Tag Archives: Pharisees

Where Was The Sacrifice?

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WHERE WAS THE SACRIFICE?

“That set the religion scholars and Pharisees buzzing. ’Who does He think He is? That’s blasphemous talk! God and only God can forgive sins.’ Jesus knew exactly what they were thinking and said, ‘Why all this gossipy whispering? Which is simpler: to say ‘I forgive your sins,’ or to say ‘Get up and start walking?’ Well, just so it’s clear that I’m the Son of Man and authorised to do either, or both…’ He now spoke directly to the paraplegic: ‘Get up. Take your bedroll and go home.’ Without a moment’s hesitation, he did it — got up, took his blanket, and left for home, giving glory to God all the way.

“The people rubbed their eyes, incredulous — and then also gave glory to God. Awestruck, they said, ‘We’ve never seen anything like that!'” Luke 5:21-26 (The Message).

Aha! Now it’s clear what the scribes and Pharisees were up to. They were not after Jesus because they loved His teaching or what He was doing. Far from it. They had a more sinister motive for following Him from one end to Israel to the other.

At this early stage in His ministry they had already recognised Him to be a threat to their cushy lives. Instead of applauding Him for rescuing a man from his miserable existence, they pounced on Him for “blasphemy”.

Well, from their point of view, it must have been exactly that. No man had the right to declare anyone else’s sin forgiven unless, of course, he was a priest and the offender had offered the appropriate sacrifice prescribed by the law. But Jesus was forgiving sin as though He were a priest — and where was the sacrifice? They were outraged at His audacity. Wouldn’t you be? But wait a minute. Jesus? Sacrifice? Makes you think!

Then He went and poured fuel on the fire by sending the man home, walking! That put the cherry on the top! He challenged them and they lost. He couldn’t do that unless He had the authority and power from God to heal a man. That meant that He also had the authority to forgive sins, and that pulled the rug from under them.

The people, on the other hand, loved what Jesus was doing. They had nothing to lose and everything to gain by listening, watching and believing in Him. He was so different from their religious leaders who nit-picked about everything and added more and more petty rules to burden their lives. They were excited about what God was doing. They were not interested in theological skirmishes when they were seeing God at work in front of their very eyes.

But what about the paraplegic? It took the determined faith of his four friends to get him in front of Jesus but after that they could do no more for him. It was over to him. What would he do? Hearing Jesus say, ‘I forgive your sins,’ was easy. He didn’t have to do a thing — or did he? Even that took faith and prepared the way for the next step — ‘Get up and walk.’

But what did his sins have to do with his paralysis? As a Jew he was obliged to offer sacrifice for the forgiveness of his sins, but as a paraplegic it was impossible for him to do that. After years of being stuck on a sleeping mat, what a mountain of sin he must have carried on his conscience! But now he was being told that his sin was forgiven — and what’s more he felt it!

With an inner peace he had never experienced in his life, he could activate his unresponsive body in an instant in response to Jesus’ instruction, and that happened too! It took his faith to step into forgiveness and healing.

The scribes and Pharisees were dumbstruck. They had nothing to say to counter His visible proof of His claim — “Son of Man” — and they knew what that meant! But instead of fuelling faith, it only fuelled angry hatred and made them even more determined to do him in, if they could only find a way.

What do Jesus’ words and actions say to you? Do you say that He is the Son of God? It’s a question you and I will have to answer — eventually.

The Church On A Knife Edge

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THE CHURCH ON A KNIFE EDGE

“As they were sent off and on their way, they told everyone they met about the breakthrough to the Gentile outsiders. Everyone who heard the news cheered — it was terrific news!

“When they got to Jerusalem, Paul and Barnabas were graciously received by the whole church, including the apostles and leaders. They reported on their recent journey and how God had used them to open things up to the outsiders. Some Pharisees stood up to say their piece. They had become believers but continued to hold to the hard party line of the Pharisees. ‘You have to circumcise the pagan converts,’ they said, ‘You must make them keep the Law of Moses.'” Acts 15:3-5 (The Message).

This Jew/Gentile thing was a really sensitive issue in the early church. It was the subject of the first general church council recorded in Acts15. The leaders of the infant church had to deal with issues as they arose, some of which were relatively simple matters of administration, for example, the neglect of the Greek widows in Acts 6, and some with far more significant matters of understanding regarding the work of Jesus.

Jesus had chosen twelve men to be with Him so that they could learn His yoke. It would be their responsibility to interpret and apply His yoke when He was no longer there, and that was what they were doing now. The Pharisees in the church in Jerusalem were speaking out of turn because they were not part of the original group of men trained by Jesus. They had not lived with Him intimately and understood His heart and the heart of the Father.

God’s intention, from the beginning, was to work through one nation whom He called into fellowship with Himself in a marriage covenant, to reveal Him to the whole world. He had taught them His Word, a way of life that would reflect His nature and requirements for people who belonged to Him.

However, the Jews misinterpreted God’s intention, believing themselves to be superior to the Gentiles, despising them and isolating themselves from them. The Pharisees in particular, hated Jesus because He showed them that God loved and accepted all people. They were so stuck on the letter of the Law of Moses, regardless of the fact that they didn’t obey it themselves, that they could not embrace the real meaning of God’s plan. He dealt with sin through Jesus’ sacrifice, once for all, so that all people, Jews and Gentiles, could come to the Father without having to do anything but believe.

It was important for the apostles to decide what the yoke of Jesus was in this situation — His interpretation of the heart and disposition of the Father which He both taught and practised. It was not a matter of thumb sucking, but of examining the evidence and reaching a conclusion based on what they saw and heard from Jesus as well as what was happening in their current situation.

There would be another important spin-off from the outcome of this meeting. It was imperative that the church remain united. It would be a serious matter if some were teaching one thing and others another. In the early days of the church they had worked hard to keep the unity in their relationships with one another. Now a far more serious and sinister issue had arisen — which had the potential to splinter the church around doctrines that hit at the very heart of their faith.

How relevant this is for the church today! Over the centuries the church has become fragmented over this very issue — what is the yoke of Jesus? Had church leaders only stuck to the criteria of Jesus Himself, His words and His ways, and a passion to keep the unity of the Spirit instead of allowing reason and opinions to dominate them, perhaps the prayer of Jesus, “that they may be one”, would be much nearer to being answered than it appears now.

Who Was On Trial?

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WHO WAS ON TRIAL?

“When it was morning, the religious leaders of the people and the high priests and scholars all got together and brought Him before their High Council. They said, ‘Are you the Messiah?’

“He answered, ‘If I said yes, you wouldn’t believe me. If I asked you what you meant by your question, you wouldn’t answer me. So here’s what I have to say: From here on the Son of Man takes His place at God’s right hand, the place of power.’

“They all said, ‘So you admit your claim to be the Son of God?’

‘”You’re the ones who keep saying it,’ He said.

“But they had made up their minds . ‘Why do we need any more evidence? We’ve all heard Him as good as say it Himself.'” Luke 22:66-71 (The Message).

This has to be the strangest court case in history! Jesus was the prisoner and yet His subtle answer to their question and their attempt to force Him into incriminating Himself, exposed their guilt, not His. Their charge, punishable by death according to their religious law, was blasphemy. For them His guilt was cut and dried, if they could get Him to make a confession. ‘If you are claiming to be the Son of God, say it.’

The only witnesses they could produce contradicted one another and, according to Mark’s account, brought an accusation so feeble that their testimony was dismissed. All they could bank on was that Jesus would admit guilt to their charge by His own confession.

His counter charge was: ‘If I am not the Son of God, prove it.’ As the members of the High Council, it was their duty to uphold justice and to do this, they had to provide evidence to support their charge, but they could not produce at least two reliable witnesses.

Jesus turned the tables on them by His reply to their question. ‘If I said yes, you would not believe me. If I asked what you meant by your question, you would not answer me.’ He dug underneath their hypocritical “justice”, exposed their motive and revealed their wicked hearts. They were not after the truth. They were after an excuse to condemn Him.

Instead of giving them a direct answer, He made a statement which they were forced to weigh up for themselves. Their response would be the verdict on themselves, guilty or not guilty. Their refusal to drop the case drove them deeper into guilt and His resurrection three days later finally sealed their doom.

Once before they were caught in the same dilemma when they came to Him with a trick question, ‘Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar?’ His answer took them by surprise. They were expecting Him to get Himself into trouble either with Jewish or Roman authorities. Instead, He put them in their place by reminding them of both their civil and religious responsibilities. “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s” Luke 20:25b (NIV).

Motive and responsibility – Jesus was big on both these issues. Why we do things is just as important as what we do. Taking responsibility for what we do and why we do what we do is the essence of maturity. Adam and Eve tried to play the “blame game” but it did not work with God. Man has been doing the same thing ever since and it still doesn’t work.

Even though Jesus was found guilty, condemned and crucified, He was the judge in the end, and His accusers the condemned. Yes, Jesus was guilty as charged, guilty of being who He said He was, the Christ, the Son of the living God, and He not only claimed it, He proved it by rising from the dead.

Those who tried and condemned Him were the guilty ones, guilty of prejudice, injustice and treason because they betrayed the God they claimed to serve and condemned to death the Son of God because they refused to recognise and believe in Him.

What If?

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WHAT IF?

“At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, ‘I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.’” Luke 10:21
Jesus had chosen seventy two men to go into the villages where He was planning to go, to prepare the way for Him. They were to heal and deliver people from demons and to announce the presence of God’s kingdom.

What if Jesus had called and trained Pharisees to be His disciples? What if He had given them authority to do what these men had just done? What if they had gone around driving out demons and curing diseases? Would it have made them more arrogant than they were, more insufferably stuck-up than they already appeared to be? Would they have prided themselves on their spirituality and taken credit for what they had done?

But He didn’t. He chose men who had failed “Rabbi School” – religious losers who had no qualifications to have spiritual “authority”, men who were so ordinary that they could take no credit for what they had done. Jesus called them “little children”.

And Jesus was ecstatic that His Father’s plan was working! God was using the “unqualified” to reveal His power and grace to the poor and needy. In a typical John’s Gospel-like statement, He also rejoiced in the unqualified authority He had received at the Father’s pleasure. God and Jesus were so one that the Father could entrust to the Son the freedom and authority to bring to the Father anyone He chose.

This was a unique moment in history, an experiment that had worked! Imagine Jesus’ joy when these seventy two men reported back on the success of their mission, actually doing the works of Jesus and being an answer to His prayer to bring “up there down here”. Prophets of old who were God’s specially chosen and anointed “advocates” of His covenant, did miracles from time to time but these were sporadic and rare in the scope of Israel’s history. They were often acts of judgment on rebellious and wayward people.

But this was different – the mercy of God lavished on ordinary people through ordinary people. This is what God longs to do most of all, kingdom stuff to show off His goodness to people who don’t deserve it. It was beginning to happen and Jesus was thrilled. He was kick-starting a movement that would never cease as long as this world remains, and the fruit of it would last forever. These men were now a part of a kingdom as big as God Himself, an “upside-down” kingdom that was strong through the weakness of its subjects and alive through their death. This was something only those who connected to Jesus through His death and resurrection by faith could fully know.

What if we really grasped this truth – that God deliberately chooses nobodies to continue the work of Jesus so that the honour and the credit go to Him, not to us? What if we just did what He told us to do, heal the sick, cast out demons and announce the presence of His rule, right here and now? What if?