Download DMR - The Gospel of Mark

DMR – The Gospel of Mark
Background to the New Testament: The Political Scene (AERZ)
The Issue on Everyone’s mind:
Israel in the first century was an occupied country. In
63 BC Pompey had taken his Roman legions and marched into Jerusalem and suddenly Israel
was under Roman rule. By the time Jesus was born, there were very few people alive who could
remember having seen Israel free.
The Romans were the constant problem that was on the mind of every Jew, but the Jews
could take comfort from their faith and their history. The Hebrew Scriptures, a.k.a. the Old
Testament, showed that God had often let Israel be conquered by an oppressing power when
Israel had turned away from their devotion to God. Likewise, God would deliver them when
they repented and turned to God, and under the mighty delivering hand of God, Israel would
once again be free. Furthermore, the scriptures promised that one day God would send an
“anointed one,” the Messiah (Hebrew), the Christ (Greek). This person would deliver all who
remained loyal to God and Israel and make them forever free under the reign of God alone. So
under the oppression of the Roman government, Israel cried out to God to send the Messiah.
The Political Groups:
Pharisees (a.k.a. scribes or teachers of the law):
The Pharisees believed that the
root of Israel’s problem was their own sin. God allowed them to be conquered because they
were disloyal to God. Therefore, their entire philosophy was based on becoming good enough
for God so that God would then send the Messiah. They believed that if one Jew kept the whole
law even for one day, God would send Messiah. They therefore wanted to do anything possible
to keep God’s law. If God had given them certain laws about their diet or the Sabbath, they
would follow these laws ruthlessly in their efforts to please God. Furthermore, they would write
more and more laws to keep. Why? Maybe the problem is that they had just not kept this certain
aspect of God’s law, so they kept expanding them to see if they could fix the problem. As a
whole, the people highly respected the Pharisees. They were the good guys: the people trying to
be good enough so that God would send the Messiah.
The Essenes:
The Essenes, most famous for their preservation of documents known as the
Dead Sea Scrolls, thought the Pharisees did not go far enough. For all their devotion, the
Pharisees chose to live among the Romans, those “filthy Gentile rulers.” The very presence of
the Romans made Israel impure. Solution? Go into the desert and live a pure life away from all
evil influence. Then God would see their devotion and send the Messiah. The word “Essene” is
never seen in the New Testament, but it is believed that John the Baptist (seen Mark 1:2-11) was
one of them: a preacher who had come back from the desert to teach Israel to repent of their
sins.
The Zealots:
A Zealot’s attitude towards the Roman occupation might be stated as simply as
this: “the only good Roman is a dead Roman. God will deliver us as soon as we show him that
we have the faith to strike against these evil oppressors.” They also believed in the Messiah, but
their version of the Messiah was a warrior. Would he move with the power of God? Absolutely!
But the Pharisees and Essenes had it wrong. We should not sit around being good boys and girls
waiting for God to act. Rather, strike out in the faith that God will save you and kill every
Roman you can!
The Sadducees (a.k.a. the Priests or High Priests):
Descendents of the Priest of
old, the Sadducees ran the Temple in Jerusalem. They were responsible for the sacrificial system
that was outlined in the Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures. They believed that
they needed to keep the ritual of the Torah in precise detail in order to atone (make amends) for
the sins of the people in order that the people might have a good relationship with God. Did they
like the Romans? No. But they tolerated them. As long as the Romans allowed them to
sacrifice, they could maintain the relationship of God with the people. Historically, other
oppressors had not been so kind (e.g. the Babylonians and the Greeks). Although loyal to the
Torah, the Sadducees did not accept the teaching of the prophets. This was in contrast to the
Pharisees and Essenes as well as to modern Jews and Christians who consider the Prophets
authoritative. The prophets made political trouble, and the Sadducees desired stability. As long
as Temple worship was in place, life was tolerable. Conveniently, this also kept them in power
since they ran the Temple. The average Jew would probably have acknowledged the need for
the Sadducees, for the Jewish people were loyal to Temple worship, but they likely would have
resented the way the Sadducees tolerated Roman rule. The Sadducees would have feared the
Zealots most of all, for the Zealots promoted revolution and the Sadducees thrived on stability.
Unlike the Pharisees, the Sadducees did not believe in “angels, an afterlife [or] a final judgment.”
(Link p. 105)
The Collaborators:
In every society, some people prefer personal profit to loyalty to God
and country. Occupied Israel was no exception. Some first century Jews decided to not only
tolerate Roman rule but to do everything they could to profit by it. Two groups of collaborators
are seen particularly clearly in the New Testament. 1) The Herodians: Herod the Great was a
friend of Caesar, and he became King of occupied Israel. Although half Jewish, he was loyal to
Rome. He was a ruthless ruler who indiscriminately killed anyone he considered a threat,
including the infants of Bethlehem (see Matthew 2:16ff) and his own children. He hated the idea
of a Messiah, because a Messiah would surely kick him out of power. But he kept the
appearance of being a faithful Jew: he was loyal to Temple worship and Jewish dietary law, but
his heart was Roman. After his death, the rule of Israel was divided among his three surviving
sons, all of whom were also called Herod. The one who ruled Judea and the Holy City of
Jerusalem proved to be incompetent, and Caesar replace him with a series of governors. At the
time of Jesus’ ministry the Governor of Judea was named Pontius Pilot. But Herod Antipas (the
only Herod you find in Mark) ruled Galilee where Jesus actually lived. The followers of the
Herods were called Herodians, and the average Jew would have hated them. 2) Tax collectors:
if anyone was worse than the Herodians, it was the tax collectors. These Jews would collect
taxes that went to Caesar and paid for the occupying Roman armies. Tax collectors were
generally very wealthy, but they lived miserable lives. They often needed bodyguards for they
feared that someone (particularly Zealots) might try to kill them.