In Matthew 12:9-13 the story is told of the man with the withered hand. Basically the Pharisees try to trap Jesus and ask him if it's lawful to heal on the Sabbath. Not willing to be trapped, Jesus points how out how the Pharisees would rescue their sheep out of a pit on the Sabbath.
"How much then is a man better than a sheep?" he asks. And he then states, "Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days."
So what was the Pharisees main focus, where were they wrong?
For a long time I thought that the Pharisees big problem was that they were hypocrites. They pretended to be all perfect and spiritual when they had all sorts of sins hiding in the closet. Of course they would preach against everybody doing wrong and then they would turn around and do it themselves.
More recently I was introduced to the idea that the main fault of the Pharisees was that they were all stuck on traditions. They were all about continuing in the religious ruts they'd grown in. They weren't interested in n a living relationship with Jesus. Their traditions were more important.
For the past couple Sundays I've come to a new way of looking at the Pharisees main fault and focus. It's this, plain and simple: they were focused on themselves. Self-righteousness was their core issue. The law and traditions were both simply tools in their hands to make themselves look good and others bad.
They didn't really care about the Sabbath; they would pull their sheep out of a pit if was to their advantage. They just wanted to be able to say, "Jesus doesn't keep the Sabbath, I do. Jesus doesn't obey the law, I do. Jesus must not love God, I do."
Accusing was their passion. Showing off was their way of life.
Think about the prayers of the Pharisee and the publican. Luke 18:10-12 "Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. 11The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. 12I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess." The Pharisee would've totally ditched their tradition if it didn't feed their self-righteous addiction.
Accusing and bragging, was their focus.
Good thing we don't do that. No, we never brag. We never look at how were doing it better than others. We never self-righteously accuse others of doing it all wrong. Pointing fingers never even comes to mind. We always let others praise us, not our own lips. We are always a perfect example of humility. We never list our own accomplishments in our minds.
Or do we? Maybe we're a lot more like the Pharisees than we want to realize.
"How much then is a man better than a sheep?" he asks. And he then states, "Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days."
So what was the Pharisees main focus, where were they wrong?
For a long time I thought that the Pharisees big problem was that they were hypocrites. They pretended to be all perfect and spiritual when they had all sorts of sins hiding in the closet. Of course they would preach against everybody doing wrong and then they would turn around and do it themselves.
More recently I was introduced to the idea that the main fault of the Pharisees was that they were all stuck on traditions. They were all about continuing in the religious ruts they'd grown in. They weren't interested in n a living relationship with Jesus. Their traditions were more important.
For the past couple Sundays I've come to a new way of looking at the Pharisees main fault and focus. It's this, plain and simple: they were focused on themselves. Self-righteousness was their core issue. The law and traditions were both simply tools in their hands to make themselves look good and others bad.
They didn't really care about the Sabbath; they would pull their sheep out of a pit if was to their advantage. They just wanted to be able to say, "Jesus doesn't keep the Sabbath, I do. Jesus doesn't obey the law, I do. Jesus must not love God, I do."
Accusing was their passion. Showing off was their way of life.
Think about the prayers of the Pharisee and the publican. Luke 18:10-12 "Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. 11The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. 12I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess." The Pharisee would've totally ditched their tradition if it didn't feed their self-righteous addiction.
Accusing and bragging, was their focus.
Good thing we don't do that. No, we never brag. We never look at how were doing it better than others. We never self-righteously accuse others of doing it all wrong. Pointing fingers never even comes to mind. We always let others praise us, not our own lips. We are always a perfect example of humility. We never list our own accomplishments in our minds.
Or do we? Maybe we're a lot more like the Pharisees than we want to realize.
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