Tag: Pharisees

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Religious Entrapment.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“Later the leaders sent some Pharisees and supporters of Herod to trap Jesus into saying something for which he could be arrested. “Teacher,” they said, “we know how honest you are. You are impartial and don’t play favorites. You teach the way of God truthfully. Now tell us—is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay them, or shouldn’t we?” Jesus saw through their hypocrisy and said, “Why are you trying to trap me? Show me a Roman coin, and I’ll tell you.” Mark‬ ‭12‬:‭13‬-‭15‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Snakes and vipers are the slipperiest serpents in the animal kingdom. They are silent and smooth in movement and hissper so subtly in the garden. It reminds me of Kaa, the snake character, in Rudyard Kipling’s 1894 anthology collection, The Jungle Book, with his mystical powers of hypnosis. Or Nagini, the snake who was always at Voldemort’s side. Mark’s gospel lets us know right up front, this scene was a setup.

The religious leaders sent Pharisees AND supporters of Herod. No matter how Jesus responded to the cleaver question, it would be captured by eye witnesses and sent out through the social media of ancient days – word of mouth! But first they had to butter-up Jesus real good, trying to distract him from the nearly invisible snare. “We know how honest you are,” interpretation – we know you can’t lie. We also know you “do not care about anyone’s opinion. For you are not swayed by appearances,” – interpretation – you are not influenced by others and can’t be fooled (even though they were trying to do so even then). And, “we know you are a “alétheia,” a truth teller,” – interpretation – you are morally bound by God’s character.

So… standing there with the religious and secular leaders salivating with their own diabolical deception, they deliver the inescapable question. “Is it “exesti,” It is lawful or permitted to pay “kensos,” taxes or tribute to Caesar? Is it proper to “didómi” give or grant this? I wonder how long Jesus paused before he answered? It must have seemed like a timeless, slow-motioned moment for the eager ears of these wise guys!

Mark tells us that Jesus saw through their “hupokrisis,” hypocrisy, an interesting theatre word used in those days by the actors in a play. It comes from the idea of filling in the cracks of statues with colored wax, thus giving the appearance of wholeness, without fault or blemishes. So to be a hypocrite was to be disingenuous, fake, pretending to have no flaws. Oh, these religious leaders had cracks and crevasses in their hearts – that’s for sure!

Jesus famously retorted with his own question, “WHY?” But then he did answer them by using an object lesson. “Does anyone have a denarius handy?” A denarius, a small Roman coin, used by most of the people in the city. Jesus didn’t have or carry any coins, Roman or Jewish (shekel). Someone handed Jesus a coin while the trappers waited in puzzled anticipation.

Great, “whose likeness and inscription – whose picture and title are stamped on it?” “Caesar’s,” they replied.” Well then, Jesus implied, you have your answer don’t you? Since that coin clearly belongs to the one whose picture and title are stamped on it – give it back to him. However, since we all bear the image of another stamped on our human hearts, we should therefore give ourselves back to God because we belong to him! Right?

Prayer

​Dad,
We are such an odd bunch, us and our unique peculiarities. We play our games. We challenge our own creator. We question goodness, true justice and love – thinking we can certainly do better! If it weren’t so sad, I’d have to say we’ve got to be kidding. We may not be trying to entrap Jesus specifically, but we are still working hard to skirt your will, your way. Since we bear your imprint, your image, why are we trying so hard to get away from you? I’m sorry for our lackluster faith and pushing the boundaries of your grace. Amen.

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Who’s your boss?

Reading Time: 2 minutes

“Again they entered Jerusalem. As Jesus was walking through the Temple area, the leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the elders came up to him. They demanded, “By what authority are you doing all these things? Who gave you the right to do them?” ‭‭Mark‬ ‭11‬:‭27‬-‭28‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Confused and frustrated with uncertainty and the uncontrollable behaviors of Jesus, the religious leaders ask him straight out, “who is your boss?”

Jesus had been consistently doing good and handing out miracles all over the region. This bothered the Jewish legal department and upset the spiritual senate, called the Sanhedrin. “We’ve got to get to the bottom of this!” they thought. The small miracles like turning water into wine could be explained as just a fluke, but the blind seeing, the deaf hearing, the paralyzed walking, and the dead rising – this is a big problem for the god-guys in charge of these kinds of things. They even tried claiming that Jesus’ boss was Beelzebub, but it didn’t make sense.

At this point, their curiosity had already turned to pure, anger and bitterness. They had to find out who Jesus was really working for. Who gave him the authority, or really the ability to do these miracles? When they finally asked him, Jesus gave them one of his favorite responses, a truly rabbinical response! Jesus retorted with a question! Referring to his cousin, he asked, “Did John’s authority to baptize come from heaven, or was it merely human?” The ol’ reversal trick! They could not answer because either way, it would make them look foolish! They chose the safest option, “We don’t know.” Jesus’ situation was identical to John’s. They knew the answer, it was as obvious as their phylacteries on their forehead!

The horror of truth must have boiled their blood – they were all working for the same boss! Their stoney hearts prevented them from seeing Jesus as being on team God, so the only solution was to get rid of him. They would have to break – not bend – dozens of God laws to kill the Son of God. God did not make them choose this. They were willing traitors. It was all within the plan of salvation that Jesus must suffer and die, then rise from the dead to set all humanity free. And, it had to be an inside job.

Prayer

​Dad,
Oh, how often I can see my own religious sins, my selfish controlling attitudes gripping my heart attempting to harden my soul to get my own way. I have often been critical when seeing miracles through unorthodox means or people and ask, “who are they working for?” Help my heart stay tender, open to your will and not mine! Give me grace that I would not use your laws, your Word as a weapon to force compliance in others, or to my own ways. You alone are God and I am grateful that all things go according to Your plans. Amen.

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Demanding signs.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had arrived, they came and started to argue with him. Testing him, they demanded that he show them a miraculous sign from heaven to prove his authority. When he heard this, he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, “Why do these people keep demanding a miraculous sign? I tell you the truth, I will not give this generation any such sign.” So he got back into the boat and left them, and he crossed to the other side of the lake. ‭‭Mark‬ ‭8‬:‭11‬-‭13‬ ‭NLT‬‬

After a brief but interesting mention of leaving the city Dalmanutha, which only shows up in Mark 8:10, Jesus has this confrontation with Pharisees. This time Mark writes of a dispute or challenge between Rabbis. This “argument” is not uncommon among Rabbis of that day. Religious leaders had become accustomed to thrashing over theology for fun, entertainment and education. You will still find this today, happening around different gatherings of denominational disputes, arguing the deep but useless depths of old, stale tensions of Christianity. For most people it is boring, but few realize its dangers and sway on younger believers. Asking Jesus for a sign was probably the quickest way to discredit him.

It is ironic that Mark’s gospel is filled with signs and miracles, progressively more supernatural as the Messiah eventually raises Lazarus from the dead! NLT using the word “demand,” from the Pharisees, may be too aggressive, the word also just means to seek or search, coming from the word investigate. Ah, but the Pharisees were indeed “testing” (peirazó) or even tempting him. Does this sound like the similar situation where Jesus was led, by the Holy Spirit, to be tempted by Satan? Maybe it was.

When the men, who supposedly worked for God asked Jesus this to “prove” or authenticate (sémeion) his authority, Mark notes that Jesus physically reacted to their request, groaning deeply (anastenazó). I don’t think Jesus was into doing some performa, cheap tricks to prove himself. Every single miracle had a purpose behind it! Every miracle was driven by mercy, the one of many godly attributes the religious leaders had long forgotten.

I find it very interesting that very few of Jesus’ miracles were “performed” with any religious leaders present to witness the supernatural. They kept hearing stories and testimony of such things. I only know of one, early on, where Jesus healed a man with a withered hand, on the Sabbath and in the synagogue (Luke 6:10).

Here in Mark, they want to see a miraculous act, but we know that later, when Jesus does miracles, the religious leaders call Jesus a fraud and a fake, even declaring he does so as a servant of Satan himself! We need to understand, the Sanhedrin had a very meticulous system of verifying miracles. They required multiple eyewitness testimonies, and backed it up with the fact that a priest had to examine and clear a physical exam to allow the person to be among the community again. It was all meticulously recorded. Wouldn’t it be great to find those records the religious leaders kept on Jesus during that time!

When Jesus asked the question, “why do these people…” he wasn’t directing that at the needy, sick and broken. He was speaking to the “people” in religious authority. And, when he said he would not give this generation any such sign, who do you also think that was directed towards? Right! The generation of hardhearted, sons of snakes and vipers!

Would I ask God for miracles demanding a show of power to shut the mouths of His critics and modern-mockers? Oh, I’ve wanted that! Or, would Jesus still be reserving miracles, signs and wonders for those who are truly seeking and needing hope? Early on in the gospels Jesus kept telling those who were healed to keep it quiet. We now know that this was all about God’s timing of revealing Jesus as the Messiah! But what if miracles are still supposed to be quiet, intimate expressions of God’s mercy to the broken? Does God have need to display His power to prove His existence? I don’t think that’s how it works. What do you think? Miracles are incredible at drawing a crowd, but is that why Jesus did them? Is that what we think will soften a person’s heart and turn them towards God? It certainly didn’t work on the super-religious.

Prayer

Dad,
I’m not okay with demanding signs. Sure, I want to see and feel your presence working in our selfish, self-reliant culture. But, maybe if folks aren’t seeking, they just won’t find you, even with some flashy miracle-lure of the supernatural. I know plenty of plain-old people in a world of hurt and pain that need you. May your compassion and mercy lead and guide us just as it did so with Jesus! May your love shine in the darkest of places where people find themselves trapped and imprisoned. Help us to be your grace extended to allow the hurting to see you through us. Amen.

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The timing of when God speaks.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

That night the Lord appeared to Paul and said, “Be encouraged, Paul. Just as you have been a witness to me here in Jerusalem, you must preach the Good News in Rome as well. ‭‭Acts‬ ‭23‬:‭11‬ ‭NLT‬‬

There’s a story in the Old Testament of Elijah waiting to hear from God. The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.” 1 Kings 19:11. There was a thrashing wind, an earthquake and a fire, but the Lord was not in any of those. Then came a gentle whisper. It was in this manner God spoke to Elijah. Yet, God doesn’t always speak in whispers either.

Here in Acts, Paul is giving his story, his testimony, to an agitated group of Jewish religious leaders. The crowd, hearing Paul speaking in Aramaic, quietly hung on every word. They listened intently that is until Paul said, But the Lord said to me, ‘Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles!’ Acts ‭22‬:‭21. Within moments the crowd turned on him and began rioting. Jews would show their disdain by tossing off their robes and throwing dirt into air – both signs of rejection. Maybe the “dust-bombing” was connected to “shake the dust from your feet,” dismissing Gentiles or Jesus telling his followers to do similar when Jewish towns would reject the message of him being the Messiah. Riots triggered quick responses from the Roman guards because of “pax romana,” or Roman peace. The Roman watch commander dragged Paul away and ordered him whipped for causing the ruckus. Paul smartly asked the officer, ready to beat him, “Is it legal for you to whip a Roman citizen who hasn’t even been tried?” Paul had a legal, natural born Roman citizenship and knew his rights! Even the commander had to “buy” his own “Roman rights.” The next day, the commander called in the religious leaders to get to the real cause of the disturbance.

Within moments the high priest has someone walk up and slap Paul’s face for being sassy, and immediately declaring his innocence, when he said, “I have always lived before God with a clear conscience!” Paul quickly retorted back, “God will slap you, you corrupt whitewashed wall!” He didn’t realize that Ananias was the high priest and apologized for his harsh words.

Paul knew the situation was not good for him, so he brilliantly declared the “real” reason he was on trial, saying, “I am on trial because my hope is in the resurrection of the dead!” He knew the council was filled with both Pharisees and Sadducees. His own tribe believed in the resurrection, the opponents, the Sadducees did not. This started yet another riot! The Roman commander, once again had to pull Paul out of the place lest the religious leaders tear him apart.

That night, back in the Roman holding cell, Paul hears from God. God speaks to Paul amidst the craziness of chaos, debates and riots! God tells Paul his assignment is to get to Rome! Paul would eventually, rightfully and legally plead his case to Caesar himself! The book of acts, written by Luke is likely the notes Paul used to share his testimony to the emperor himself. Paul’s closest companions begged him not to go. And, as we read the 13 letters from Paul to the churches throughout the Roman empire, he was imprisoned almost the entire time. What a story! You never know how, when or where God might speak to you and call you to purpose that He has designed just for you! Be ready, that’s all I advise.

Prayer

​Dad,
We use a popular phrase to help us deal with the extraordinary ways you place a calling on our lives. “You equip those you call.” I believe it. I have lived it and seen it come true in so many lives. It is an honor to hear and obey your voice, your calling. May we continue to recognize that calling in others and encourage each other along the way. Amen.

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Ignore and substitute.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

For you ignore God’s law and substitute your own tradition. Mark‬ ‭7‬:‭8‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Do you ever find yourself amazed that Jesus cuts through the complicated minutiae of religion and clarifies truth? Ah, it’s so obvious after Jesus says it, yet so painful when he says it directly to you!

As we get older, it is completely normal to establish patterns and customs of the way we like to order our day and live our life. Habits and systems are ways to control the chaos that life can bring. Most religious rituals started out as earnestly simple with all intent of purity in our heart. It’s when they become rote, rigged and mindless routine that it becomes disconnected from relationship.

Earlier in this passage, the religious leaders saw that Jesus’ disciples were eating with defiled, dirty hands. It’s important to note, it’s not that they saw filthy hands and stood aghast that anyone would eat like that. No, it’s what they did NOT see that bothered them.

They did not see the disciples do the typical ritual cleansing before eating anything or using anything that would touch their mouths. The ritual cleansing was this idea that any item that came in contact with the body had to be “washed,” but the Pharisees used an odd word for cleaning their utensils, cups, and dishes. They used the Greek word, “baptizó,” to dip or sink. This wasn’t a health code, it was a religious addendum to an Old Testament purification exercise.

Following the “letter of the Law,” and missing its intent was a favorite pastime of the Pharisees. The Law of Moses did prohibit contact with many things known to be unclean; and if any one had touched them they were seen as “unclean.” This cleansing was a health code, but had a hidden spiritual code to it as well. The command was given to the people so that a person would not approach the temple until they had cleansed themselves by the washing, prescribed in the Law. The spiritual object lesson was that by means of these ceremonial and bodily washings the Jews might be awakened to the necessity of spiritual cleansing when they came before a Holy God.

The Pharisees elevated and twisted the command to be purely an outward act of looking more holy by exceeding the simplicity of cleanliness to a legalistic practice for show! They even insulted their parents and God himself by adhering to and misquoting Ezekiel 20:18, “Do not follow the statutes of your parents or keep their laws or defile yourselves with their idols.” They made the simple spiritual lesson of “washing,” or preparing your heart to meet with God into an arrogant act of faking righteousness!

Now, as we often might do, we look at the religious practices of the Pharisees and say, yeah, “boo on organized religion,” or “deconstruct everything and cancel all the religious rules.” We would be missing Mark’s point of writing this story. Jesus was angry that God was misrepresented! And God’s Law was twisted and tweaked for human gain. Jesus said, “You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’ For you ignore God’s law and substitute your own tradition.”

We have the fulfillment of all the Law of God in and through Jesus himself. We complicate God and do similar as the Pharisees – even today. We have to stop adding things to the gospel! We have to quit making it difficult for people to see Jesus in us. The only people that respected the Pharisees were other religious leaders! The normal folk, despised them and feared them.

Jesus summed up God’s law – love God, love people. Jesus summed up how we should treat people, “love them LIKE I have loved you!” How has Jesus loved us, accepted us, forgiven us multiple times over? How often has God been patient with us, merciful towards us? Do not ignore God’s law and substitute our ideas of holiness, righteousness or forgiveability and pass them off as godly!

Prayer

Wow! I love Your word. I love Jesus words that cut through my religiosity, my judgmental attitudes and competitive comparisons to others. But oh how it stings when I must make decisions based on truth rather than customs. Help me, Oh God, to live to represent you well! Amen.

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Picking your own perfection.

Reading Time: 4 minutes

One Sabbath day as Jesus was walking through some grainfields, his disciples began breaking off heads of grain to eat. But the Pharisees said to Jesus, “Look, why are they breaking the law by harvesting grain on the Sabbath?” Jesus said to them, “Haven’t you ever read in the Scriptures what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He went into the house of God (during the days when Abiathar was high priest) and broke the law by eating the sacred loaves of bread that only the priests are allowed to eat. He also gave some to his companions.” Then Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord, even over the Sabbath!” ‭‭Mark‬ ‭2‬:‭23‬-‭28‬ ‭NLT‬‬

It would be interesting to have a list of the stories where Jesus tangled with the Pharisees and religious leaders specifically over breaking the Old Testament Laws of God.

Way back before God gave Israel the Ten Commandments, God instructed Moses to appoint 70 elders. God told Moses, these guys were specifically given to “bear the burden of the people,” you know, the needs, questions and constant complaints that people bring to leaders. And, God promised to take some of the Spirit on Moses and give it to these elders, kind of a Spirit-share program (‭‭Numbers‬ ‭11‬:‭16‬-‭17‬). Fast forward all the way to the New Testament, where we find those 70 elders then made up what was called the Sanhedrin. I’m not sure the promised “Spirit-shared” part came with this group throughout history. Combine this with the fact that after Israel returned from Captivity, the spiritual leadership (elders and priests) had seriously fallen apart because of years of idolatry, abuse of kingly appointed power and a general deterioration of true spiritual living. Even the Prophets would cease to exist.

Through Ezra the Scribe, a school for scribes was established. This from Chabad.org, “Ezra was born in Babylon, like many of the other great leaders, patriots and sages which the Jewish community in exile had produced. By profession he was a scribe; he used to write scrolls of the Torah, which he knew so well. Ezra was also a priest, a member of the priestly family of Aaron.” The construct of these socio-spiritual-political leaders would form the basis of the New Testament leadership that had many confrontational episodes with Jesus.

But policing the law would be more difficult than anyone would imagine. The “law” had exponentially expanded well beyond anyone’s capacity to keep it. It went from 10 Laws to 613 rules concerning the details of how to behave towards God and others. The 613 are basically rules on what to do when things go right, but also when they go wrong – 248 Positive Commandments (do’s) and 365 Negative Commandments (do not’s). But wait, there’s MORE! To make sure they followed every possible exception to the rules, they ended up with thousands of rules to legislate the original rules. There are even hundreds of “fence laws,” called “Eruv,” all dictating how to “legally” break the Sabbath!

Suffice it to say, managing these rules upon rules took up a lot of time and resources. The sad part is that by the time of Jesus, these rules had become so complicated they clouded the original intent of God’s plan. The average person just gave up trying to figure out how to please God. In fact, there was no real way to keep all the laws, therefore, no one could make God happy!

Because Jesus had a growing number of people talking about him and following him when he and his disciples came into town, the religious police/leaders felt it was their duty to confront him on his not-so-orthodox approach to their interpretation of the law. They had people watching and waiting for him, so the religious authorities could catch him in the act.

Of course there were plenty of opportunities! The Sabbath was the lightning rod of sacred confrontations. The Sabbath would be the low-hanging fruit because it would take place weekly and it was very noticeable if individuals were not keeping the expansive interpretation of the original Exodus 20:8, “Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.” Modern orthodox Jews even consider switching on or off an electric light a violation of the Sabbath because it “kindles or extinguishes a fire.”

Jesus loved breaking the additional human traditions because it allowed him to speak to the nonsense of our constant, nonsensical need to add to God’s law, thus proving our holiness or worthiness. FYI, Jesus was technically NOT breaking the Sabbath law because there is a huge difference between “harvesting,” grain – ie: WORK and “picking” food for a snack.

I wonder how much “church hurt” has been caused by people extending and adding to God’s intent for good, healthy behaviors into something restrictive and legalistic? Just think about all the hat, hair, pants and tattoo conversations! As long as I have a solid list of “do’s and don’ts,” I can depend on them instead of the righteousness that can only come through believing and trusting in Christ’s perfection for me.

Prayer

Dad,
I don’t know how folks have time to observe or monitor everyone else’s “supposed” sins, when we have so many of our own! I can barely keep up with my own shortcomings and failures – let alone track someone else’s. Help us God! Help me to not just think more like Jesus, but behave like him towards others. I have no desire to be the religious police, shaking down other’s sins! Let your grace and mercy continue to push against my tendencies to judge others. And, thank you for your perfection when you see me through the righteousness of Jesus.

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Religious brand of yeast.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“Later, after they crossed to the other side of the lake, the disciples discovered they had forgotten to bring any bread. “Watch out!” Jesus warned them. “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭16‬:‭5‬-‭6‬ ‭NLT‬‬

I am told that yeast has some pretty unique, if not plain freaky properties. IT’S ALIVE! I’m not a baker nor a microbiologist, studying eukaryotes (fungi), so my only experience with “leaven” is eating it in pizza or sourdough bread (yum). When I’m told that it can live forever, if properly fed and tended to, it’s pretty creepy. The fact that yeast has to eat and grows and spreads rapidly gives us the perfect object lesson from the most common household ingredient.

The subject of Biblical leaven is spoken of all through the gospels – zýmē, leaven (yeast); (figuratively) the spreading influence of what is typically concealed (but still very dramatic). Leaven is generally a symbol of the spreading nature of evil. Jesus gave multiple warnings about a particular brand of yeast – the religious brand, known as the Pharisee and Sadducee brand. You could pick it up everywhere that people gathered – water-cooler (city gates), church (temple), and grocery stores (marketplace). By the way, the Jews were only allowed to eat Jewish leavened bread, NOT Gentile’s bread. A simple synopsis, given by a Bible Commentary, highlights the beliefs of these two religious groups: “The doctrines the Pharisees taught were the commandments and inventions of men, the traditions of the elders, and justification by the works of the law: the doctrine of the Sadducees was, that there was no resurrection of the dead, nor angels, nor spirits: now because they sought secretly and artfully to infuse their notions into the minds of men; and which, when imbibed, spread their infection, and made men sour, morose, rigid, and ill natured, and swelled and puffed them up with pride and vanity.”

So there’s the brand of yeast, the mother – the starter! The real beauty of Jesus’ illustrations isn’t just the content of the yeast (the arrogant traditions), it was the insidious spreading of these beliefs that so quickly infected others. Its “mother” is traced back to the garden of eden when the choice was made to believe a lie over the truth. God told the first humans not eat because He himself was to teach them about good and evil. The tree was a shortcut to get the “knowledge” sooner, faster and satisfy their own desires as quickly as possible.

This starter brand of yeast was the choice to sin, and the religious zealots peddled it everywhere they went. The argument about who forgot the bread (while traveling WITH the bread of life) was a sure sign of Pharisee’s and Sadducee’s recipe. Jesus smelled the rising aroma of religious yeast, the division and lack of spiritual awareness, then warned his friends TWICE. Can you smell it?

If we could only smell the difference between the wonderful aroma of unity and spiritual perception rather than the attractive fumes of bitterness, division and solely physical experiences! The rising yeast of one is very different than the other. Jesus’ warning wasn’t that the religious bread stunk and could be identified by a putrid smell. Contrarily, it smelled like human desire, pungent and looking delicious to quickly take it and eat it. BEWARE He said. Maybe a modern axiom would be, “if it smells TOO good to be true.”

Prayer

Dad,
I don’t want to eat or promote the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees! I want to know, carry and share the aroma and bread of life – Your gospel – THE truth. Help us see and smell the difference through our thoughts, attitudes and behaviors. I noticed it showed up in how the disciples reacted to a problem and then turned to blame each other. Is this how it works? Give us wisdom in these last days to love one another and stay clear of sin’s religious yeast.

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Who is still plotting to kill Jesus?

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“Then the Pharisees called a meeting to plot how to kill Jesus.” Matthew‬ ‭12‬:‭14‬ ‭NLT‬‬

I know it sounds absurd! Weren’t the Pharisees the good guys? Didn’t the religious leaders work for God? How could things get so turned around to the point where they believed that Jesus (God in flesh) was the enemy of God?

For sure, the silence of heaven, when God did not speak for 400 hundred years, was difficult. The Jewish religious experts knew about this because the Talmud teaches, “After the last prophets Chaggai, Zechariah, and Malachi died, the Divine Spirit of prophetic revelation departed from the Jewish people.” And the last book in the Old Testament, Malachi, is the only prophetic book that ends not in deliverance but judgment; in fact, it ends with the word curse, Mal 4:5. One: God was not happy with the stubbornness of His people. Two: the promise to keep their end of the covenant would not be fulfilled.

In short, after 400 years, the Pharisees no longer remembered what God was like! And, the transition from protecting the ways of God to controlling people blinded them from seeing who God was. Jesus did not come in a cloud by day or fire by night. He came as an innocent, helpless baby, born in the most common circumstances of that day.

This is why some religious leaders are still plotting to kill today. They don’t recognize God working! They don’t understand what God is doing among us, so they desire to return to old, extracurricular practices and religious structures to protect what was once cherished, clear and simple. It was never Biblical, but it was an easy interpretation of the “law” or rules that suited the times of change.

The Pharisees were holding the line on certain Old Testament rules. This one was about rules regarding the sabbath. They wanted the people to stay within their designated boundaries and return to the “law” as they interpreted it. This new rabbi Jesus was a rebel! This lawbreaker would be treated like many traitors of God before him! This rabbi didn’t just break their rules, he encouraged others to join him. They must eliminate this rebellion against God! Matthew recorded this in 12:15, “But Jesus knew what they were planning. So he left that area, and many people followed him. He healed all the sick among them,”

Problem is, Jesus is God. What they called rebellion was in fact freedom. Who they saw as an enemy of God was in fact God’s son. What they called an insurrection would later be a resurrection!

Religion, religious practices and rules in addition to God’s principles are still used to control people and attempt to crush rebellion by using the Bible as the stick of correction. Jesus used this phrase so often, “you have heard it said,” referring to the strict, legal application of the Old Testament laws. But then Jesus, giving us the very character and heart of God, said, “but I say…”

We still have enemies of our soul within the community of faith and from without. God will do His work, bringing salvation and redemption to all humans. We should recognize His work, His character and stop plotting to kill the work of those who are being Jesus to our broken world. I know that no one would think they are outright plotting to kill Jesus today. But I do wonder about the motivations and movements of our spiritual and denominational leaders of the Church. Has God been silent and therefore they feel that they need to speak and act more vehemently against culture to protect God, His Church or His people? I don’t want to thwart God’s plans and ways of accomplishing His will by going backwards or religiously restricting us back to rules, rhythms and rituals that didn’t really work in the past. I want to hear God and move with Him.

Prayer

Dad,
I certainly do not want to be someone who knows you and kind of works for you (at least in the church community) yet becomes disconnected from you. I don’t want discouragement and frustration to fog or blur your purpose and plans for your Kingdom. I want to see your Spirit thrive and revive, heal and restore broken souls. I want to be a part of the revolution not try to constrain you working among us. Help us God, pour our your Holy Spirit once again.

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The law trap.

Reading Time: 4 minutes

“But some Pharisees saw them do it and protested, “Look, your disciples are breaking the law by harvesting grain on the Sabbath.” Matthew‬ ‭12‬:‭2‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Any casual reader would come upon this story and think to themselves, what law? The religious leaders had made themselves into the religious police. Who protected and promoted God while He was silent? They did. Who protected the sacred texts and cultural ways of God when His people all but abandoned their faith? They did. They had earned the right to speak for God because they believed they were the only ones capable and righteous enough to do so! Thank you for your service Pharisees, but you missed one BIG truth. God didn’t need nor ask you to do that.

The job, the attitude, the title and authority… were all self appointed.

And because, they maintained the persona of “experts,” they spent much of their time being religious monitors for all of what was left of Israel. The average person must have loved and feared having them around. I say loved because they knew they were not as holy or righteous as they should be, so the Pharisees set the standard (unattainable as it was). Hated because they could never be as perfect or righteous as the religious leaders. They had to always be on guard against violating the religious laws and reaping the physical and cultural consequences of their behaviors. Imagine being under the thumb of TWO oppressive systems! One, the Roman oppression, filled with horrible treatment and atrocities, alone with massive taxation. Two, the religious oppression, also filled with glaring judgment and taxation.

The Pharisees delighted in catching and judging violations of “the law.” Granted “the law” had expanded far beyond the big 10 commandments and even beyond the cultural health codes that God had given to Israel to teach them and to help them survive the wild open plains of nomadic living. The religious legal code had swelled to over 613 codes and code violations that were supposed to “help” the righteous obey the original laws and codes God prescribed.

Matthew records one of many times the Pharisees “caught” rabbi Jesus or his followers “breaking” the law. Ah, but a Jesus wasn’t an ordinary rabbi. He wasn’t just trained to know the laws (and codes) of God. He was trained to actually KNOW God Himself. Who knows when Jesus knew who he really was. But, from a very young age (12), Jesus focused his life on one thing – he must be about his Father’s business! And he wasn’t taking about being a stonemason and carpenter.

Jesus was clearly capable of not only knowing God’s law, but perfectly comfortable talking about the intent of those laws and the inevitable “loopholes” that come with them. You see the Pharisees had forever found loopholes that served themselves and those loopholes were used to their advantage and the poor’s disadvantage. You don’t think this irritated God? Jesus had also found loopholes of mercy, which served the intent and principle of the law without violating it. Smart right? Yeah, righteously brilliant!

Jesus’ killer lines to address the Pharisees’ hearts are amazing. “Haven’t you read?” Oh snap, isn’t that the coolest. Oh, my friends, you must have missed the part where God allows for special circumstances 😳. Again, principles can accommodate special circumstances without violating the intent of a law. He quoted David’s and Moses’s behaviors that clearly violated the strict reading of the religious law they had been propagating. Jesus’ name dropping of high-level and beloved leaders was no accident! I love that Jesus even admitted, David “broke the law.” And Moses, “allowed” the priests to break the law as well. Touché Jesus.

But even still, Jesus wasn’t trying to one-up the Pharisees, shaming them (even though they deserved it) or to just win a religious argument (too often done today). His intent was to soften the hardened hearts of the religious leaders who might hear the truth and be set free. He told them exactly where the law leads and why it is so ineffective. Quoting Hosea 6:6, Jesus tells them, “I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.”

The law shows no mercy. The law has no capacity for mercy. In fact, the law is and was used to show the legal and moral reasoning of why judgment MUST be pronounced on all who break it! The system of justice shows no mercy because it is impervious to excuses, causes or reasons for violating it.

People say they want justice for all, but that can hardly be true. We don’t want true justice for all because that would mean true judgment and death for all. None are perfect – we know this instinctively! We just want weird forms of justice on our opinionated, loopholed, lopsided views! Jesus sets up the inescapable truth, mercy is the only way out and He is the only one to show it, live it and prove it by His death and resurrection. We can only get mercy through Christ.

Prayer

Dad,
I would not, do want, to be judge by the law! I am fine living and thriving under your mercy and grace! However, seeing my own sinfulness and inability to not just keep the Old Testament Law, but knowing that I am sadly still making sinful decisions keeps my judginess in check. Of course I glare at bad drivers and get angry at bad fathers or husbands, but I also know how much I have failed and how desperate I am for your grace. Thank your for the work of Jesus on the cross for my sin and His resurrection power in me today.

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Who let the dogs out?

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭7‬:‭6‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Jesus lays down these rapid-fire sayings for a quick jab to the heart for those who are listening, having ears to hear. What starts this specific volley of pithy punches are the words “judge not.” That should stop just about any human being that lives in a family or community of any kind. A passerby might hear that and say to themselves, “what did that man say?” Is he talking to me or about me? Judge not? That’s impossible!

Both judging and being judged is a human right, even a privilege one might say. ​Jesus explained, whatever “krima” judgement or “metron” measurement you use towards others will also be used towards yourself. Well that won’t work! We judge others by their behaviors, but we judge ourselves by our motives. A wild, highway driver cuts you off, almost hitting your car. We judge – that is dangerous and they should get a ticket. However, when we cut someone off, nearly hitting them, we say, “but I was late for work.” Jesus gets inside our head and causes us to think about hard things from God’s perspective not ours.

Jesus then tells the humorous illustration of a nearly blind person trying to do ocular surgery on someone who temporarily has an eyelash stuck in their eye. Pure godly comedy, I say!

Jesus closes this particular vignette with this strange “introverted parallelism” illustration. An object lesson about wild dogs and pigs. Never mind for a moment that Jesus is speaking to Jewish listeners who hate both dogs and pigs because they were nasty, “unclean” (forbidden to eat) animals. It would be like telling a story of a pet cockroach and how you feed it prime rib from your dinner plate. Yuk.

Jesus said that there are times when it’s a complete waste of time spending words of life or even holy advice on those who are vehemently opposed to God talk. In other words, they don’t have a beef with you or your words, they have major issues with God himself. In these cases of clearly oppositional discussions, it’s your loss if you spend your words in hopes of a decent conversation. It would be like taking fine jewelry and feeding it to wild pigs. I hear pigs will eat anything! Your gems will just end up in a poop pile. Or for the Jews in this story, it would be like taking the precious sacrifice of one of your perfect animals after it has given its innocent life in symbolic substitution for your sin. Then, instead of that meat, which has been specially designated and dedicated to God, you waste it by giving it to wild dogs.

Jesus even says you’ve got to be extra cautious about that move – giving what’s dedicated to God to deeply bitter, angry people. Because they may turn on you and in anger towards God, take it out directly on you! Whoa. Who is Jesus talking about? Who are the wild pigs and dogs? The average person listening to Jesus’ sermons? Maybe. But more likely they are the angry, bitter, beyond our ability to reach, teachers and experts in the law – the Pharisees.

Are they really that vicious, that vindictive? Don’t they work for God? Yes and yes, but folks like these are dangerous and have very sharp teeth. What did Jesus know about them, that we don’t? These are the guys who would soon turn and attack God himself, framing Him, setting up a mock trial, then killing him on a criminal’s cross. Are there people still that angry, that violent today? Yes, they hate God enough to hate you as well.

Prayer

Dad,
It’s hard to imagine that there are people that hate you so much that they have no problem being violent towards those who believe in you today. I guess that rebellion against truth can do some nasty stuff to one’s soul. I see some who are that angry. My heart breaks for them as well. Yet even in all the viscous behaviors around us, my hope is that you can reach them and still save them – even from themselves.