The Problem with Pharisees

 

Thursday, March 24, 2022

The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life.  I will advise you and watch over you.  Do not be like a senseless horse or mule that needs a bit and bridle to keep it under control.”  Psalm 32:8-9

If you check out the Gospels of the New Testament[1] just about every interaction between Jesus and the Pharisees didn’t end pretty.  In fact, Jesus was harder on this bunch than any criminal or outcast.  Setting that track record against all the smarmy stuff that’s said or written about how Jesus was soft and acccepting to all people, we get a sense that something needs explanation.  For that, the common mule will do.  More about the mule in a moment.

Pharisees were religious lawyers.  They had the task of leading Israel to live godly lives, worshipping and serving God like the holy nation God wanted.  That meant interpreting the words of Moses in the books of the law[2] into everyday lessons for living.  What they ended up doing was taking the 10 Commandments, which were principles to be applied to decision-making, and turning them into over 600 rules to be memorized. 

The Psalmist said that was like putting a bit and bridle on a mule.  A mule is smart enough to be stubbornly-independent, wanting to go where he wants to go.  But to fulfill that for which he was created, he needs to be led.  Forcing an animal to comply to a task’s purpose may get the task done, but it makes no friends.  Nor does it make the doing of the task easier or more rewarding.

The Lord’s advice to us is to choose better than being forced into doing His bidding.  He offers us a light to see the best pathway through life, one where we can complete His will, and enjoy doing it.

The difference between mule-compliance, and man-cooperation, is what we call the Surrendered Life.  We surrender to God’s will, because He is a gracious God who would rather have our friendship and love, than a stable full of mules who have to be turned this way or that by a bit and bridle.

The problem with Pharisees and mules is it’s hard to see past the choice of our will or God’s will.  We want what we want, and often it’s what’s right in front of us.  Like Eve wanted what the serpent pointed out, we prefer to make our own decisions, rather than trust God to lead us into to a better life. 

For You Today

Humans are presented with a choice every day…my way or His way.  Pharisees and mules need bits and bridles of rules that command do it this way, not that way.  A disciple has a friend who walks with you on the best path and sticks closer than a brother[3].

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title image: Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

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[1] Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John

[2] The first five books of Holy Scripture (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy)

[3] See Proverbs 18:24

Blessed Enemy

[1]

Thursday, August 17, 2017

Then I saw in heaven another marvelous event of great significance.  Seven angels were holding the seven last plagues, which would bring God’s wrath to completion.  I saw before me what seemed to be a glass sea mixed with fire.  And on it stood all the people who had been victorious over the beast and his statue and the number representing his name.  They were all holding harps that God had given them.  And they were singing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb:

“Great and marvelous are your works, O Lord God, the Almighty.  Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations.  Who will not fear you, Lord, and glorify your name?  For you alone are holy.  All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous deeds have been revealed.”  Revelation 15:1-4^(NLT)

I have this love-hate kind of adversarial relationship with my radiation mask.  Every weekday for the past few weeks I’ve willingly climbed on the table and two sweet technicians begin their torture routine:

Head back…no not that way…c’mon lift those knees a bit…shoulders down…more…!  Then comes the mask (which was custom-made to fit my facial and shoulder contours) pinning me to the table with little fastening clips that hold a preacher in place so the radiation can fry my vocal cords.  Well, more accurately, so they can fry the tumor on my vocal cords.  That mask presses me down more tightly than ugly is found inside an envelope from the IRS!  I hate that mask; I love that mask!  There are times in life when you wake up to a startling fact:  not everything which opposes you is really the enemy. 

Who we are and What we do

Ambivalence, those mixed feelings, when you despise something, yet there is something redeeming that pulls you towards it…is something we find in many passages of Holy Scripture.  Mostly this is because Scripture deals with who we are, and what we do. 

Human beings are created in the image of God with body, soul, and spirit.  We possess the gift of autonomy, the freedom to choose.  Because we have free will to determine how we live, we are also subject to the outcome of our actions.  We love the freedom and often despise the consequences.  When we find ourselves hating what we are experiencing, but deep-down knowing there is something necessary about it, we have to remember the bad news of our circumstance is often a messenger of hope. 

So, how should you act when that kind of messenger shows up?

When the doctor said it was cancer, and made this barbaric medieval mask to make my treatment more accurate and effective, I did not shoot the messenger!

When a parent violently snatches her small child off the railroad tracks because there is a train coming, that Mom is not the enemy!

When a true friend delivers the news that you’re walking dangerously close to ruining your reputation with something you’ve been planning to do, there’s a reason to stop and listen.

And when God sends the last of seven plagues on the earth, it will not be because He despises mankind.  Scripture declares it will be the signal for unending eternal praise to begin, for God has completed His promise of redemption…and the party is about to begin!

If my doctor’s treatment to address the physical enemy in my throat works the way he planned, in another 19 days my relationship with the mask will come to a merciful end.  A few weeks later I should start to feel a whole lot better.  It will have been a difficult, but blessed relationship with my mask…my blessed enemy!

For You Today

At times in our lives it may seem like God is the enemy, that He’s trampling all the grapes of wrath on your head.  But never despair in that direction; He is the truest of friends, faithful and strong on your behalf.  Be of good courage!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!

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[1] Title Image:  Russell Brownworth (own work)