The Bible says a great deal about the Pharisees. Even if one does
not know them by said title, the average self-proclaiming Christian knows their
traits and their positions. They've simply become part of the Christian
dialogue, mainly because of their great enemy--their great threat.
The Pharisees were the religious teachers
and spiritual gatekeepers in their day, and their great threat was Jesus
Christ, the incarnation of the very God the Pharisees claimed to follow. Though
the Pharisees were recognized by the people as upholders of traditions and
supposed truth, Jesus Christ called them to task constantly and
unapologetically, bringing to light their hypocrisy and oppressive teachings.
But I have an important question that my
fellow Christians and I must constantly address: are we the Pharisees of today?
I consider this, for the Pharisees of old
followed the Law and the Prophets, given to the people of Israel centuries
earlier as a foundation for their religious practices. Over time, the priests
and religious leaders of Israel developed a more restrictive form of the original law. These religious persons were, according to Christ, "children of
hell", for through their greed, pride, and hypocrisy, they oppressed those
seeking the true knowledge of God.
Similarly, the modern
Christian church is now two thousand years removed from Christ's physical
presence here on earth. We use ancient texts of the New Testament, in addition
to the Law and Prophets, to create the basis of our beliefs and practices. In
an ever-more postmodern culture, we consider ourselves gatekeepers of spiritual
truth. We have our religious festivals, our traditions, and our restrictions on
behavior. So, the question must be asked: are we following in the footsteps of
the Pharisees, and if so, how would Christ respond to us?
I am not going to speak for anyone but
myself in answer to this question, and I must acknowledge my sin and repent. Too
often, I see attitudes and behaviors in my own life that echo Christ's enemies
more than Christ himself. And what fascinates me about my own pharisaic mindset
is that it forms not by intention but by the natural progression of human
arrogance left unchecked. The process works as follows: I find a spiritual
weakness in my own life, and I confront it through action; when I later see
what I perceive as the same flaw in another who makes no effort to change, I
judge them--not actively through thinking about it but passively in my
instinctual gut reaction of believing myself more spiritual than that other person. This
insidious, pharisaic attitude sneaks upon me like a virus and infects my heart to
a degree that I do not see, and it shows itself at moments I least expect. I
don't know about you, but I am guilty.
I do not find it coincidental that this occurs among modern Christians. Frankly, I believe that God, in
his infinite wisdom, sent Christ to the earth at a time when he would be in
direct conflict with the Pharisees, because God also knew that Christ's
followers would, over time, fall into the same sinful patterns that the
Pharisees did. As the master storyteller, the Lord constructed the historical narrative
in such a fashion that the failure of religious leaders in the past would serve
as a direct warning to religious persons in the
future, particularly those who claim to follow the highest rabbi of
all, Jesus Christ, who took these false religious leaders to task. May he do
the same time to us through his words in Scripture and the leading of the Holy
Spirit.
If he convicts you of such a sin--of being
merely religious rather than loving, seeking greed instead of good, and longing
for an increase to your earthly kingdom rather than God's heavenly one, rally
against your sin through repentance. God knows the soul; God knows the mind,
and "a broken and contrite heart [he] will not despise" (Psalm 51).
Thanks for reading,
C
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