Divided

Imagine hearing from Jesus that your priorities are all wrong.  Would you believe him?

“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you lock people out of the kingdom of heaven. For you do not go in yourselves, and when others are going in, you stop them.    Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cross sea and land to make a single convert, and you make the new convert twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. "Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'Whoever swears by the sanctuary is bound by nothing, but whoever swears by the gold of the sanctuary is bound by the oath.' You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the sanctuary that has made the gold sacred? And you say, 'Whoever swears by the altar is bound by nothing, but whoever swears by the gift that is on the altar is bound by the oath.' How blind you are! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? So whoever swears by the altar, swears by it and by everything on it; and whoever swears by the sanctuary, swears by it and by the one who dwells in it; and whoever swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by the one who is seated upon it. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel! "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup, so that the outside also may become clean. - Matt. 23:13-26

We know Jesus had a problem with the Pharisees and Scribes.  He talks about them and yells at them a lot.

I don't think he believes he is going to change them, do you?

They are set in their ways, and they believe their ways are right and just.  So, they are not open to change.

We all know people like that.  We may even be people like that in some ways.  It is the "This is the way we've always done it" approach to life.

The Pharisees must truly believe that their way is the right way.  Swearing by the gift on the altar means to offer as much as you can and hold yourself accountable to God for it.

I can see how they would feel that was right.  But along comes Jesus saying that is wrong.  Shift your priorities, Jesus is saying, and they aren't hearing that.

They hear him blaspheming God.

Look around you, on social media, in the news, everywhere.  People are like that, convinced the other guy is dead wrong.  Hell, even Jesus felt that way, so why not?

I don't think Jesus could have convinced the Pharisees to change their ways, though we do have one example in Nicodemus.  But just like today, screaming and accusing people of wrongdoing doesn't get them to change.

It gets their attention.

If that is the goal, you win.  But if you want to make people see their way is wrong, you have a lot more work to do.

We have gotten so accustomed to lining up on opposite sides of an issue and throwing stones at each other, that we are probably beyond help.

Of course, we don't think we need help, do we?

More to come...