Pharisees’ Role in Scripture

Pharisees’ Role In Scripture

TAX COLLECTORS AND SINNERS

When we consider men who were friends of Jesus, we need to remember that Jesus was especially close to ordinary persons and that He had great affection for “tax collectors and sinners.” Most of the population despised tax collectors as collaborators with oppressive foreign or local governments. “Sinners” was a term broadly applied in New Testament times by the religious elite. It included such persons as prostitutes, but at times was applied to the mass of ordinary people who were not as rigorous in keeping the rulings of the rabbis.

Jesus, who attended parties given by the tax collectors Matthew and Zacchaeus for their friends (Matt. 9:10–13; Mark 2:15–17; Luke 5:30–32; 19:1–10), was strongly criticized for being a “friend of tax collectors and sinners” (Matt. 11:19; Luke 7:34). Yet, it was sinners Jesus had come to save, and those who knew they were sinners were most responsive to Christ. Jesus not only felt comfortable with them; they felt comfortable with Him.

What a challenge for us today to be as loving and accepting as Christ was so we can communicate love for sinners while in no way countenancing their sin.

THE PHARISEES

The Pharisees, along with the Sadducees, chief priests, and scribes (experts in rabbinic interpretation of Moses’ Law) stand in stark contrast with publicans and sinners. These groups were the religious elite, noted for and proud of their piety. Rather than welcome Jesus and His message, these men were maliciously hostile to Christ. They viewed Jesus as a threat to their position and power, and they used every means possible to oppose Him. While not every Pharisee was like those portrayed in the Gospels, several incidents involving the religious elite reveal their flaws.

THE PHARISEES’ ROLE IN SCRIPTURE

The hypocrisy of the Pharisees (Matt. 15:1–9).When some scribes and Pharisees challenged Jesus because His disciples did not follow a rabbinic tradition and wash their hands in the ritually prescribed manner before eating, Jesus struck back. He pointed to a rabbinic practice called corban, which permitted a person to dedicate possessions to the temple while retaining lifetime use. They used this “gift to God” as an excuse for not providing for parents! How hypocritical it was for men who used rabbinic traditions to contravene God’s clear command to honor parents to criticize others for failure to keep a minor tradition!

Near the end of Christ’s life on earth, He openly confronted the Pharisees and religious elite concerning their hypocrisy. We can read His condemnation of them in Matthew 23.

The heartlessness of the Pharisees(Matt. 12:9–14). When Jesus entered a synagogue where there was a man with a withered hand, the Pharisees used the cripple to try to get at Jesus. They asked Christ if it was legal to heal on the Sabbath. As the rabbis considered giving medical treatment to be work, doctoring was allowed on the Sabbath only if a person’s condition was life-threatening. But Jesus pointed out that the elite themselves called for helping a farm animal that fell into a pit on the Sabbath. How much more valuable a human being is to God than an animal!

————————

Public prayer was one way in which many Pharisees sought to impress others with their piety.

————————v————————

Jesus then healed the cripple, an act that showed viewers how heartless the so-called shepherds of Israel really were. Shamed and angry, “the Pharisees went out and plotted against Him, how they might destroy him” (Matt. 12:14).

The Pharisee’s deceptions(Matt. 12:22–32). When Jesus healed a demon-possessed man, the religious leaders were unable to deny the miracle. As such miracles were understood to be signs by which God authenticated a prophet, the Pharisees would logically be forced to assume that Jesus truly had been sent by God. To avoid admitting the obvious, the Pharisees began a whispering campaign against Jesus, charging him with being in league with the devil. Yes, Jesus had cast out demons, but that was because the devil had helped Him—not because Jesus acted in God’s power and overcame the demons!

Christ not only exposed the ridiculous nature of this argument, but He also warned His accusers. To recognize supernatural acts performed by the Holy Spirit and then credit those acts to the devil was committing a sin that would not be forgiven. The religious leaders had demonstrated a hardness to revelation that nothing could overcome.

————————v————————

JOSEPHUS ON THE PHARISEES

Not all Pharisees were like the hypocrites Jesus condemned in Matthew 23. Some, like Nicodemus (see page 193), believed in Jesus, although secretly. Many were completely earnest men who honestly sought to honor God. The Pharisees themselves condemned the hypocrites among them. The Babylonian Talmud (tractate Sotah, 22B) denounced six types of hypocritical Pharisees, leveling many of the same criticisms Jesus leveled. However, the Pharisees of the Gospels were those who took the leadership in openly opposing Christ. Jesus identified and condemned their underlying motives.

The generally positive view held in the first century of the Pharisees is reflected in the historian Josephus, who wrote in his Antiquities, (18:12–15):

The Pharisees simplify their standard of living, making no concession to luxury. They follow the guidance of that which their doctrine has selected and transmitted as good, attaching the chief importance to the observance of those commandments that it has seen fit to dictate to them. They show respect and deference to their elders, nor do they rashly presume to contradict their proposals.

Though they postulate that everything is brought about by fate, still they do not deprive the human will of the pursuit of what is in man’s power, since it was God’s pleasure that there should be a fusion and that the will of man with his virtue and vice should be admitted to the council-chamber of fate. They believe that souls have power to survive death and there are rewards and punishments under the earth for those who have led lives of virtue or vice, eternal imprisonment is the lot of evil souls, while the good souls receive an easy passage to a new life.

Because of these views they are, as a matter of fact, extremely influential among the townsfolks; and all prayers and sacred rites of divine worship are performed according to their exposition. This is the great tribute that the inhabitants of the cities, by practicing the highest ideals both in their way of living and in their doctrine, have paid to the excellence of the Pharisees.

————————v————————

THE PHARISEES: AN EXAMPLE FOR TODAY

The Gospels record several other incidents that show Jesus’ steadily deteriorating relationship with the religious elite. Christ threatened the foundations of their power, and they were determined to rid themselves of Him. They remain today tragic figures whose lives teach us what not to do if we would be true followers of Jesus.

•     The Pharisees were dedicated to maintaining their position of influence and power. Influence and power can be as addictive as a love for money, and they are often chosen over commitment to the Lord.

•     The Pharisees were so committed to their beliefs that they lost sight of God’s love for people. To do what we believe is right is important, but we must always remain aware that God’s priority is people and that we need to reevaluate our convictions when those lead us to be unloving.

•     The Pharisees possessed clear evidence that God had sent Jesus, but they chose to reject that evidence. They searched desperately for biblical texts and for arguments to use against Jesus and to support their already-formed decision to oppose Him. We need to remember that a closed mind is as great a barrier to truth as it is a defense against error.

^[1]