Let’s face it: Someone rising from the dead is not something that happens every day. Like us, the people in first century Israel would have had a hard time wrapping their minds around The Resurrection.
The Pharisees, whose responsibility was to help the people keep the laws of Moses, did believe in The Resurrection. Brad H. Young, in Paul, The Jewish Theologian writes: “The Jewish people believed that God created the world. Our physical world is God’s creation, and it is good. The Pharisees, in contrast to the Greco-Roman religious beliefs, vigorously affirmed the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead. The Pharisees stressed a literal resurrection of the physical body, which would be reunited with the spirit of an individual. Their worldview embraced a future restoration of God’s original design for his world. The Pharisees envisioned a time of redemption in which God would realign the physical creation with the ethereal (unearthly) realm.” The Sadducees did not embrace resurrection, immortality of the soul, or spirits and angels. Additionally leaders of the Sadducees functioned as priests while leaders of the Pharisees were called rabbis.
This Sunday, Pastor Cathy Johns will offer a unique perspective on what happened in Bethany when Lazarus walked out of the tomb as recorded in John 11. Invite a friend to join you this Sunday; may God richly bless you this week!
Peace,
Pastor Cathy Johns