Tobias Stanislas Haller BSG
The serious and sometimes satirical reflections of a priest, poet, and pilgrim —
who knowing he has not obtained the goal, presses on in a Godward direction.
January 16, 2011
Jesus a Pharisee?
In my sermon at St James Church today, I explored the possibility that Jesus may have spent those "missing years" as a disciple of the Pharisees, and become a rabbi of that school. The notion is not original with me: see Harvey Falk's Jesus the Pharisee for a Jewish perspective. But in my sermon, it is the narrative in John's Gospel that I find intriguing. The full text of the sermon is available at Ekklesiastes, but here is the audio.
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Tobias, this is the first I've heard of Jesus, the Pharisee, but from the hints in the Gospels, I'd have to say that the idea makes good sense to me.
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks for the metaphorical kick in the rear to get going about the work of the Lord.
I once casually remarked to a (Reform) Rabbi that I sometimes thought Jesus might have been a Pharisee and she responded in surprise, "All Rabbis are Pharisees."
ReplyDeleteThanks, Mimi. (I'm doing a bit of metaphorical application of force to rears in my parish these days... ;-))
ReplyDeleteAllison, thanks so much. That was my impression, but it is good to know a modern rabbi sees it that way -- in addition to Rabbi Falk!