In the resurrection, therefore.

Nine haiku for us sceptics

The Saducees ask

good questions: What does it mean:

resurrection life?

They already know

there is no life hereafter;

but does the teacher?

In the age to come?

The question is audacious;

It won't be like that!

God of Abraham,

God of Isaac and Jacob;

life with God goes on.

God of the living

with whom those who have long passed

share resurrection.

There can be no death

for those who find life in God;

they are God's children.

Jesus spoke of life

washed with eternal purpose.

They will die no more.

The disciple knows

that resurrection living

happens here on earth.

Can a Sadducee

also be a disciple?

Would that be all right?

© Ken Rookes 2016

The Saducees

 

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

The Saducees' question

The Saducees' question

Having ruled in red ink
a line under life,
some Saducees ask their famous riddle
about the woman, seven times widowed;
the one which has caused great rabbis
and learned scribes to stumble.
This self-styled teacher from the northern extremes
should be easily ensnared
and made to look ridiculous.
But the teacher is already captive
to a glorious vision of life in abundance;
a boundless gift from a limitless
and ever-living God.
Laughing at their keyhole view,
the teacher speaks of hope and freedom
in the coming age of resurrection.
Soaring unconfined, his truth
mocks the Saducees' pitiable attempts to enclose.
Rendered speechless,
there will be no more questions.

© Ken Rookes

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