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Showing posts from October, 2019

The Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 27, 10 November 2019

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The Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 27, 10 November 2019 Track One: Haggai 1:15b-2:9 Psalm 145:1-5, 18-22 or Psalm 98 Track Two: Job 19:23-27a Psalm 17:1-9 II Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17 Saint Luke 20:27-38 Background: Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, and the Resurrection First let us identify each of these groups. The Pharisees were a scholarly group who were devoted to a meticulous observance of the laws given to them from the ancestors. They deemed themselves as the premier interpreters of the Torah. They also were believers in the resurrection, that there was life after death. The Sadducees were their opponents. They did not see the ancient laws as authorative, and they did not believe in a life after death. They tended to come from well-to-do elites, and from the priestly class. The Essenes mistrusted the whole establishment and moved into the wilderness, away from both Temple and city. Like the Pharisees, they meticulously observed t