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• Sadducees


  • Heb. Saduq, "the righteous ones"
  • Derived from Zadok the chief priest installed by Solomon
  • Belonged to the priestly class or priestly families, the ruling overlord of religion
  • Presented the wealthy aristocracy
  • High priest, the head of the Sadducees, once a political appointee and was regarded as a symbol of religious observance
• Classification of Jewish priesthood

  • Levites (lowest order, served as assistants, guards, supporters and musicians of the temple)
  • Priests (middle order)
  • High priest (highest order, titular head of the Jewish people and served as the head of Sanhedrin-the Jewish highest court)
• Pharisees


  • Heb. P'rushim or perushim, "separated ones", "parush", "to be separated"
  • According to Josephus, the most dominant group in Judaism
  • Strict and literal interpreters of the Jewish Law (Torah)
• Examples of some confrontations between Jesus and the Pharisees were issues on the preparation of work during the Sabbath and the legality of divorce
• Essenes


  • Their writings were believed to have been lost until 1947 when a shepherd discovered some artifacts and scrolls of ancient manuscripts in the caves of Khirbet Qumran-the Dead Sea Scrolls
  • According to the ancient historian Josephus, the members of this group withdrew from society and lived a monastic way of life and practiced celibacy (abstaining from marriage or sexual relations)
  • During the war in 66-70 AD, the group was destroyed and wiped out by Romans
• Zealots


  • The group believed that they were chosen by God to deliver the Jewish people from Roman domination
  • They were called "sicarii" (dagger men) because for them violence was the only way to achieve independence
  • Simon the Zealot was a member of the group
• Scribes


  • Professional scholars trained in the preservation of knowledge and interpretation of the Jewish scriptures
  • Studied the Pentateuch, the law, and ruled on legal opinions regarding its proper interpretation
  • Called the "teachers of the law" (rabbi or rabonni) or "doctors of the law" because of their learning
  • Masters of Torah and emerged as the interpreters of the law
  • Jurists of Israel
  • People who loved to wear long robes as a sign of distinction and sat in places of honor
• Herodians


  • More of a political party rather than a religious one
  • Supporters of the rule and politics of Herod and Antipas, the ruler of Galilee
  • Since Herod and Antipas were kept in power by the Romans, the Herodians supported Rome
  • Plotted with the Pharisees on how to destroy Jesus, believing that Jesus was a dangerous troublemaker
• Sanhedrin


  • Senate or assembly
  • Composed of 70 members drawn from the various parties and important people, the elders of the land
  • Main governing body of the Jews and control of all religious matters
  • Regulated every aspect of Jewish life
• Tax Collectors


  • Portrayed as "sinners", outsiders
  • Herod's taxes (called temple tax) obliged every male Jew age 20 and above to pay half a shekel annually to the temple
  • Zacchaeus in Jericho was a head official stationed in a commercial center
  • A Jew who tried to engage in this occupation was granted as a traitor
• The Law


  • Refers to the written text of the first five books of the Hebrew scriptures known as the Torah (Hebrew), the Pentateuch (Greek) and the "law of Moses" or Mosaic law
  • Scriptures were known by the acronym TANAK: Torah (the first five books), Nebi'im (the prophets), and Kethubim (the writings)
• The Temple or the Jerusalem Temple


  • A central and most sacred institution for all Jews, the house of God and the "house of prayer"
  • Three daily set times for prayer
  • Sacrifices offered and animals (lamb) sacrificed for the expiation of the sins of the people in sacrificial offering were considered the heart of worship in the temple
• Synagogue


  • Greek synagogus (place of meeting)
  • Center primarily for teaching and study of the scriptures as well as for prayer and worship
  • Unlike the temple which was mainly intended for daily worship and sacrifice, the main activity of the synagogue was the weekly assembly on the Sabbath for reading of the Torah and homilies based upon it
• Jewish Festivals and Religious Practices

  • Passover (Feast of the Unleavened Bread)
  • Harvest Festival (Feast of Weeks)
  • Festival of Shelters (Feast of Booths)
• Passover (Hebrew, Pesah)


  • Most popular festival among Jewish celebrations held in Jerusalem, the holy city
  • Commemorated the freedom of Israelites when God liberated them from the slavery of Egypt
  • Was remembering not just looking back into the past, a call to put those events of ourselves in this context to recognize it this events were also about us
  • Two parts of observance: the rituals later of paschal (passover) lamps in the temple, and the consumption of its meat in a domestic meal to be held in Jerusalem
• Pentecost


  • Celebrated 50 days (thus, "penta", meaning five) after Passover
  • Day of thanksgiving for a good harvest
  • An offering be bought 50 days after the omer offering
  • Omer a grain offering that mark the beginning of the spring grain harvest
• Feast of the Tabernacles or Booths (Hebrew, Sukkot)


  • Little huts
  • Drawing of water and the elimination of one of the temple courts
  • According to the Evangelist John, Jesus appropriately spoke of himself as the water of life and the light of the world
  • The people were to dwell in a hut during this festival and where to come to the temple waving branches of palm while singing God's praises
  • Commemorated the stay of the Israelites in the desert
• The Sabbath (Hebrew, Shabbath)

  • Religious celebration which literally means the seventh day, the seventh day of the week
  • Celebrated mainly in the synagogue, which begins on Friday evening and ends at the same time on Saturday evening
  • A trumpeter would announce the sacred time dedicated to God
  • During this day the Jews not only rested from work but also participated in a worship ceremony in the synagogue consisting of prayers, message, scriptural readings and homily
  • In the Gospels Jesus taught and healed, saying that the Sabbath is made for man not man for the Sabbath
• Feast of Dedication (Hebrew, Hanukkah)

  • Commemorate the rededication of the temple in 164 BCE
  • Jesus described himself as the one whom God sanctified
• Proliferation


  Fake news or fake information- the deliberate fabrication of misleading and dishonest information to people
• Integrity


  • Not simply about honesty, reliability or truthfulness, more profoundly it is about the message or information that brings about total well-being, goodness and fullness of humanity
  • We are God's own wisdom
  • The message that we bring or the information that will lead to others must be grounded on integrity
• The church encourages us to proclaim the gospel with our new favor especially in today's challenging times
• Evangelii Nutiandi states that there is no doubt that the effort to proclaim the gospel to the people of today who are buoyed up by hope but at the same time often oppressed by fear and distress is a service rendered to the Christian community and also to the whole of humanity
• Oral tradition


  The stage when Jesus' followers continue the mission and trusted to them, they preach, taught, healed and exorcised as Jesus did
• Several reasons why the oldest tradition about Jesus was preserved orally rather than writing: Acts 4:13 says they were uneducated but not illiterate, all Jewish boys learn to read and write at a young age, Jesus told them to proclaim the good news (not to write it), and the early followers expected Jesus to come back soon during their lifetime so they did not yet think of reserving Jesus' teachings in a written form
• Proclaimed


  (Lat., proclamare, meaning, "to cry out") the Lord Jesus. This means that the disciples did not simply preach but they preach boldly, fearlessly with enthusiasm, with joy probably with lots of body language
• Before the evangelists wrote the Gospels, the apostles and the first Christian features had already been spreading by word of mouth the good news about Jesus' words and deeds
• Apostle


  • Used to refer particularly to the 12 but also to the disciples and to all the followers in general
  • Preaching the core message of Jesus' death and resurrection (kerygma "that which is preached," Hence "proclamation" to outsiders and unbelievers)
  • Giving further instructions and encouragement to recently baptized Christians (catechesis and paraenesis)
  • Defending the beliefs and practices of the community against accusations and attacks from outside (apologetic and polemics)
• The kerygma of the early Christian communities

  • God's promises to His people in the Old Testament are now fulfilled
  • The long expected Messiah, born from David's lineage has come
  • He is Jesus of Nazareth who went about doing and performing mighty signs of God's power; was crucified according to God's plan as revealed in the Scriptures; was raised from the dead and exalted at God's right hand; and He will come again in glory for judgement
  • Therefore, let all those who hear this message repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of their sins
• Oral Tradition by the Early Christian Communities


  • The apostles did not literally repeat Jesus' words or exactly reported the things He did
  • When the apostles started preaching, they did so in the light of the new situation brought about by the resurrection of Christ and the coming of the Spirit. They preached His words in the way they understood after the resurrection, which is not a distortion of Jesus' message but a reflection on what they had understood and what became clearer to them after the resurrection
  • Jesus taught and worked under concrete and historical circumstances. The circumstances kept changing, and the problems and interests of the communities varied. It means that the situation during the lifetime of Jesus and that after Easter, were certainly not the same. They re-interpreted and re-formulated the words and deeds of Christ in order to meet and respond to the concrete problems in the light of what Jesus had said and done
• Written Tradition by the Evangelists


  • The last stage of the Gospel tradition is the writing of the manuscripts by the evangelists
  • Reasons why it took the early Church almost forty years to come up with the first written Gospel: the proclamation was confined to Palestine and the facts of Jesus' life in which this proclamation was based were sufficiently known, during Jesus' lifetime, His teachings were not written down but they were listened to, the early Church expected Jesus to come back soon during their lifetime so they did not yet think of reserving Jesus' teachings in a written form
• They preached His words in the way they understood after the resurrection. This, however, is not a distortion of Jesus' message but a reflection on what they had understood and what became clearer to them after the resurrection
• Jesus taught and worked under concrete and historical circumstances. The circumstances kept changing, and the problems and interests of the communities varied. It means that the situation during the lifetime of Jesus and that after Easter, were certainly not the same. In other words, they re-interpreted and re-formulated the words and deeds of Christ in order to meet and respond to the concrete problems in the light of what Jesus had said and done.
• The last stage of the Gospel tradition


  The writing of the manuscripts by the evangelists
• Reasons why it took the early Church almost forty years to come up with the first written Gospel

  • The proclamation was confined to Palestine and the facts of Jesus' life in which this proclamation was based were sufficiently known
  • During Jesus' lifetime, His teachings were not written down but they were listened to
  • The early Christians expected Jesus to come back soon, so there was no need to write them down
• As time went by, these factors that explained why they did not write became now the reasons for writing
• Reasons for writing the Gospels

  • The gospel was preached farther and farther away from Jerusalem and converts came flocking into the young churches
  • The death of the Apostles and other witnesses and the ever-increasing number of communities posed more problems
  • As time went by, the Christians gradually realized that Jesus would not come back as early as they originally expected
• Parousia


  Second coming, led to a more permanent form of the gospel message
• The task of the evangelists

  • Working with materials, which belonged to the community and tradition
  • Recorders of the gospel tradition
  • Pericopes - small independent units of stories, parables, sayings, etc., of Jesus compiled by the Christians
  • Editors of these pericopes
  • Guided by God's Spirit, an experience called the gift of inspiration
• Gospel


  A recital, prefaced by some account of Jesus' public ministry: a selection of words and deeds of Jesus as they were understood after and in the light of the resurrection, including an 'infancy narrative'