Are We Pharisees?نموونە

The Pharisees, Saduccees, high priests, scribes, and lawyers… these are the ones everyone who has read the gospels loves to hate. We hate these guys! We judge them hard; and then we often think of people they remind us of and we judge them, too. The last thing we do is associate ourselves with them.

The Pharisees, Saduccees, and company didn’t know they were religious, though. They were deeply and thoroughly trained. They had rich traditions, which had been vetted through generations of thoughtful, conscientious schooling and debate. They greatly honored the movements of God in the past and their leadership. They acquired vast knowledge and memorized scripture. They knew all about God! They had all worked so hard for so long and they offered their expertise and leadership to others. I mean, how could they be wrong?

Jesus said to beware of the teaching of the Pharisees, though, and in Matthew 23 Jesus divulges some harsh realities:

“... woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. Woe to you, blind guides…” (ESV)

Or, more contemporarily worded:

“It will be bad for you teachers of the law and you Pharisees! You are hypocrites! You close the way for people to enter God’s kingdom. You yourselves don’t enter, and you stop those who are trying to enter. It will be bad for you teachers of the law and you Pharisees! You are hypocrites. You travel across the seas and across different countries to find one person who will follow your ways. When you find that person, you make him worse than you are. And you are so bad that you belong in hell! It will be bad for you teachers of the law and you Pharisees! You guide the people, but you are blind.” (ERV)

To recap, their perception:

• We’re going to Heaven
• We’re making disciples
• We’re helping people follow God
• People are going to Heaven b/c of our ministry
• We’re right with God
• We are leading people
• We have spiritual insight

The shocking reality:

• They’re going to hell
• They’re making disciples of Satan
• They’re hindering people following God
• People are obstructed from Heaven b/c of their ministry
• They’re hypocrites
• They’re leading people astray
• They’re spiritually blind to God and themselves.

THAT is an intense list! Am I suggesting we do these things? Not necessarily. However, I’m suggesting we might. The Pharisees didn’t know what they were doing. I seriously doubt we know what we’re doing, either.

The Pharisees were dysfunctional and, sometimes, so is our response to them. The Holy Spirit didn’t include these characters in the bible for us to have a judgment-fest. Though it may seem otherwise, Jesus wasn’t judging them. Jesus judged no one. He still isn’t. He’s waiting for judgment day, hoping as many of us as possible will come home to Him in the meantime.

God included these characters in the bible to warn us of what we are all prone to think and do. Jesus warned the Pharisees. He warned His disciples. And He is warning us today.

Are we ready to listen to Jesus’ warnings? Let’s be different. Let’s open our hearts to the possibilities. Are we wrong? Are we deceived? Are we Pharisees?