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communism of the Essenes that is related to early Christianity (Weber 1952:410).
While the Pharisees were complicit with the Roman occupation, the Zealots
emerged against it. The Zealots stood in opposition to the Pharisees and
received their support from the plebeians of Jerusalem. They had an alliance
with the rebellious rural population in Galilee (Kautsky 1925: 298, 404–405).
Mark (15:7) mentions rebels held in prison who had committed murder in
the insurrection. One of Jesus’ disciples was Simon the Zealot (Luke 6:15;
Acts 1:13). This establishes a connection between Jesus and the Zealots who
led multiple insurrections against the Roman occupation (Kautsky 1925:
298–299).
The teachings of Jesus played off the class structure; they appealed to the
poor and attacked the rich and powerful. Like David, Jesus came from a mod-
est background. Representing an agrarian past, David was the son of a shep-
herd whereas Jesus, in contrast, was a carpenter ’s son. Both came from
Bethlehem (Matthew 13:55; 1 Samuel 16; Antiq 6.8.1). Jesus went to Jerusalem
and challenged the chief priests, the elders, and the scribes (Matthew 16:21).
Jesus consciously appealed to the poor: “Come to me, all who labor and are
heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). Jesus condemned the
rich for their exploitation of the poor: “It is easier for a camel to go through
the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” (Matthew
19:24; Mark 10:25; Luke 18:25). While the kingdom of God belongs to the
poor, it would be difficult for the rich to enter it (Luke 6:20). It is not clear
whether the Kingdom of God is in heaven or something here on earth. Jesus
advocated giving up material possessions and engaging in charity in order
to be rewarded in heaven: “Sell what you possess and give to the poor, and
you will have treasure in heaven” (Matthew 19:21; see also Mark 10:21 and
Luke 18:22). The poor who suffer and die will go to heaven while the rich
would go to hell (Luke 16:19–23). Although containing a moral condemna-
tion of the rich and seeing the poor as more moral, his tone is simultaneously
reconciliatory but sarcastic: “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven
our debtors” (Matthew 6:12). Jesus rejected the class structure and wanted to
turn the world upside down: “the first will be last, and the last first” (Matthew
19:30; see also Mark 10:31 and Matthew 20:16).
Jesus spoke in parables which cannot be interpreted literally (Matthew
13:10, 13). He told one of his parables to the chief priests, elders, and scribes.
It was of the vineyard owner, whose tenants beat and killed those he sent to
collect taxes. Tax collectors were seen as being equally reprehensible as sin-
ners (Luke 6:30). They were not sure what this meant but thought “he had


Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity • 217
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