Jesus hangs out with the Pharisees a lot.
In this section of the scripture we see Jesus celebrating Shabbot with a leader of the sect. With Jesus' woes to the Pharisees and scribes the word Pharisee itself has taken on an altogether negative connotation in Christendom. It's important to understand however that within the Pharisaic movement, which became the basis of Rabbinic Judaism, there were different sects (Christianity having emerged from this), there were those as previously discussed with ulterior political motives, some who manipulated young zealots from behind the scenes to work out their kingdom ideals, some who met with Jesus in private to learn of the Kingdom, some (like Gamaliel) who just preferred to stand back and observe in order to determine whether Jesus' movement was of God or not.
Never the less, Jesus is sharing a meal with this leader and they are in fact keeping close tabs on him. The Lord saw fit to have a man there with dropsy, a condition that causes the retention of excess water, so Jesus took the opportunity to readdress this issue of healing on Shabbot.
'Suppose one of you has a son - or an ox even!...that falls into a well. Are you going to tell me that you wouldn't pull him out right away on the sabbath day?' What do you say to that, it's common sense. Where is this blindness coming from among these, most educated of men?
It comes from their absolute literalism and legalism when dealing with the scriptures at the cost of how things really are and how this behavior affected others. Flat earth anyone? What does that actually have to do with faith and God's redemptive plan...nothing and yet people, Christians, spent countless hours pouring over this and actually condemned people to death for heresy and witchcraft over it? What debates are we having today that are completely counterproductive to the Kingdom?
The reality is that this fleshly tendency extends from something deeper which Jesus reveals in this next parable. When the great day came people want to be of those who have position before God and so we naturally jockey for that position. The Pharisees thought because they where afforded the opportunity to study and to practice the law, that they would be able to enter God's 'dinner party' and take the best seats. This removes the need for God's grace, mercy and love and blocks those who are made just as much in the image of God as the learned and (self)righteous. Jesus lets them know that they can either humble themselves or they will find themselves being humbled by God. Already, the celebration was nearing and they were blind to it and yet they were pushing their way to the front only to find themselves at the back of the line.
Not only did Jesus heal the man, but he attacked a stronghold of the evil one that is in all our hearts. They will get upset, Jesus, however, will not back down...the next parable will make them shudder in their shoes as it should us.
No comments:
Post a Comment