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doctrine of the Pharisees, which He
called their "leaven."
The added corruptions, the re–
pressive, restrictive, hyper-religious
customs
and
traditions
of these men
were what Jesus attacked. They had
made the Word ofGod, and the
way
of !ife
spelled out in the Scriptures,
of "no effect" by their
traditions.
After all, very few even today fig–
ure their religion is any good to
them if they can understand it, do
they? Isn' t it much better if it bor–
d e r s on the mysterious, the
unknown, the obscure? Isn't it more
effective to gaze in wonderment at
bizarre, detailed, carefully arranged
rituals
performed by sorne person
dressed in obvious "religious" garb,
and vaguely "guess" this must be
pleasing to sorne sort of divine
being, than it is to observe and ap–
preciate the practica!, day- to-day
way of life
that God lays down in
His Word?
The Pharisees decided it was holy
to fast twice each week, which they
regarded as a righteously rigorous
schedule. (You'd be a rich man if
you could have a dollar for every
day those pretending religious fa–
natics
fai!ed
to
real/y
fast "twice ín
the week," even though they openly
bragged about it.)
Jesus demonstrated He was aware
of their hypocrisy when He re–
counted the story about the Pharisee
and the publican. He said: "Two
men went up into the temple to
pray; the one a Pharisee, and the
other a publican. T he Pharisee
stood and prayed thus with himself,
God, 1 thank thee, that 1 am not as
other men are, extortioners, unjust,
adulterers, or even as this publican.
1 fast twice in the week, 1 give tithes
of all that 1 possess. And the publi–
can, standing afar off, would not lift
up so much as his eyes unto heaven,
but smote upon his breast, saying,
God be merciful to me a sinner. 1
tell you, this man went down to his
house justified rather than the
other: for every one that exalteth
himself shall be abased ; and he that
humbleth himself shall be exalted"
(Luke 18: 10- 14).
Here was the
attitude
of the Pha r–
isees again: that of spiritual pride,
vanity, ego, self-importance and hy–
pocrisy! The publican (normally
suspected to be a cheat by the illiter-
6
ate masses)
knew
what he was, and
was repenting of it. The Pharisee
was only interested in the sins of the
publican,
and had absolutely no
doubt of his own "righteousness."
He could not admit that he had any
sins of his own, and bragged he was
entire ly righteous.
Unfortunately, the " leaven of the
Pharisees" is very much alive and
active
in
too many religious people.
Jesus told of the martyrdom of
men of God in times past, and then
indicted the Pharisees because they
admitted to being
descendants
of
those who had done such things.
The implication of Christ's word
is clear: If the Pharisees had lived
during those earlier days, they
would have perpetrated the same
crimes! Not only that , but Jesus also
implied that they were plotting His
own murder, and that sorne of them
would remain alive to be involved,
no doubt, in the murder of future
Christian leaders.
Valn Worshlp
There were those, Jesus said, wbo
"worshiped" Him. That is, they "re–
vered" and "adored" His person;
they "believed on Him"! But He
said, "In vain they do worship me,
teaching for doctrines the com–
mandments ofmen" (Matt. 15:9).
Worship?
How many professing Christians
believe that scripture today? After
all, the very essence of "salvation,"
according to many, is to accept
Christ as personal Savior; to believe
on Him; to admit you are a sinner;
and to worship Jesus!
"Honk if you !ove Jesus," says the
bumper sticker. The guy in the auto–
mobile can look pityingly on each
unsaved sinner who passes without
honking-because he thinks " loving
the Lord" is the key to salvation.
" If you bel ieve, you shall be
saved !" is the popular belief. But
the
demons
believe, James said-and
demons aren' t "saved." Jesus said
belief can ftower into
worship,
and
still be done in vain.
To those who " believe on" Jesus–
how about
believing what Jesus saicl?
It's possible to worship even the real
Jesus, and still do it in vain. Re–
member, those Pharisees and others
were facing the
real Jesus
and blew
it, where millions today only fabri-
cate a fake Jesus, a
counterfeit,
and
so start off worse than the Pharisees!
Jesus could become very angry at
the Pharisees, but His anger was not
self-oriented. He wasn't mad be–
cause His own ego was bruised.
Jesus
directed
His anger through an
outgoing spirit of
/ove,
coupled with
grieftoward human beings who were
so bigoted and pigheaded they could
not see the simple truth before thei r
eyes. For example, read Mark's ac–
count of Jesus' healing of the man
with the withered hand: "Again he
entered the synagogue, and a man
was there who had a withered hand .
And they watched him, to seewhether
he would heal him on the sabbath, so
that they might accuse Him" (Mark
3: 1-2, RSV).
Notice, there was no doubt in
the se religious leaders' mind s
whether
Jesus had the power to
heal- they
knew
He had that power!
So why didn't they rejoice? As re–
ligious leaders whose primary job
was to "feed the fiock" and to be as
gentle shepherds over the "little
people" in their charge, why should
they not have been deeply grateful
for the miraculous power that Jesus
exercised which brought such
blessed relief from physical aches
and pains, from blindness, deafness,
dumbness, epilepsy, leprosy and a ll
the other hideous diseases which af–
fiicted a sick and poverty-stricken
generation?
Jesus was in the synagogue, and
these religious leaders watched Him
to see whether He would heal
on the
Sabbath
so they might accuse Him!
Jesus was being baited. They ex–
pected, indeed almost
hoped and
prayed,
that Jesus
would
heal on the
Sabbath in order that they might
have tangible evidence He had done
something wrong! Just a few verses
earlier, the Pharisees had tried to
accuse Jesus because His disciples
were plucking ears of grain and eat–
ing them on the Sabbath day. Christ
had to tell them of how David a te
the shewbread, and remind them
that the Sabbath was not a yoke of
bondage and a burden, but that
"the sabbath was made for man,
and not man for the sabbath."
J esus looked about Him and
spied the man with the withered
hand and said, "Come here." Then
(Continued on page 44)
The PLAIN TRUTH February 1978