Pharisees beware

Matthew 23 : 13 - 22

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you lock people out of the kingdom of heaven....for you do not go in yourselves.....

Whenever we read the Gospels, I wonder if we ever identify with the Pharisees. Probably not. For after all, they were the opponents of Jesus. And we Christians are not, surely in that same camp!

Perhaps we would like to point out their faults, as Jesus did, many times throughout his ministry. In that case, those parts of the Gospels have no real application to us today and we read them merely in a detached way. We may also feel secure because most of us are not among the religious leaders of our day.

But the word that stands out here is 'hypocrisy'. And that is something that can be found in any person, whatever their position or role. One of the humbling aspects of reading the Gospels is recognizing that many of the criticisms of Jesus against the Pharisees could well be true of us today.

One of the things I have tried to introduce into spiritual formation groups is accountability. It is very slow to catch on. First of all, most people take time to trust the others in a group enough to be willing to share their struggles and ask for prayer and to be held accountable. But actually, I wonder if we are just being careless, by thinking that we can look after our faith very well, thank you, on our own. I think of the many who have fallen, after struggling long and hard with issues, and one day just giving in to temptation, even rejecting their faith.

Jesus is not warning against zeal in sharing our faith with others. We are to invite people into the kingdom of heaven that we ourselves have entered. But I wonder: how could we ever bring others into a relationship with God unless we ourselves know what it means to be in a genuine relationship with God? If not, we are acting like irresponsible salespeople, who believe their job is just to sell a product, and even claim its effectiveness, without any personal experience. And Jesus would call such actions 'hypocrisy'. Who led us into the kingdom? What did we learn from them? Did their lives reflect what they professed? In the same way, what kind of hosts are we? As we invite people to taste God's kingdom, are we pointing them to Jesus, rather than our own pet theological systems? Jesus warns strongly against leading new converts into error.

We could be unaware of our likeness to the Pharisees. It might be good consider having an accountability partner or group to help us keep a right relationship with God, and to constantly examine our personal assumptions about our faith.