As I wander through the varied countryside comprising this week’s Bible reading, I find my thoughts circling back to a section recorded in Luke 11:37-54. As reading God’s Word so often does, this surprises me somewhat. You see Luke 11:37-54 is the Six Woes to the Pharisees passage in which Jesus lets go with both barrels on yet another hypocritical religious leader who is trying to find fault in Him over a petty, eternally insignificant matter.
I don’t know about you, but I have had kind of an interest-apathy relationship going on with the various Jesus vs. Pharisees passages recorded in the Bible. On the one hand, I usually find these accounts make for very interesting reading. The situations described typically contain levels of conflict, irony and human drama that can capture the attention of even the most jaded 21st century media consumer. I particularly enjoy those incidents in which one or more members of the religious glitterati try to trap Jesus with their cleverly contrived trick questions. They quickly discover, though, that Jesus has not only effortlessly sidestepped their snare but has in fact completely turned the tables on them. It is hard not to relish those delicious lightbulb moments when the Pharisees suddenly realize that it is they who have somehow been hopelessly painted into an ethical or theological corner, and not Jesus. Ancient middle-eastern sandals: 14 denarii… a self-righteous Pharisee getting caught in his own word trap: PRICELESS!
Where I tend to relax and take these accounts somewhat casually, though, is in the area of personal application. Those pointed reprimands and warnings of Jesus that always seem to accompany His encounters with Pharisees were meant for them, right, not for me? I mean I’m a Christian, a New Testament believer, but they were those villainous, hypocritical, pre-Pentecost Pharisees, right? They wore the black hats; I wear the white. It’s seems unlikely at first blush that I am intended to be part of Jesus’ target audience here.
As I reflect on that question, though, I am reminded of where these individuals started. While there were undoubtedly a variety of motivations influencing decisions to follow the Pharisee track at Jerusalem University, I think that it is safe to say that many Pharisees began their religious journey with the best of intentions; with a sincere desire to increase in their knowledge of, and service to, their God. OK, now that is something I can identify with. Been there. Done that.
But something happened. Day by day, in the smallest of ways, their faith incrementally eroded and evolved into something different from what it had started out as… something human not heavenly, something lesser, something temporal, something fake. Passion was replaced by tradition; law squeezed out grace; love shifted focus from others to self; motivations morphed and mutated; pride in oneself displaced dependency on God; being served became preferable to being a servant; praise slowly began to feel better coming than going; the words of God were supplemented and superseded by the ideas of men. And almost so gradually that you wouldn’t even notice their pearl of great price was replaced by a big plastic bead.
So what lay at the root of their being that made such a sacrilegious slide from grace possible? What long extinct Jewish cultural aberrations served as their triggers? What ancient demons possessed them? What was it in their first century DNA that made them DOA in God’s eyes? Surely there must have been significant differences in their lives and experience that made them who they became… compared with those that are making me who I am becoming. Sadly, though, I fear that the most significant culprit in their day remains a common denominator in my own. Basic human nature; tainted and infected at the Fall by sin. Left unchallenged and unchecked a regression into becoming a religious hypocrite who is more harmful than helpful to the kingdom of God is still a very real possibility for me today.
The book of Proverbs tells us that a fool makes the same mistakes repeatedly and never learns from them. A wise person however, we are instructed, is one who learns from the mistakes and examples of others so that they don’t need to make the same mistakes themselves. And so I read and reflect on Jesus’ six woes to the Pharisees through different eyes.In a paraphrased nutshell Jesus confronts and condemns Pharisees in this passage for the following reasons:
1. Believing that sacrifice to and for God is good enough, displacing the need to obey Him;
2. Becoming self-important - motivated by pride, privilege and promotion;
3. Being more concerned with outward appearances than with one’s inward heart condition;
4. Acting in ways that makes one a stumbling block and a burden to others, instead of a support and a blessing;
5. Resisting and hindering God’s servants and thus obstructing God’s kingdom work;
6. Being unfaithful with one’s God-given gifts, abilities and opportunities.
As I read through this list I realize that every single one of those ancient Pharisaical temptations and pitfalls remain dangerously alive and well today, some 2000 years after Jesus confronted them here. So I repent of any feelings of superiority I may have entertained in the past when silently comparing myself with the Pharisees. There but for the grace of God go I. I am reminded of one of Jesus’ concluding statements that often followed His sharp warnings and rebukes… He who has ears let him hear.
Lord Jesus, keep my mind firmly set on You. Let me have eyes that see, ears that hear and a heart that beats in tune with yours. Amen.
-Gord Hanson
(Associate Pastor)