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"Then the Judeans replied, You are not yet fifty years old! Have you seen Abraham? Jesus said to them, "I tell you the solemn truth, before Abraham came into existence, I am!" Then they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out from the temple area (John, Chapter 8, 57-59). Woodcut after a drawing by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (German painter, 1794 - 1872)
Seeking attention, a religious snob, who liked to appear full of virtue, once said to Mark Twain, “Before I die, to honor my religious traditions, I’m going to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. I shall climb to the top of Mount Sinai and read the Ten Commandments aloud!”
To which Twain replied, “I have a better idea! Why don’t you stay right at home and keep them?”
That little story brings my attention to a debate between Jesus and the Pharisees on some of the religious traditions of the time. Now, there is nothing wrong with being a traditionalist. Jesus was a traditionalist in His religious practices. He read the Scriptures. He worshipped and even preached in the synagogue.
The Pharisees originated in the intertestamental period as a group who were upset because the people were abandoning the purity of the covenant that they had made with God and were being lax in their morality and in their obedience to the commandments of God. So the they sought to draw together and pull apart from the masses and to set a moral example. These were the conservatives of the day. They had a high system of honor and virtue, and they committed themselves to obeying God. In fact, one sect among the Pharisees believed that if they could keep every law that God gave in the Old Testament for just 24 hours, then that would prompt God to send the Messiah to Israel.
But a lot of things had happened between the day of the formation of the Pharisees and the time of Jesus’ incarnation, when they masqueraded as devotees of righteousness and obedience. In a word, they were counterfeit. They were fake. And nothing reveals a counterfeit like the presence of the genuine.
Those who were in positions of power and authority, as the Pharisees and Sadducees were, feared losing their power and authority. The Jewish leaders feared the consequences of a revolt against Rome. That’s on almost every page of the New Testament. They feared the Romans. They feared that Jesus somehow would lead an insurrection, cause another uprising, and consequently bring a bloodbath, and so they sought to remove Him before He caused them trouble.
That little story brings my attention to a debate between Jesus and the Pharisees on some of the religious traditions of the time. Now, there is nothing wrong with being a traditionalist. Jesus was a traditionalist in His religious practices. He read the Scriptures. He worshipped and even preached in the synagogue.
As a child, He had been circumcised and presented in the Temple, according to the Jewish Tradition. And yet, His fidelity to tradition was constantly being challenged by the Pharisees.
The Hebrew Tradition contained a great many dietary laws and customs, among which was the custom of scrupulously washing one's hands before eating. "Why do your disciples not respect the tradition of the elders, but eat their food with unclean hands?" the Pharisees demanded of Jesus. And His reply was, "It was of you hypocrites that Isaiah so rightly prophesied in this passage of the Scripture: 'This people honours Me only with lip-service, while their hearts are far from Me'” (Mk. 7:5-6).
The Hebrew Tradition contained a great many dietary laws and customs, among which was the custom of scrupulously washing one's hands before eating. "Why do your disciples not respect the tradition of the elders, but eat their food with unclean hands?" the Pharisees demanded of Jesus. And His reply was, "It was of you hypocrites that Isaiah so rightly prophesied in this passage of the Scripture: 'This people honours Me only with lip-service, while their hearts are far from Me'” (Mk. 7:5-6).
Jesus knew that the Pharisees were using tradition to serve their own ends (in this instance, to gather evidence that Jesus was a lawbreaker). Jesus had often taught that there are times when laws and traditions can become obstacles to justice and equity and decency in human relationships. Consequently, they are subject to development/enrichment and sometimes even abandonment. As far as Jesus was concerned what was at issue here was the Pharisees' insincerity. They were out to get Jesus, by any means. They were degrading the Law by using it as a way to persecute him.
The Pharisees originated in the intertestamental period as a group who were upset because the people were abandoning the purity of the covenant that they had made with God and were being lax in their morality and in their obedience to the commandments of God. So the they sought to draw together and pull apart from the masses and to set a moral example. These were the conservatives of the day. They had a high system of honor and virtue, and they committed themselves to obeying God. In fact, one sect among the Pharisees believed that if they could keep every law that God gave in the Old Testament for just 24 hours, then that would prompt God to send the Messiah to Israel.
But a lot of things had happened between the day of the formation of the Pharisees and the time of Jesus’ incarnation, when they masqueraded as devotees of righteousness and obedience. In a word, they were counterfeit. They were fake. And nothing reveals a counterfeit like the presence of the genuine.
When Jesus walked this earth, true righteousness and holiness was manifested by Him before the eyes of the people. It didn’t take exceptional brilliance to discern the difference between the real and the counterfeit. So the Pharisees were exposed, and because they were exposed by the true and authentic holiness of Christ, they hated Him, and they couldn’t wait to get rid of Him.
There is a common idea out there that God must grade on a curve. Grading on a curve happens when an instructor gives an exam and everyone flunks it. It must therefore be a bad or unfair exam, or the teacher has failed in teaching because the students have failed to learn. The instructor then grades on a curve, so that an F might be counted as a C and a C as an A, and so on. There’s a formula for doing that.
But every once in a while, you have someone who breaks the curve, meaning that everyone else failed the test but this student scores very high. This messes up the formula, which means that most students don’t like people who break the curve. Curve breakers make the rest of us look bad.
The bad news is God doesn’t grade on a curve. A lot of people think He will, but there is no curve. All people will be judged according to His perfect standard of righteousness. There is no sliding scale.
The good news, however, is that Jesus broke the curve. While we all fall short, He achieved a perfect record of righteousness. And He did so for us. While this is a source of rejoicing for those who have placed their faith in Christ, it moved the Pharisees to hate Him because He exposed their phony righteousness for what it was.
Throughout Jewish history, there had always been those who were committed to revolution, who wanted to throw off the yoke of the foreigners who held them captive. You’ll see one revolt after another in the history of Israel, and one revolt after another being quashed by the power of the enemy. There were people—at least two, probably more—among Jesus’ disciples who were called Zealots, Simon being one of them yet Jesus, with His saving grace, saw potential in him and he was empowered to continue teaching throughout the land.
There is a common idea out there that God must grade on a curve. Grading on a curve happens when an instructor gives an exam and everyone flunks it. It must therefore be a bad or unfair exam, or the teacher has failed in teaching because the students have failed to learn. The instructor then grades on a curve, so that an F might be counted as a C and a C as an A, and so on. There’s a formula for doing that.
But every once in a while, you have someone who breaks the curve, meaning that everyone else failed the test but this student scores very high. This messes up the formula, which means that most students don’t like people who break the curve. Curve breakers make the rest of us look bad.
The bad news is God doesn’t grade on a curve. A lot of people think He will, but there is no curve. All people will be judged according to His perfect standard of righteousness. There is no sliding scale.
The good news, however, is that Jesus broke the curve. While we all fall short, He achieved a perfect record of righteousness. And He did so for us. While this is a source of rejoicing for those who have placed their faith in Christ, it moved the Pharisees to hate Him because He exposed their phony righteousness for what it was.
Throughout Jewish history, there had always been those who were committed to revolution, who wanted to throw off the yoke of the foreigners who held them captive. You’ll see one revolt after another in the history of Israel, and one revolt after another being quashed by the power of the enemy. There were people—at least two, probably more—among Jesus’ disciples who were called Zealots, Simon being one of them yet Jesus, with His saving grace, saw potential in him and he was empowered to continue teaching throughout the land.
Those who were in positions of power and authority, as the Pharisees and Sadducees were, feared losing their power and authority. The Jewish leaders feared the consequences of a revolt against Rome. That’s on almost every page of the New Testament. They feared the Romans. They feared that Jesus somehow would lead an insurrection, cause another uprising, and consequently bring a bloodbath, and so they sought to remove Him before He caused them trouble.
You know the rest of the story...Don't you?
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