February 15, 2026

The Return from Exile-
"Let's Never Do THAT Again"

The People of God tend to respond in different ways to living within the Empire. How do different groups mentioned in the gospels reflect our own cultural response to living in a post Christian, 21st Century, secular cultural Empire. 

How should we live now?

When the Jews returned to Jerusalem from the Babylonian Exile, they re-established their temple worship and preserved their religion.  They still lived under the control of the Persian Empire. Though they were home, they were still “Living in Babylon”.  

From this period up to the coming of Jesus, they lived within the Empire, even when the Empire changed hands; from Persia, to Greece, to Rome; and not all the people of God responded the same way to their Imperial overlords. 

We will look briefly at several different groups from the New Testament period and their response to the Empire. Some desperately wanted to avoid the mistakes that led to exile, while others were more pragmatic and flexible. This may seem like boring history - but a line can be traced from these responses of God’s people, through the formation of the early church, the spread of Christianity, the Reformation, and up to the current social and political world and our place in it.

As we reflect on our own values and beliefs, and how they are expressed in our lives and lifestyle, can we recognize similarities to the responses of the returning exiles who understood that were still living in Babylon.

For this Sunday… do a biblegateway.com search* of the words
“Zealot”, “Sadducees”, “Herodians” “Pharisees” “Essenes”

What do you notice?

*Note; if you are not on the internet but have an old-school bible concordance, you can look the words up that way.