Jesus and the Pharisees

II: Jesus and the Pharisees

Luke xi. 37-54; xii. 1-59.

Toward the middle of the day, the hour in which the Jews take their first meal, a Pharisee approached the Master, praying Him to eat with him at his house.  Jesus accepted the invitation.  Round about the threshold of the dining hall a considerable company awaited His coming, composed exclusively of Pharisees and Scribes; for it would seem that, as the Apostles were not bidden, the Master found Himself alone left in the midst of these Doctors, who were as vAin of their own learning as they were envious of His Glory.  One and all, Scribes, Pharisees, and lawyers, went through with their obligations in the entrance-way, and doubtless in this instance with an even greater affectation of zeal than usual.  Walking straight past them without stopping to imitate their ceremonies Jesus went immediately to the table and took his place upon one of the couches.

Such disdain for their prescriptions pricked the vanity of these fanatics.  Soon Jesus saw the eyes of his host were fixed sternly upon him.

"Why," the sectary was muttering, "why did not this man wash along with the rest?" These complaints were at once echoed by the guests, and soon degenerated into such violent expressions that the Lord was constrained to check the rising tumult.

He began by telling His enemies that though they were scrupulous in purifying the outside of the cup they left the inside fall of ravening and corruption; that they neglected their duties of charity, the love of God and the neighbour, in order to cover over their hard-heartedness and conceit with a mask of religion.  Then, giving fuller utterance to His indignation, He launched that threefold anathema upon them — 

"Woe to you, Pharisees, because you pay tithes on mint, on rue, and on every herb, but put aside justice and the love of God!  These things it behoved you to do, and not to leave the others undone.

"Woe to you, Pharisees, because you love the first seats in the synagogues and salutations in public places!

"Woe unto you because you are like hidden sepulchres, and men that walk over them know it not!"

The Pharisees quivered with fury under this censure.  Seated near Him was one of the Scribes, who was moved to respond:—

"Master, in speaking thus, you cast opprobrium upon us as well."

Jesus turned and looked at him.

"Woe to you also," He said, "Doctors of the Law, because you load men down with intolerable burdens, and you yourselves do not so much as touch them with the tips of your fingers!"

Zachary slain between the Temple and the Altar. J-J Tissot.

They were as much guilty as the Pharisees, since, like them, their only aim was to impose upon the people; they reared mighty monuments in honour of the Prophets immolated by their fathers, and now here they were at heart become accomplices in those very crimes, by wishing that a like fate could befall the Saviour, the Son of God!  Finally, they had appropriated to themselves the key of knowledge, not to open a free passage for the people, but to hinder and forbid anyone's entering therein.  In their eyes it appeared that the Christ was about to open the Book which they had heretofore obstinately held shut, — whose every page bore their own conviction inscribed by the finger of Divine Wisdom: "I will send them Prophets and they shall kill some and persecute others, that the blood of all the Prophets and Apostles which has been shed since the foundation of the world may be required of this race, from the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zachary, who was slain between the Temple and the Altar.  Yea, I say unto you it shall be required of this race."

After this fearful menace Jesus rose to depart.  Immediately the company jumped to their feet; Scribes and Pharisees pressed about Him, and well-nigh deafened Him with a volley of questions, with the hope of surprising Him in some expressions out of which they might construct a legal accusation.  According to Saint Luke's metaphor it was a fierce, breathless chase, the maddened pack dashing upon their prey and flinging themselves upon Him, bent upon bringing Him to the earth.  But the common people had not abandoned the divine Master, and they were now at the doors "arranged in such serried masses that they trod upon one another." All that had occurred within the hall pass swiftly from mouth to mouth; the excitement evidenced by the crowds made the Pharisees not so loathe to part with their Guest; and so again this time they let Him go unscathed.

Hardly had He left their presence, when He began to forewarn His disciples against the hypocrisy of the men who had attacked Him.  At last the time had come to publish abroad, "in the daylight and on the housetops, that which hitherto he had confided to private ears and in the darkness."

"I say to you," He cried aloud, "to you who are My friends: Have no fear of them who can kill the body, but whose power goes no further than that.  I will show you whom you must fear: Fear him who, after he hath brought death upon you, hath power to bring you down to Gehenna; yea, I say to you, fear him." And He exhorted them to confess Him without fear, even when hotly pursued by these same doctors.  They should be dragged into the synagogues, before magistrates, and all powers of earth; yet they need put themselves to no pains as to how they should reply, for God's Holy Spirit "would teach them in that same hour what they ought to say."

The people were listening with speechless interest, when from the midst of the multitudes came the voice of a Jew, calling upon the Lord.  Struck by the commanding power of the Christ, he conceived it was a most auspicious opportunity to terminate a family quarrel by turning it to his own advantage.

"Master," he called out, " order my brother to give me a share in his inheritance."

Jesus rebuked this fellow, who looked only to gain his own selfish profits from the coming of the Messiah’s reign.

"Man," He said, "who has constituted Me to be your judge and to appoint shares for you?"

Such wretched cares were indeed unworthy of Him, for He was coming to this world to teach us that " life does not consist in that which a man possesses.  He was moved to explain HIs thought more fully by means of a Parable:

"There was a wealthy man, whose fields yielded rich harvests.  And he thought within himself, saying: ‘What shall I do?  I have no room wherein I can store my crops.  And he said: Ah!  Here is what I will do!  I'll tear down my barns, and I will build greater, and thither I will gather all my crops and all my goods.  And I will say: My Soul, thou hast great store of goods for many years; take thine ease, drink, and have good cheer.’  But God said to him: ‘Foolish man!  This night shall thy soul be required of thee; and whose shall be that great wealth which now has had acquired?’"

It was easy to read beneath this imagery another lesson anent the vanity of riches: still Jesus knew that His hearers were so blinded by their love of earthly goods that He dwelt longer upon the subject.  Pointing up to the fast-flying crows hovering over their heads, and to the meadow-lilies under their feet, God's creatures which leave the care of food and raiment all in His hands, He bade them not to let themselves be harassed and, as it were, tossed about by the troubles of life:—

"Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you a Kingdom.  Sell all that you have and give alms.  Make yourselves purses which wear not out with time, a treasure which faileth not in the heavens; for wear your treasure is there will your heart be also."

As we see, the Lord was repeating to the Jews of Perea the same lessons formerly given the Galileans; but now, as the time grew shorter, He added still more impressive Counsels,— for His Mission was fast drawing to its close.  He wished them to be ever vigilant, with loins upgirt, with lamps burning in their hands, like waiting-men who stand watching for their master.

"I am come to kindle a fire upon the earth," He said, "and what will I but that it blaze forth right quickly?  I have a Baptism wherewith I am to be baptised; and how am I straightened until it be accomplished!"

Thus-together with that immense longing to save the world, there was an accompanying host of sad forebodings; for the Christ new what wild storms were gathering against His work and how, in a few short months, faith in His Name would be the occasion for bitter persecutions.

"Think you," said He, " that I am come to bring peace to earth?  No, I tell you, rather the sword and separation.  Henceforth, if there be five persons in one house, they shall be divided, three against two, and two against three; the father against the son and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter and the daughter against her mother."

Yet the multitude listened to these words without comprehending them, without any inkling of the great struggles which Jesus was foretelling, and how close at hand was the Redemption of mankind.  With something almost like bitterness, He reproached them for their apathy.  Why, since they were so clever at guessing by the cloud-rack on the western horizon, or by noting the southerly breezes, whether the day was likely to be showery or warm,—why could they not discern the drift of the times wherein they now were?  Very soon it would be too late; the acceptable power of salvation once slipped by, the Lord would become are rigorous creditor, who would deliver them over to the judge; and the judge would cast them into the dungeon, from whence none goeth forth till after he has paid all, on to the very last farthing.

Totus tuus ego sum 

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam