read dramatic preachers get graphic, and probably a little weird, on this topic. I will try to keep it in good taste and leave the drama out, but just list facts with a few opinions.

The “coming of water” is normally linked to His birth through Mary. But looking at the whole story and history of Passover it just seems like Mary in a stable is not the only “birth” experience. There are many verses that highlight women and birthing in the Bible. Even the trip through the Red Sea is viewed as a birthing experience because Israel was freed as a nation on the other side. The water and the path of dry ground provide some of the imagery, but I would add the dead Egyptians were the “blood” in this story. The water and blood of the Nile River (Exodus 7:17) also gave birth to freedom over the Egyptian gods. The blood on the doorpost needs to be added into this scenario, but here God is passing through the land taking out the cult of the firstborn. So, Jesus’ Christmas arrival is important, but in view of His mission to bring together God’s plan, He had other water and blood experiences. His baptism in the Jordan by John and His blood poured out by the Jews and Romans is the major one. I can narrow His trip through the Jordan even closer to Passover because in Matthew 19 He is on the east bank of the river and had to pass through the water to get to Jerusalem. This same route was also taken by Joshua, David, and Elisha who are types and shadows of Jesus.     

ATONEMENT, BORN AGAIN, and BIRTHING

The three elements in 1 John are not always together in a story or verse. That does not nullify their importance in any particular story or verse.

Atonement – Atonement is because of sacrifice and those, especially in the Old Testament, normally have blood and water involved in the ceremony. You may not agree with some of these, that is fine. Please let me know why. I will list some examples of “water and blood” before the Law was given. It is possible that there is some stretching in these:).

  • Genesis 3:21 – God made them clothes of skins (some sheep died) and those may have been washed in the river in the Garden.
  • Genesis 6 – People and animals died by water in Noah’s Flood. The Flood cleansed the world.

Water and blood are parts of many specific sacrifices in the Law. The ones I want to highlight are in Leviticus 14: 6 and 51. These are birds (doves or young pigeons) that are being killed over a jar of water. The water and blood mixture then has the bird, hyssop, scarlet yarn, and cedarwood dipped in it. On a practical note, the yarn and hyssop probably made a “brush” to deliver the sprinkled water onto the thing being atoned. The other metaphors are the bird being the Spirit, cedarwood maybe the cross and it makes it fragrant, hyssop was used at the cross with the wine vinegar, and the yarn could represent Jesus’ body. 

Hebrews 9: 19 (NIV) also has these elements- When Moses had proclaimed every command of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. And Hebrews 9:22 (NIV) brings these thoughts together- In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

Birthing – Birthing and baptism may overlap depending on how you read the story. Someone higher than my paygrade made it that way, sort it out as needed, and talk to Him.   

The waters of Creation (Genesis 1:2), the Red Sea, and Joshua crossing the Jordan can be birthing examples. The blood in the Red Sea and at the Jordan were people dying-Egyptian army, first-born, and the peoples of Jericho and Ai. At a Jewish Passover celebration, they give honor to the crossings by mixing wine and water together in the four cups they drink during the meal.

Ezekiel 16 is an allegory of Israel’s birth and its rejection by the world and how God claimed her, and then how she ignored God. 

Waiting is a part of birthing. The child has to grow inside of the mother. She gets to feel the movement of the baby and she experiences changes. As a father, I got to watch those changes, but I could not feel my wife’s discomfort and pain. Time is part of birthing stories- 430 years for the Red Sea, 40 years for crossing the Jordan, and Mary had the nine months waiting for Jesus. 

Born Again – The story of Jesus and Nicodemus in John 3 is the cornerstone of teaching for the born-again experience. Other New Testament references for the born-again experience are: 

  • 1 Peter 1:23 where the seed is the living and enduring word of God.
  • Ephesians 5:26 Christ gave Himself for the Church and cleansed her by washing with water through the Word. 
  • Titus 3:5 Jesus saved us through washing of rebirth and renewal of the Holy Spirit.
  • Romans 12:1+2 Part of this Rebirth is offering ourselves as a sacrifice in spiritual worship and being transformed and renewed in our mind.  
  • Colossians 3:9+10 We have put on “the new self” and it is being renewed in knowledge of its Creator (NIV). 

A thing that is apparent is that the Father likes, what we call “types and shadows”, to announce in His first covenant what will be in the second covenant. In the “birthing’ section are many examples that show baptism-Noah’s Flood, Red Sea, crossing the Jordan. So, I had to look for a rebirth shadow, which often looks like a birthing shadow. I so wanted to use Joseph coming before Pharaoh as a rebirth example. The issue was he was shaved and changed his clothes, but no water was mentioned. Those two acts are more associated with ending the Nazirite vow. (Shaving has become a whole other topic.) If I may, here is what I think shows rebirth, with water, and the cry from people’s hearts for the “re” experience.

  • Jonah being thrown into the sea, changing, and finishing his mission. (Granted he had a bad attitude.)
  • Naaman and Elisha in 2 Kings 5:13+14; Naaman was cleansed by the water and left changed.
  • Asaph in Psalm 80 ask three times to be restored to God. Okay, we can play with the translation of Hebrew into English but the sentiment is there. 
  • David in Psalm 51:10 (NIV) Create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit in me.
  • Isaiah 40:31 Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.
  • Jeremiah in Lamentation 5:21 Restore us so we can return and renew our days.

That is a lot of “re” but to have a rebirth, or be renewed, or restored we had to have some measure of those things before. Matthew 12:35 (NIV) gives us a glimpse- A good man brings good things out of the good stored in him.  

There are other mentions of water and blood in the Bible. I tried to keep this post about Passover and Easter and the topics that water and blood are a part of in our redemption story. 

This is a good article from the Jewish perspective, on natural and metaphorically birth.

article

Giving Birth
Giving Birth

The Sermons on Two Mounts- Stone, Rock, or Cornerstone 

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When Jesus was doing His “sermons” from the two mounts, He talked about stones twice. He referenced one prophecy that was being fulfilled and made a prophecy that happened forty years later. Jesus built His first lesson, starting with John the Baptist, laid a platform of parables about the kingdom, and finishes His fortress with a combination of Psalm 118:22 and Isaiah 28:16. These two lessons started His time (Matthew 21:42) on the Temple Mount and finished His day there (Matthew 24:2). He references a mistake the builders of the first Temple made with the cornerstone and how they corrected the mistake to finish the building, and foretold that the stones of the Temple would be torn down.

We love to throw the imagery of Jesus being our rock, fortress, refuge, foundation, and stronghold around (Psalm 18:2) but places that inspired David and others to use those thoughts would add reality to their words. The rocks or mountains in the Negev and the desert west and south of the Dead Sea hold the key. Masada is one such place that clearly shows what David was envisioning when he penned his praises to God. These tall rugged mountains often stand proud, surrounded by plains that afford good views of the land.

Stone or Rock—We moderns have broken the meaning of rock and stone and cemented them into a slurry of inappropriate use. In doing this, we lose some of the meaning of rock and handle the term stone with less importance. Because of my science background, I will admit the materials I am talking about have the same origin. The difference rests in where they are and if a man has done anything to them. What I see in Scripture is rocks are anchored in the ground and not moved by man, while stones, by human efforts, are dug free, cut out, or picked up and handled. Before you think I have fallen and hit my head on a rock, or someone threw a stone at me, let me give some examples.

  • Matthew 27:60-Jesus was laid in a new tomb cut into rock (petra) and they rolled a large stone (lithos) into the entrance.
  • Matthew 7:24-the wise builder dug down and built his house on rock.
  • Psalm 118:22- the stone that the builders rejected became the cornerstone.  

Rocks—David was around rocks. He sat on them as a shepherd and hid among them as a fugitive. He also picked up stones to throw in his sling. So, for him to take the poetic leap and see the qualities of God is not a huge jump. His heart and his creative nature as a songwriter/musician saw their qualities as a reflection of God’s love, care, and protection for him and Israel. There are many times the terms rock, refuge, and fortress appear in the same verse. I will list some but use a concordance or search tool to help you study.

David and the Psalmist use rocks, but so do the prophets. These are from the NIV. Your favorite version may use other terms.

Psalm 31:2

Turn your ear to me, come quickly to my rescue; be my rock of refuge, a strong fortress to save me.

Psalm 62:2

Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.

Psalm 71:3

Be my rock of refuge, to which I can always go; give the command to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.

Psalm 91:2

I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”

Isaiah 17:10

You have forgotten God your Savior; you have not remembered the Rock, your fortress.

            I will highlight Psalm 18:2– The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I like to think that David wrote that around the time of 1 Samuel 20:42 and then use part of it again in his opus work of 2 Samuel 22:2. David was running for his life, his world just collapsed and he pens a song to help remind himself who his God is. Psalm 18 pretty well covers David’s need for protection.

Stone—Rocks that are being useful to man are stone. There were gemstones in the breastplate that was made for the priest. David picked up stones to throw at Goliath. Rock was cut into stone water pots, blocks for buildings, thrown at people, and as memorials or markers. Depending on the translation you like Genesis 49:29 is the blessing to Joseph, and it says that I will be blessed because of the Hand of Shepherd and Stone/Rock of Israel. (I could not find a good Hebrew text that would clear that word up for me. Both terms are used in various translations).

Another type of stone that gets a lot of attention is the ones that become cornerstones. I have heard that the builders of Solomon’s Temple got a stone that they could not figure out where it belonged. In their frustration, they threw it away. They then complained that the cornerstone (the one that determined the angles and lines of the building) had not been sent. Psalm 118 tells the story that the one they rejected was that stone. They had to retrieve the stone. Jesus quotes that verse and Paul and Peter refer to Jesus as that stone. In Greek, the phrase is kephale gonia. I pieced together a loose translation of chief angle. Jesus is the chief stone that determined how His Church would be laid out and built.

Recap—Jesus is the Rock, who is our fortress and refuge, who became the Stone of Israel when He was born, and He became the Cornerstone of His Church. 

The Sermons on Two Mounts-Sadducees and Pharisees

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As Jesus was teaching, on the two mounts, on Tuesday of Holy Week, He had the Sadducees and Pharisees as antagonists and part of the audience. These adversaries challenged Him about doing miracles and His ride into Jerusalem and tried to trick Him so that the Herodians would have a reason to arrest Him. I introduced these groups in the post about Jesus’ audiences. But with all studies, my questions directed me to a deeper study of these two groups. Links to the Jewish Encyclopedia are below.

It seems lately that my studies move and challenge things I thought I knew. These two groups fit into that trend very well. The Sadducees and Pharisees were not the only sects of Judaism at the time of Jesus; I am aware of the Essences and the Zealots. I have gotten the idea that not only were these “denominations” but also “political parties” and together they determined lifestyles. Even though the common people may have been more aligned with the Pharisees and their practices, you just get the feeling that there were cast or definite lines drawn in the populations of Israel. So, it is no surprise that Jesus went to the people and not to the parties.

Specks vs Logs—To compare and contrast Judaism at the time of Jesus and Christian thought would lead to a lot of finger-pointing and other unproductive wastes of time. Jesus went to people because everyone in any party was not lost in the depths of the doctrine. The parables and teaching on Tuesday, on the mount, can be alarming when you realize that most of them focused on the religious of the day (Sadducees and Pharisees) and the end times.

As I read the articles in the Jewish Encyclopedia, it was easy to see the differences between the two groups. That is what I was looking for. The shared beliefs are no less important. Both groups honored the Temple, the Feasts, and the Torah. In reading the Gospels, it is also apparent they could work together when a threat presented itself. John the Baptist and Jesus may have drawn red flags from both sects.

John the Baptist—John wore the traditional garb of a prophet of Israel, skins of sheep, not fine flowing robes with blue trim. He called out the sins of the son of Herod. Those transgressions would have made his father proud. John’s pulpit and platform were the banks of the Jordan and the rocks of the desert, not the stones of the Temple that man had carved. The washing of people in the River was not the cleansings dictated by man, but celebrated the passing through of the Red Sea with Moses, the crossing into the promise with Joshua, and transferring the blessing with Elijah and Elisha. The words he spoke resonated through the land and his message prepared hearts for the kingdom to come. Crowds of common people flocked to John, they believed, repented, and were washed. The Pharisees, wanting approval, listened and did not believe, and John would not baptize them. That is why the Master Teacher answered the first challenge by the Sadducees and Pharisees on the Temple Mount with a question about John the Baptist.      

Sadducees—The core of this sect were the children of Levi through his son Aaron, Moses’ brother. They were wealthy. I have heard that the moneychangers and the inspected sacrifice business belonged to them. You could not use common money in the Temple. It had to be Temple money. “Flawless lambs” came from Bethlehem (the Christmas story) and they held sway over all of that. I found little about the Temple tax. There was a provision for taking care of the tent and walls of the sanctuary in the desert. My guess is that was the basis of that tax. The Jewish Encyclopedia says the Sadducees were the stricter of the two sects, being able to use Torah to dictate and interpret laws for their advantage while protecting their income and appearing holy was a win-win situation.

In Matthew 16:11+12 Jesus tells the disciples to beware of the yeast/teachings of the Sadducees and Pharisees. There are, in my opinion, two different yeast that wants to spread into our thinking. To me, the Sadducees used their position to fleece the sheep and become wealthy while downplaying the supernatural world. The Pharisees used their learning to box in their importance and then opposed anybody that was not part of THE sect.  

Acts 23:8 explains that the Sadducees did not believe in a resurrection or angels or spirits. Torah and the rest of the Hebrew Bible do not have the terms Sadducee, Pharisee, or resurrection in their pages, but there are angels in the Torah. Elisha (Jesus), who came after John the Baptist (Elijah) raised people from the dead. So, Jesus raising Lazarus in front of witnesses, just before Passover challenged both sects. 

When the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple, the priest, the sons of Aaron, no longer had a platform to wield power from, so they disappeared as a sect of Judaism. Herod the Great used Rome’s power to expand the Second Temple, so it is poetic that they tore it down. As part of his power, grab Herod installed Boethus, a brother-in-law, as Chief Priest. This move shifted power/control to him and revived the Sadducees. This was because of the power of the Pharisees over some things in the Temple.

Pharisees—I learned a lot from doing this study. Like the Sadducees, the Pharisees started after the Babylonian exile. Of the two sects, they were not as stern as the Sadducees and they were the progressives. The article below has several verses that may give a “priesthood” responsibility to every man in Israel, especially to teach his sons how to read. They did side with the people and became favored by them. The Pharisees introduced many of the customs we see Jesus taking part in. 

Once the Temple was destroyed, the synagogue took over as the focus of the spiritual life of the Jewish people. The Pharisees had started these community-centered places of worship.   

https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/12989-sadducees

https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/12087-pharisees

https://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/7605-herodians

https://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/3467-boethusians

https://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/13831-sofer     a scribe

The 1905 Jewish Encyclopedia, on the Pharisees, the article has a section about hypocrisy. They assert that the first text of many New Testament books had the word Sadducee replaced with the word Pharisee and that pro-Paul people did it. No, I have not checked that statement, but a few lines on these sects from the New Testament are in order. 

  • Paul seemed to be proud of his Pharisee up bring-Philippians 3:5 and Acts 26.
  • Matthew, Mark, and John also were influenced by Pharisees.
  • Jesus, as the Christ, had problems with how their great learning had clouded their thoughts and attitudes.
  • The Pharisees and Sadducees had a problem with Jesus because He was not one of them.
  • Not all Pharisees opposed Jesus-John 3:1 Nicodemus, Acts 5 Gamaliel, Luke 7:36-one had invited Jesus to dinner, but did not offer water to wash with.
  •  The Pharisees and Sadducees both had their own teachers of the law. (Mark 2:16, Luke 5:30) On some things they held to different views of the law. I had thought that the “teachers” would have been all Sadducees.
  • Matthew has eight times that he used Sadducee and Pharisee together in the same verse. Matthew and Luke talk the most about these two sects.
  • John the Baptist and his washings are referred to several times in the New Testament regarding these two sects. John 1:24 and Matthew 3:7 talk about them coming to John to be washed and John denied them. I have a feeling this was due to what John preached-repent, for the kingdom is near. In Luke 7:29-30, the common people received Jesus’ words because John had baptized them. The Pharisees and the experts (or lawyers, or scribes) who were not baptized did not accept Jesus.
  • The combinations of names and titles are interesting. Besides Pharisees and Sadducees, there are Herodians, chief priest, teachers of the law, and lawyers or scribes. These may vary because of your favorite translation. There are several times the combinations make little sense to me. The Herodians doing anything with the Pharisees (Mark 3:6 and 12:13) seem out of place. The chief priest agreeing with the Pharisees (John 11:47, 18:3) is also a question mark. Both sects had their own scribes or experts of the Law, and both had their own teachers of the Law. I will bet the meetings of the Sanhedrin were noisy affairs. 
  • The seven woes in Matthew 23, now, are not so cut and dry who Jesus was talking about. At first, I thought the teachers of the law were a code for Sadducee. Really, I still lean in that direction, but given the combinations that are in the Gospels that is now hazed over some.    

Signs and Common Sense—The interaction of Jesus with religious leaders outside of Jerusalem frequently involved the law and why Jesus was not keeping it the way they thought it should be done. The signs and healings probably got delegations from both sects into the countryside to check on this traveling rabbi. So, in Matthew 16, when the Pharisees and Sadducees asked Jesus to perform a sign from heaven, that was overkill. Do you think they came with their own cartload of sick people? Casting out demons, feeding thousands, and healing people for years should have been enough. No, they wanted on-demand miracles. I am glad Jesus came to give life; if it was me, I may have thought of something else to do to them. This episode led to the teaching about the yeast they want to spread in the Church. 

Post Jesus Interactions—The Pharisees who became believers by the time of Acts 15:5 just knew that Gentiles had to be circumcised and obey the law of Moses. Why? Because that is what they had always done, and their fathers, and their fathers. How could anybody be blessed if you don’t do it with formula and my way?

            Paul—He is the penultimate picture of grace and a symbol of two men acting as one body. A Pharisee asked and got permission from a Sadducee (chief priest) to kill Jews and then preaches Jesus to Gentiles and helps turn the Roman world on its ear. Philippians 3:5, Acts 9; 23:6-9; and 26:5. 

The sermons on both mounts could be looked at as Jesus cleaning out the yeast before Passover.