The Sadducees

The Sadducees

I have some sympathy for the Sadducees,

for whom there was no resurrection.

They believed that this grounding place

of dust, decay, wind and uncertainty,

was where the true action was;

not in some future and otherworldly realm

where the dead are revived, renewed,

resuscitated and raised to somehow

continue the privileged work of living.

When the body dies, so does the soul.

Angels and other spiritual entities?

They simply don’t exist. Reward or

punishment beyond the grave? Forget it!

It’s what happens here that counts.

They, too. were Jews, these Sadducees:

children of Abraham who took their faith seriously.

They shared the Pharisees’ insistence

that the law must be obeyed,

and that the well-being of the nation depended upon it.

In the temple’s courts one day, these sceptics

enjoyed a spirited debate with one, Jesus,

an untrained teacher from the north.

According to the testimony of gospel-writing

historians, the itinerant rabbi clearly took the points.

Nearby scribes, they also tell us, were deeply

impressed by the power of his arguments,

and concurred. Some of us heretics, however,

are still considering the matter.


© 2010 Ken Rookes