“Unless you do far better than the Pharisees in matters of right living, you won’t know the first thing about entering the Kingdom.” (Matthew 5:20 MSG)
I have always wondered about the Pharisees: about how they got so powerful, so familiar with God’s word and yet remained so empty. My five week foray into the Old Testament has shed some light to this matter. Part of their hypocrisy was the time they lived in. Ancient history is littered with false gods vying for Hebrew affections. Even more so, Israel’s precarious geographical location hosted international/intercontinental trade routes and made them especially susceptible to invasion (military, socio-economical & religious). Their border was essentially wide open for every foreign god to drift across, which brings God’s strictest instructions about intermarriage and idolatry into proper perspective.
What’s more, monotheism (the worship of one God only) was quite novel in the ancient near-east. All the neighboring cultures practiced polytheism, seeking to placate a pantheon of gods. Their gods were far-off and fickle. Amidst false religion, man was an afterthought and inconvenience, not the apex of creation. Worshipers were left guessing as to their gods agendas, actions and intentions. These false gods, as described in scripture, were deaf and mute. Imagine the frustration in trying to appease a myriad of silent yet supposedly powerful entities! The result is ritual. Men and women who merely went through the motions of the generations before them for the sake of maintaining status quo.
quite typical in ancient near-eastern culture.
Of course, the Israelite God is a living God, with a rich history of speaking, appearing and acting of behalf of His people. But by the time Jesus was born, God had been scripturally silent for 400 years. This doesn’t necessarily mean He wasn’t speaking to individuals, it means we have no recorded prophetic, public words from Him during that inter-testimonial period (between Malachi and Matthew).
No wonder the Pharisees were far from God. They studied His word and ruled His people much the way the false priests of neighboring cultures did: with fear and suspicion and plenty of power. But no love. No awe. No genuine relationship. The Pharisees had turned Yahwism into an empty ritual to appease another deaf, mute God. And they were terribly, terribly wrong.
Enter Jesus: both God and man. Living, speaking, preaching, loving, healing. He is the very essence of the law; both fulfilling the demands but also exuding the love that undergirds every command in the Torah. He is Immanuel: God with us. No wonder the Pharisees were so unnerved. This God-man shook up everything they knew and toppled their hierarchy.
So Jesus warned the disciples but also us. Relationship with the living God is far more than empty rituals. Going through the motions will not satisfy Him. He’s not looking for appeasement. He’s looking for those who seek Him, who long for dynamic connection with Him. He’s not a far-off god, a deaf and mute god. He is a living, breathing, moving, speaking, LOVING God who longs to interact with us for all eternity.
The Pharisees didn’t get it. All their exposure to scriptures and Temple services never did seep through their skin and down into their hearts. What about us? Do we believe that God speaks? Do we recognize His involvement and instruction in our daily life? Are we responsive to His righteousness? Do we dwell, here and now in His presence? In ever-growing relationship with Him? Because that’s what He’s after. That’s what He offers.
“The news of your faith in God is out. We don’t even have to say any more – you’re the message! People come up to us and tell us how you deserted the dead idols of your old life so you could embrace and serve God, the true God. They marvel at how expectantly you wait the arrival of His son, whom He raised from the dead – Jesus, who rescued us from certain doom.”
(1 Thessalonians 1:8-10 MSG)
Thank You Lord, for being our living God. You have rescued us from ritual and dread. You have called us out into spacious living: intimate, ever-deepening relationship with You. Keep us from slipping into the empty routines of the Pharisees; grasping for power and privilege and pulling away from Your presence. We recognize that dynamic connection the the Almighty far eclipses any earthly acquisitions. Help us focus on fully developing our love and loyalty to You. Thank You for Your unblinking devotion to Your people and Your unfolding plan of full restoration. Amen.