Dr. Helen Bond

So you can see why they may have been worried by Jesus, particularly after the cleansing of the temple, whatever that involved.

But no, although Jesus continues his debates with Pharisees in Jerusalem, there's no indication at the end that they have anything to do with his death.

Apart from a very small reference in Matthew, actually, where they ask the Romans to put a guard on the tomb because Jesus has said he'll rise again and they want this guard to make sure that nothing happens.

Yeah, I mean, I think it's debate amongst people who are setting themselves up as teachers.

So, you know, Pharisees and people like Jesus, whether your average sort of wife in Capernaum or a farmer in Nazareth is too bothered about things is more difficult to say.

But I mean, I think because, you know, there's...

The practice of Jewish ancestral beliefs depends so much on how texts are interpreted, how interpretations are passed down, ancestral custom.

There's so many different ways of living out a Jewish life in the first century that I'm sure even amongst people in rural areas, there's some level of debate about what are we doing?

What should we do on the Sabbath?

What should we not do?

What are we allowed to do?

There's so many areas that are open to discussion.

One of the things he debates quite often is what you can do on the Sabbath, what's allowable.

And I imagine this is a debate that lots of people are having.

What can you do?

The Gospels, of course, tell these stories in a way that makes the Pharisees sound very narrow-minded.

They say you can't heal someone, for example, the man with the withered hand, whatever exactly is wrong with that.

Jesus heals him on the Sabbath, and the Pharisees are very upset about this, presumably from their point of view.

The guy's had this affliction for a while.

It would be perfectly possible to heal him the next day.