It is easy to pick on the Pharisees. They are prominent in the Gospels, and this chapter in particular has multiple situations where they oppose Jesus.
Before we jump on the bandwagon of beating up the Pharisees, just who are they?
They are serious religious people. In today’s language, they are the folks who go to church, tithe, and read their Bibles. They are probably the folks who write blog posts about Scriptures.
They are people who are committed to an Agenda. Most times the Agenda is about a terribly important subject or issue.
Yet, and here is where they make a wrong turn, their AGENDA BECOMES MORE IMPORTANT TO THEM THAN THE GOSPEL.
My point is that they probably don’t wake up in the morning saying, “I am going to oppose God’s Anointed today.” Yet that is exactly the result their passion for something other than leading people to repentance and new life causes. Their commitment to what seems to them as godly causes, leads to attitudes and actions, that make God their tool for their cause.
To put a point on it: The Pharisees are enemies of Jesus and His Cross.
To put a further point on it: It continues today.
Therefore, do I know the warning signs, and am I aware of the stages, of this descent into their world? Do I have passion for godly causes that will lead me away from Jesus?
Chapter 12 shows us the descent. It begins with suspicion, moves quickly to hostility, leading to blindness, wrapping itself in false confidence of intellectual skepticism, ultimately culminating in open, yet unwitting, allegiance with Satan.
Strong words? Yes. Not all Pharisees fall victim to this progression, but those who did openly participated in Jesus’ crucifixion.
Step One: Passion for the Agenda. You can see when the passion for the Agenda grows greater than Jesus, they become suspicious Him, his works and words. Their suspicion is often couched in a legalism about Scripture. Note this is not a legalism that advances God’s Law. No, this is a legalism that advances their agenda. We see this in 12:1-8.
The Pharisees had an agenda about the Sabbath. They had created rules that did more than go beyond God’s Word. Their rules twisted God’s Word, distorting it to their own agenda—to the point of disobedience. It is why Jesus quotes Scripture and tells them to go and figure out what Hosea 6:6 means.
Step Two: Hostility towards those who oppose them. In 12:9-14 we see Jesus wanting to do good by healing a man. We see the Pharisees willing to allow someone to not be healed in order to protect their agenda. In 12:2 they are challenging Jesus. By 12:14 they are done with questions and they are now actively seeking to destroy him. All of this can be hidden within what others might think religious custom. But the move of the heart to hostility is a significant one.
Step Three: Refusal to acknowledge any good in the other point of view. I have seriously disagreed with others on matters, on agendas, in the church. Yet I tried to see why they had their commitment to that agenda. Consider the scene in 12:22-32. A man who was demon possessed is delivered. Even if you were opposed to Jesus healing on the Sabbath, could you see that the individual was delivered? Staunch refusal such as we read is a blindness that Satan will use to completely co-opt them.
Step Four: Confidence hidden within Intellectual Skepticism. At root is a rebellious heart. We see this in 12:38-42 and other places. “Give us a sign” they say. They have said elsewhere, “Is it lawful…” (12:2 & 19:3-9). They constantly were trying to trap him as they wielded their intellect, seeking to use the Law as a weapon against him (Luke 11:53-54).
Today, at least from my perspective, I find this most prevalent—inside the church. It feeds back onto the “legalism of Scripture”. There is such passion for “the Agenda” that all the intellectual forces of the day are used against Scripture, to contort God’s Word into compliance, or cast enough doubt upon it, that we are left not obeying, but rather using our human reason to rebel.
Step Five: Openly Enemies of Jesus. In the end, their opposition actually opens the door to the demonic. We see this in 12:22-29 & 43-45. I know this is terribly strong language. But there is no middle ground. A person is either for Jesus, or against—especially in the Church.
We must guard ourselves against our own Agendas AND we must be careful how and where we wrestle and debate, as the Church, to find God’s Will in many of these important matters.
Consider how these Five Stages are played out every day in public. The enemy uses Social Media to get the church to fight openly, driving others away.
In the corporate world, leaders rarely fight in open. Yes, it makes for good headlines, but it demoralizes the troops, stalling the organization, leading to failure at achieving the mission.
I am asking myself, is calling people from lives of sin, to repentance and new life in Jesus my number one agenda?