Nov. 8, 2015

As we find them presented in Luke and the other three gospels, one of the failings of the Pharisees is that they seem to be forever asking the wrong questions:

"Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with hands defiled?" (Mark 7:5)

"Tell us by what authority you do these things, or who it is that gave you this authority." (Luke 20:2)

"In the resurrection whose wife will she be?" (Mark 12:23)

"Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar, or not?" (Luke 20:22)

These questions were obviously not sincere requests for information, but sly attempts to trap Jesus into saying something that could be damaging to his reputation (similar to the level upon which we conduct politics today). They are the kinds of questions people ask when they think they already know the answers.

This was particularly true when they asked his views regarding the legality of certain activities on the Sabbath day. They would hardly have asked if they anticipated he could give satisfactory answers.

They were smug because they knew however much Jesus revered the religious laws of Israel, he nevertheless would put a higher priority on something he believed more important than the law: God’s love and mercy. He had frequently demonstrated that to them.

For example, when they brought him the woman taken in adultery, he did not deny or demean the law that provided a sentence of death by stoning, but instead he elevated the mercy of God to an even higher level. This had led them to anticipate that whenever his appeal to love was in conflict with the letter of the law, Jesus would always be on the side of love – sometimes giving the impression he was against observing the law.

Nowhere was he more plainly vulnerable, they reasoned, than in his attitude toward the Sabbath laws. The prohibition against labor on the Sabbath was one of the foundation stones of the Ten Commandments, the basic law of Israel, not to mention the various legal codes derived from it.

So, when they saw his disciples picking grain in a field on the Sabbath, they believed they had caught him in an untenable position. To their question, "Look, why are you doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?" there could be only one answer. So they thought.

Jesus, however, seldom did or said the obvious. Instead, he reminded them that King David himself had violated one of their laws when, starving with his troops, he entered the restricted temple sanctuary and ate the sacrificial bread that was reserved solely for the priests. Their need for food was greater in God’s sight than the ritual law.

The reply of Jesus must have stung his critics, for once again he avoided their trap and caught them in one of their own making. Worst of all, although they were experts in the interpretation of scripture, Jesus had used it to confound them.

How ironic: They had intended to humiliate him, but they were the ones who were embarrassed.

The principle by which Jesus responded was simply that the law is not God and we must look behind the law to view the purpose of God, which it is intended to serve.

On another occasion, when authorities were hounding him because they suspected he was going to heal someone on the Sabbath (healing, they reasoned, was labor and the Sabbath law prohibits labor), Jesus reduced the question to its simplest and most logical form: "I ask you, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or harm, to save life or destroy it?" (Lk. 6:9).

And on still another occasion recorded in Mark, Jesus said: "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath" (Mk. 2:27). Again and again, they asked the wrong questions and, as it turned out for them each time, they also asked the wrong person.

They were caught up in their concern for their proud interpretations of the laws; instead, they should have been asking themselves What does God want in this situation? So, they missed the point because they most revered their legalisms, putting them in the place where only God Himself should be.

Is it still true today that when religion goes wrong, often it is because we are asking the wrong questions for the wrong reasons?

•The Pharisees believed Jesus was ignoring the ancient laws of Israel. What do you think of the way Jesus handled the laws of Israel?

•Jesus criticized the Pharisees not because he was opposed to keeping the law, but because he believed the Pharisees put their legalisms ahead of the will of God. Is there anything today that we put before the will of God?

•The argument of the Pharisees regarding the Sabbath was logical and reasonable – the Ten Commandments prohibited labor on the Sabbath. But what constitutes "labor?" Jesus cut through this knotty problem by asking if the purpose of the Sabbath was to do good or harm.

Are Christians today plagued by problems that might be simplified if we took Jesus’ approach?

•In light of Jesus’ answer to the Pharisees, would you judge any of the following questions Christians ask today as "wrong questions?"

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Rev. Althouse may write to him in care of this publication.