JESUS VERSUS THE PHARISEES
PHARISEE…There were two main groups of Jews at
the time of Jesus. There were called the Pharisees and the Sadducee. The
Pharisees said that they believed the whole Old Testament. They tried to obey
all God’s laws. But often they pretended to be holier than they really were.
They obeyed many unimportant rules. But often they failed to obey God’s most
important rules. And they refused to listen Jesus. They cared more about their
religion than about God. Not all Pharisees behaved this way. Their leaders
opposed Jesus. But many other Pharisees believed Jesus. They realised that God
sent Jesus so they trusted Jesus.
PHARISEE….One of a group of Jews who thought
they kept all God’s command. They did not like the things that Jesus taught.
They thought that their opinions about religion were always right. So many Pharisees
became proud {EASY ENGLISH BIBLE
DICTIONARY}
I remembered back in high school how
senior students dealt with proud and arrogant junior class students. Senior
students, having noticed a recurring display of arrogance and disobedience by a
particular male junior student, make plans on how to humble him by inviting him
over to their classroom and giving him a practically impossible task to do. For
example, a car is drawn on one end of the chalk board and he is asked to push
the car to the other end of the chalk board without using a chalk. He must not
wipe the original car, only to push it with his hands. That is like asking him
to perform a magic. It is something practically impossible to do and they’ve
got punishment waiting for him if he couldn’t do it. It was all done just to
humble him until he begs and cries out for help.
The Jews are a very proud set of people
whose display of arrogance was irritating to Christ Jesus in His days. They
believed they were so righteous because Abraham was their father and because
they’ve kept the laws of Moses all their lives that they did not need Jesus to
be their saviour. The most pretentious sect of Jews were the Pharisees. They
thought that they were too important and clever and so looked down on Jesus and
opposed him forcefully. They felt they knew all the laws of Moses and kept all
of them even though the truth was that they broke the most important laws. They
believed their opinion about religion was the best and so countered Jesus’
teachings and tempted Him severally to see if he would fault the laws. They
were perpetually arrogant. They felt they were the most righteous people on the
face of the earth and that was based on their own assessment of how much of
God’s laws they pretended to have kept.
3 And the scribes
and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set
her in the midst,
4 They say unto
him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.
5 Now Moses in the
law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?
6 This they said,
tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and
with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. {John 8:3-6}
On the other hand was a meek Jesus who
was sent by God the father to rescue these arrogant people from their sins
event though they didn’t know they were living in sin. They were blinded by
their self-righteousness and pride. They were in bondage but knew it not. When
the TRUTH came to set them free from the bondage of the law of sin and death,
they rejected Him and argued that they have never been in bondage and that they
were Abraham’s seed. Abraham’s covenant partner stood before them in human form
but they couldn’t recognize Him. They resisted Him with all the energy they
had.
21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt
call his name Jesus: for
he shall save his people from their sins. {Matthew 1:21}
10 But
although he made the world, the world didn’t recognize him when he came. 11-12 Even in his own land and among his own people, the Jews, he
was not accepted {John 1:10-11 TLB}
Jesus didn’t just come to earth to
discover by surprise that His people were living in sin. He knew it before He
left heaven to earth and it was because of their sins that He became flesh and
dwelt among men. But surprisingly, the people He came to rescue from sin were
claiming to be overly righteous. They rejected Him. He was amazed by their
pride and arrogance. Listen to what they said to the One who came to set them
free:
32 And ye shall know
the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
33 They answered
him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest
thou, Ye shall be made free?
34 Jesus answered
them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant
of sin.
35 And the servant
abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.
36 If the Son
therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
37 I know that ye
are Abraham's seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in
you. { John 8:32-37}
They sought to kill the one who
came to give them life. They were servants of sin but refused to accept the
truth. They were enslaved by the inherited monster, the sinful nature but pride
blinded their eyes. Jesus proved again to them that He knew they were all
sinners even though they pretended to be holy by keeping Moses’s law. Here is
the proof of their sin:
7 So when they
continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is
without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
8 And again he
stooped down, and wrote on the ground.
9 And they which
heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one,
beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the
woman standing in the midst.
10 When Jesus had
lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where
are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?
11 She said, No man,
Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.{
John 8:7-11}
When Jesus said he that is
without sin should cast the first stone, He knew they were all guilty of sin.
If He didn’t know He would not have made such a statement because if
peradventure one or two were righteous, they would have stoned the woman to
death. But He knew there was none righteous among them all. He knew they were all
born sinful from their mother’s womb. He knew they broke God’s laws every now
and again. He knew sin was controlling their lives. Jesus, angry at their
arrogance said this again to prove He knew they were dying in Sin.
24 I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in
your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. {John
8:24}
These same people who drank
iniquity like water continued in their arrogance and pride. They believed so
much in keeping the laws of Moses so Jesus had to focus on the Law of Moses
since they didn’t want to accept His message of Grace. All they wanted was to
obey the laws and reject Jesus. So Jesus needed to humble them by making the
laws more difficult for them. He told them to obey laws that He knew were
practically impossible for any man to obey. He needed to prove to them that
they were all guilty of sin. He had to heighten their condemnation by
heightening the demands of the law. He was asking them to do the impossible job
of pushing the car on the chalk board. He wanted to break their proud wings
until they were humble enough to realize that they needed a saviour. Now I am
going to show you several instances where Jesus Christ heightened the demands
of the law just to humble them and make them depend on Him.
16 Someone
came to Jesus with this question: “Good master, what must I do to have eternal
life?”
17 “When
you call me good you are calling me God,” Jesus replied, “for God
alone is truly good.[c] But
to answer your question, you can get to heaven if you keep the commandments.”
18 “Which
ones?” the man asked.
And Jesus replied, “Don’t kill, don’t commit
adultery, don’t steal, don’t lie,19 honor
your father and mother, and love your neighbor as yourself!”
20 “I’ve
always obeyed every one of them,” the youth replied. “What else must I do?”
21 Jesus
told him, “If you want to be perfect, go and sell everything you have and
give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come,
follow me.” 22 But
when the young man heard this, he went away sadly, for he was very rich.
23 Then
Jesus said to his disciples, “It is almost impossible for a rich man to
get into the Kingdom of Heaven. 24 I
say it again—it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than
for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God!”
25 This
remark confounded the disciples. “Then who in the world can be saved?” they
asked.
26 Jesus
looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, no one. But with God,
everything is possible.”{Matthew 19:16-26 TLB}
Now this young man came to Jesus thinking he was
already perfect because he has kept some laws. He came with pride to prove to
Jesus that he was perfect only to discover that it was impossible for him to be
perfect without God’s help. He hasn’t killed, committed adultery, stolen
neither has he dishonoured his parents nor hated his neighbours but he was
still not perfect in God’s sight. Jesus told him to sell all his possessions
and give the money to the poor before he can become perfect. Now that was
impossible for him to do because he had great possessions. I believe that even
if he did what Jesus asked him to do, he would still not be perfect because
Jesus would have asked him to do another almost impossible thing until he
realizes that he can’t be perfect by himself. When the disciples saw how
impossible it is to be perfect, they cried out “who then can be saved?” Jesus’
answer to them was profound. It is a statement you hear people make every day
but not even church leaders have understood the real meaning of that statement.
Here it is “Humanly speaking, no one. But with God everything is possible” What Jesus was saying was that for human
beings, it is impossible to be perfect or be saved by yourself but when you
accept Christ it becomes possible for you to be perfect. If you remember He had
preached to the people “be ye perfect even as your heavenly father is perfect”.
In fact He made that statement at the end of Matthew chapter five after He had
spent the entire chapter heightening the law and making it more difficult and
almost impossible for anyone to obey. The most surprising part was not that He
made the law’s demands almost impossible to meet but that He asked them to be
as perfect as God the father. If it was possible for anyone to be as perfect as
God the father by their own effort, why then did He leave heaven to come die
for us? If when the law’s demand was seemingly moderate to bear, mankind was
condemned to be sinners by it, how possible is it that anyone can become
perfect now that its demands have been heightened and made almost practically
impossible to obey. He knew what He was saying. He knew it was impossible for
anyone to be perfect without God’s help. He knew He was going to make them
perfect if they accept Him as their Lord and saviour. Most preachers believe
that He meant that we must keep all the laws of Moses before we can be perfect.
No! Not all. He knew the impossibility of keeping all the laws of Moses. He
knew that for Humans it is impossible, that was why He came to fulfil all the
laws for us so that by having faith in Him we also would have fulfilled the
demands of the law. He knew that only His death and resurrection could make us
perfect. He alone perfected us and it is forever.
48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father
which is in heaven is perfect. {Matthew 5:48}
12 Christ,
however, offered one sacrifice for sins, an offering that is effective forever,
and then he sat down at the right side of God. 13 There
he now waits until God puts his enemies as a footstool under his feet. 14 With
one sacrifice, then, he has made perfect forever those who are purified from
sin. {Hebrews 10:12-14 GNT}
Let’s
look at another scenario where Jesus heightened the demands of the law. Please
notice that before Christ came people have been battling with fornication and
adultery even till date. Now you must understand that before any fornication or
adultery, there must have first been lust. You must have looked at a woman
lustfully. Some men however have looked lustfully at women but didn’t have sex
with them. The ones who felt they were righteous because they only lusted but
didn’t have sex would have accused the ones who had sex of sin. Now Christ
shows up and says if you look at a woman lustfully, you have already had sex
with her in your heart, therefore you have sinned. That will now increase the
number of sinners, not only those who had sex are sinners now but also those
who lusted without having sex. Now my question is this: Did Christ come to save
His people from their sins or He came to increase the number of sinners and
make sin exceedingly sinful?
27 Ye have heard
that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
28 But I say unto
you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed
adultery with her already in his heart. {Matthew 5:27-28}
Permit me to read some more
verses of Matthew chapter five and you will see how the law’s demands was
heightened and how sin was made exceedingly sinful.
21 Ye have heard
that it was said of them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall
kill shall be in danger of the judgment:
22 But I say unto
you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in
danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be
in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in
danger of hell fire.
23 Therefore if thou
bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought
against thee;
24 Leave there thy
gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and
then come and offer thy gift.
25 Agree with thine
adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the
adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer,
and thou be cast into prison.
26 Verily I say unto
thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost
farthing.
27 Ye have heard
that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
28 But I say unto
you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed
adultery with her already in his heart.
29 And if thy right
eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for
thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should
be cast into hell.
30 And if thy right
hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for
thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should
be cast into hell.
31 It hath been
said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of
divorcement:
32 But I say unto
you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of
fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that
is divorced committeth adultery.
33 Again, ye have
heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear
thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths:
34 But I say unto
you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God's throne:
35 Nor by the earth;
for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great
King.
36 Neither shalt
thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black.
37 But let your
communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh
of evil.
38 Ye have heard
that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:
39 But I say unto
you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right
cheek, turn to him the other also.
40 And if any man
will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.
41 And whosoever
shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.
42 Give to him that
asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.
43 Ye have heard
that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
44 But I say unto
you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate
you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
45 That ye may be
the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise
on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
46 For if ye love
them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
47 And if ye salute
your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?
48 Be ye therefore
perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. {Matthew 5:21-48}
You see, people of God, all this was done so that sin will
become exceedingly sinful. So that all men will be condemned under sin and
realize the need for a saviour. He said all that was said in His preaching so
that no man can boast of keeping the entire law. He wanted man to need Him so
He had to increase conviction because until you are convicted of sin, you don’t
see the need for repentance.
You only
need a saviour when you recognize how helpless and incapacitated you are. What
Jesus did was to block every angle where their pride and self- righteousness
could come from so that they would know that without Him no man can see the
Father. When that has been done He can now say to them like He said unto Thomas
in John chapter 14 verse 6
” I am
The Way, The Truth and The Life, no man cometh to the father except through
me.”
As I
round off this chapter for want of space, I want to quickly explain a statement
made by Jesus that has been misunderstood by many Christians. That statement
was made in Matthew chapter 5 verse 20
“For I say unto you, That
except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and
Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
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