There is a pertinent question that every Christian should ask themselves. When people encounter me, is it Jesus they see or is it a pharisee? Pharisees were an influential religious sect in Jesus’s time within Judaism. They were known for their personal piety and they followed over 600 laws plus rituals and ceremonial purification. There were two groups, one more literal and one more liberal with many refusing to worship with the other side. They believed in the afterlife, resurrection, God’s sovereignty, angels and demons. One might ask is it possible to be a pharisee and be a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ? Acts chapter 15 tells us that there were pharisees in the early church and no doubt there are pharisees among believers today. There are some in the church you attend and there might even be one in mirror.
Jesus had very harsh words for the majority of pharisees of his day. He told them that the prophet Isaiah described them perfectly in that they honored God with the lips but their hearts were far from Him. He said many worshipped in vain because they substituted the word of God for their manmade traditions. In Matthew 23, Jesus had a scathing warning to pharisees because they didn’t practice what they preached. Jesus said they loved the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, greetings in the marketplaces, and religious titles. In other words, pharisees are concerned with appearance- Jesus was concerned with the heart. Jesus said they were like someone who cleaned the outside of a cup yet left the inside filthy.
In Luke 15 the pharisees berated Jesus because he associated with and befriended sinners. The distinction was crystal clear when the pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery to Jesus to be stoned. They gave her condemnation while Jesus extended mercy. Pharisees look down at sinners, Jesus lifts them up. Pharisees points a finger at them, Jesus extends a hand. The pharisee in me says “they don’t deserve mercy”, while the Jesus is me says, “neither do I”. For those of us who truly want to examine ourselves, the main question is: “How do I treat broken people?” James 4:6 says that God resists (vehemently opposes) the proud but gives grace to the humble.
Paul writes, Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus because he made himself a servant. Jesus told a story of a pharisee and publican (known sinner) who went to the temple to pray. The pharisee prayed thank you Lord I’m not like that sinner over there while the publican would not even lift his eyes. Jesus said the latter left forgiven. The pharisee in me says thank you Lord I’m not like that sinner while the Jesus in me says have mercy on me Lord for I’m just like him.
Friend, our greatest danger is not failing to see the pharisee in someone else, but the failure to see it in me! We can attend church regularly, sing and pray and still have the heart of a pharisee.
Dear Christian, let us ask the Lord help us to remove the pharisee in me and replace it with Jesus. Help us to love like Jesus, show mercy like Jesus, and forgive like Jesus.
