GOD KILLERS

“For this reason they tried all the more to kill Him; not only was He breaking the Sabbath but He was even calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.” John 5:18 (NIV).

Did these religious leaders also look forward to the coming of the Messiah? Judging by their attitude to Jesus, I think not. Jesus’ disciples certainly anticipated His coming even though their idea of what He would do completely missed the mark. They thought He was coming to deliver them from Roman domination and set up His kingdom in Israel to revive David’s rule.

It does not seem like the Pharisees had even that hope. They were in cahoots with the Romans and had altogether too cushy a life to want it to be disturbed by anyone claiming to be God’s Messiah. The idea that He was actually the Son of God outraged them and sowed murderous thoughts in their minds. This man had to be silenced before He made too many waves among the Romans and among the people.

“Jesus gave them this answer: ‘Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by Himself; He can do only what He sees His Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all He does. Yes, and He will show Him even greater works than these so that you will be amazed…'” John 5:19-20 (NIV).

We can be very grateful for the altercations Jesus had with the Pharisees because we learn more about Him and His relationship with the Father from these than we do from any other source in the gospels. He speaks here of an intimacy and a unity with the Father that gives us a glimpse into the relationship between the Father and the Son in the Trinity. Later on during another argument with His opponents He said, ‘I and the Father are one.’

There are sects that deny the Trinity because they do not understand the nature of the Trinity. Jesus was not claiming to be a god. He was hinting at the heart of the Trinity – three persons who are one in nature and essence and in perfect unity with one another. There are false religions that deny that God had a Son because they do not understand the nature of His sonship either.

As the Father’s representative on earth, Jesus perfectly mirrored the Father in His nature and perfectly revealed the Father in His work. His religious opponents could not get their head around the compassion Jesus showed to people, especially those whom religion despised and ostracized because they did not measure up to their standards according to the god they had created and worshipped.

Their god put people into categories like “sinners” and “prostitutes” and “lepers” and “tax-collectors”. They did not mix with people like that because they were “holy” in their own eyes, not separate from sin but separated from the ones they despised and categorized as “sinners”.

Instead of being drawn to Jesus because of His mercy, they were repulsed by Him because He showed up their wicked hearts and they were not prepared to change. They loved their status and the power it gave them to manipulate people too much to recognize who He really was.

This was the nature and depth of their sin compared with the “sinners” they so despised. It touched the core of who they really were and triggered a hatred for the God they were supposed to be representing. They targeted Jesus for extermination. This is what the Bible defines as “envy”. Envy is not another word for jealousy. It goes much deeper than that. Envy hates the goodness in another person so much that it is willing to kill to get rid of that goodness.

“For he (Pilate) knew that it was for envy that they handed Jesus over to them,” Matthew 27:18 (NIV).

This envy began to chew at them when the compassion of Jesus showed up their callous indifference to the suffering of others and exposed the false religion they paraded as godliness which alienated them from the very people of which they were supposed to be a part.

We are constantly being called on to take a stand. Are we part of those who put people into categories or are we just members of the human race who need the grace and compassion of Jesus to forgive and make us whole?

Acknowledgement

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.