July 26, 2020
There is only one group in the whole
Gospels that get this kind of response from Jesus: Pharisees. If there was
something that made Jesus angry was the imposition of rules on others without a
passionate relationship with God. You can force people into a loving
relationship with God. Peter denied Jesus three times. John was insensitive to
Jesus’ moment of need. Nicodemus only came to Jesus under the cover of night.
None of them were labeled as hypocrites by Jesus. None of them got this
treatment, only the Pharisees. Why? They were more concerned with what was
going on the exterior than with what was going on in the interior. While the people
perish like sheep without a shepherd, the Pharisees, who knew the Word of God,
were more concerned with whether or not people were eating with dirty hands
than living with clean hearts. They were more concerned in finding loopholes
that would keep them from honoring their parents than they were with truly
living the word of God. Jesus was willing to deal with denial, insensitivity
and cowardliness, but not with hypocrites.
Why do you think that the Pharisees
were so focused on the whether or not the disciples cleaned their hands? What
would be a current equivalent of this situation?
Do you agree with the way that Jesus
treated the Pharisees?
In what areas of your life have you
focused more on the exterior than the interior? Be Honest.
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