Pharisees, if You're Listening

This chapter in Mark shows Jesus interacting with all sorts of people, a cross-section of the crowds mentioned in verse 1. Reading it "in book form" as we're doing now enables us to see things that we might miss if we read it in pieces, the way we usually do with the Gospels.

For instance, this is the flip side of the coin from yesterday's reading. Yesterday we saw Jesus with the Pharisees—esteemed religious leaders, knowledgeable, schooled in the Old Testament and rabbinic interpretations and scrupulous in its interpretation.

Today we see him with children. Yesterday the Pharisees came to catch him out, today the children are brought to him for a blessing. Yesterday was confrontational, today Jesus is inviting. Children do not posture, they are happily dependent, and they trust.

If anyone had the credentials for leadership in the kingdom of God, it was the apostle Paul. Listen to him as he reels them off: “If someone else thinks they have reasons [for] . . . confidence, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; regarding the law, a Pharisee.” What is more, by Pharisaic standards, his behaviour was impeccable. A++.

And the value of all of this in the kingdom of God? Garbage. That was Paul’s own word. (See Philippians 3:4–11.)

Respond in Prayer

Lord Jesus, hardly a day goes by when I don’t look to my achievements to bolster my self-esteem. But as I meet you in these pages, I realize I'm like the children, wholly dependent. My “credentials” may have value, but I see, like Paul, that they earn me no credit before you. Thank you for the value you place on me because you love me. Amen.

Glynis Belec