And looking intently at the council, Paul said, “Brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day.” 2 And the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth. 3 Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! Are you sitting to judge me according to the law, and yet contrary to the law you order me to be struck?” 4 Those who stood by said, “Would you revile God’s high priest?” 5 And Paul said, “I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest, for it is written, ‘You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.’”
6 Now when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. It is with respect to the hope and the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.” 7 And when he had said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. 8 For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all. 9 Then a great clamor arose, and some of the scribes of the Pharisees’ party stood up and contended sharply, “We find nothing wrong in this man. What if a spirit or an angel spoke to him?” 10 And when the dissension became violent, the tribune, afraid that Paul would be torn to pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him away from among them by force and bring him into the barracks.
11 The following night the Lord stood by him and said, “Take courage, for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome.”
Yellow Hibiscus | Arbor Gate Nursery, Tomball, Texas | May 2024As best I can tell, the Sadducees did not believe in angels, spirits, or the resurrection for because they didn’t want to upset the status quo between the Jews and Romans in their day. They purport to reject these things because they are not taught in the Torah (the first five books of the Old Testament). But Abraham is visited by three angels, and Jesus spoke of how “even Moses” taught the resurrection. He says to the Sadducees: “But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you, 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.” (Matthew 22:31-32)
Years ago a pastor preached at a pastors conference and made some truly terrible and un-Lutheran assertions about the way the church should be run. I was distressed that his sermon(!) topic was essentially a lecture in an attempt to prove his point. Never mind that it wasn’t really a sermon. It was truly not orthodox. But his buddies refused to call him out on it. He was their guy, afterall. They were protecting their turf.
This is what is happening here between the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Each was protecting their turf. And when the Sadducees saw that their ideas and beliefs were being challenged, they went at Paul. But the Pharisees saw Paul as a sudden ally. He was their guy, talking about the resurrection.
The Sadducees were the elite. They trumpeted a conservative cause because it protected their status and power. They knew Paul wasn’t their guy, for he like no other would turn their world upside down if given the chance to speak about Jesus’ death and resurrection. Paul was definitely not their guy.
It’s important for us to know who is our guy. It’s Paul. But even more, it’s Jesus. And he is risen from the dead. He sends his angels to guard over us. He cast out evil spirits (demons) by his word – as did Paul and the other Apostles. He is never coopted. He is never tricked into taking sides. He is entirely on God’s side, and on the side of all who call on him in repentant faith. He has nothing to lose, for he already lost it all for us and has received it all back and more. And he gives it all to us by his grace. No need for a show of bravado or power. The Pharisees nor Sadducees never had any true power in the first place.
Thank God we can cling to the hope of the resurrection and rejoice in the Holy Spirit’s presence and blessings in our lives – and look toward the day when all God’s holy angels will gather us into the eternal bliss of the life of the world to come.
David Bahn - Reflections 
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