“…on the outside you appear… as righteous but on the inside, you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.” Matthew 23:28 // Modern Day Pharisees and Sadducees

We’ve been exploring the Pharisees and the Sadducees we’ve all heard about from the Bible.  This week, I’d like to take the information we learned about these two ancient religious sects and see what lessons we can derive from them for our Christian lives today.

To help with that, I offer three observations and some possible inferences.

Observation One.

Many of these men were the most learned, most respected religious leaders of their day.

The members of these sects were regarded by the majority of Jews as people who should be listened to.  Their opinions and ideas mattered.

They were seen as leaders of their religion because they were so knowledgeable about the Scriptures and the various theological works that had been derived from those.  In today’s parlance many of them would have enjoyed the title of “Doctor.”  Doctor of Religion, Doctor of Theology, or Doctor of Scripture could easily have been applied to them.

Today, we have our own learned people on whom we rely to offer counsel and guidance regarding our spiritual lives.  We may feel a bit more sophisticated because our modern tradition includes women among our religious “elite.”  But we still read their works.  We still study their interpretations.  And, we still see them as more knowledgeable and as more “religious” than most of us.  Their opinions and theories are listened to. Our faith is shaped by their ideas and analysis.  And we elect to conduct our spiritual lives accordingly.

They are our religious leaders.  We follow their lead.  They are our teachers, our theologians, our “learned” ones in the ways of the Lord.

We don’t refer to them as Pharisees or Sadducees, but they fill the same role for us.  Today’s religious leaders ruminate on our faith and its application to our lives while we are spiritually indolent.  They write and speak when we are not sufficiently proficient.  And, they influence our religious discourse and our thoughts in powerful ways.

Many of us rely on them too much.  Just as many Jews relied on the Pharisees and the Sadducees in Jesus’ day.

Observation Two.

Many of these men were deeply sincere in their beliefs, and were convinced that their faith provided the answers to the most important theological questions.

The members of each sect identified closely with the theology and spiritual way of life their respective sects advocated.  Their training, their thought, their study, and, yes, their prayers had led them to the conclusion that their particular “flavor” of Judaism was the correct one.

Many of these men were sincere to the point of fanaticism.  They believed not only that they had “the answer,” but also that anyone who did not agree with them was incapable of being “right with God.”  It was “their way or the highway!”

A person can be sincere and still be wrong.  Sincerity is no proof against erroneous thinking.

Most of the inhabitants of the Earth in 1490 A.D were sincere in their belief that the Earth was flat.  Nearly all the “learned men” (see above) maintained as fact that the Earth was flat.  And, not only was the Earth flat, it was the Center of the Universe.  In other words, the flat Earth and the fiery points of light that occupied the night sky were all that constituted physical reality.

Of course, we now know that no matter how sincere they may have been, they were wrong!  The Earth is neither flat, nor is it the center of the Milky Way, much less the center of the Universe.

Many of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees were pious, God-fearing, and devout adherents to and advocates for their beliefs.  But, just as sincerity didn’t shield the learned men of the late 1,400’s from their misconceptions about the flat Earth, neither did their sincere piety shield the Pharisees or Sadducees from being wrong when confronted by Jesus and His new Truth.

The “way” He preached was different from the “way” they believed in.  History has shown that Christ and His teachings would be accepted as  true by billions of people.  Whereas their sects and their beliefs would dissipate and be regarded as correct by an increasingly small number.  They were on the “wrong side” of history, in spite of their learning, their traditions, and their good intentions.

Many of us today continue in the tradition of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.  We continue to believe that we have the “right way” to worship God, and that others’ ways are either misinformed or utterly wrong.  And we mistakenly believe that our devotion and adherence to the spiritual/religious ideas, laws and traditions we have learned from our religious leaders is proof of our acceptance to God.  Many of us still expect form to rule over substance.

Observation Three.

Many of these men (as many of us do today) relied on their Scriptures and their Tradition to guide their daily walk with God.

By the time of Christ, the oral tradition of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible) was over 1,000 years old.  Various written versions or parts of their Scriptures are known from as early as the eighth century B.C.

Together with these books (or scrolls which were then used), thousands of pages of additional material had been recorded.  The remaining books of the Old Testament along with studies, treatises, interpretations, and new laws (and new interpretations of old laws) had all been available to the members of the sects, some for hundreds of years.

Many schools (analogous to today’s universities) existed or had existed to serve as repositories of this knowledge, and for debate and refinement of that knowledge.  It is hard to imagine that any question concerning the Jewish religion that could have been asked, discussed or argued about, hadn’t been asked, discussed and argued about by the time Jesus arrived.

Each sect maintained that it (and it alone) had the “answers” to all the theological questions that mattered.  And their conclusions had over 1,000 years of thought, study, prayer, and discourse to rely on to back them up.

What more needed to be said?  What more could be learned?  Was more discovery/revelation even possible?  Their answers were, “Nothing,” “Nothing,” and “No.”  They were the original authors of the “old time religion!!”

And then came Jesus.

Today many of us continue to live by ideas, ways of thinking, or interpretations of Scripture that may be in line with tradition (what we’ve been taught), but which may be at odds with God’s true intent for His Creation and for those of us who inhabit it.  We too live in danger of being seduced by the idea that God has nothing further to tell us.  We also can become too sure of ourselves where our relationship with God is concerned.

What does this mean for us?

In many ways, WE are the Pharisees and the Sadducees of today.  We don’t call ourselves by those names.  We call ourselves Catholics, Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, or any number of other monikers.  I suspect that few of us would appreciate being described as like the Pharisees or the Sadducees.

But we too can become seduced into thinking that we’ve learned all that we need to know.  We can become judgmental of and look down on others who are not as righteous as we are, or who do not agree with our beliefs.  We refuse to heed the lessons Jesus is trying to teach us.

Too often we can take pride in our piety and in our strict adherence to the forms of our religion — while forgetting the purpose of that religion in the first place.

And our pride can also drive us to believe that we know all that needs to be known about our God and our relationship with Him— while, really, the only person who has all the answers is God.

Let’s be clear.  There is nothing wrong with trying to live a good, pure, and righteous life, continuously seeking God and a better relationship with Him.  In fact, that is exactly what Jesus came to model for us.  Only by His example can we have any hope of understanding what God would have of us.

BUT, when we begin to believe that we’ve “got it,” when we start to think that we know all we need to know, and when we start to believe that our piety and lifestyle are “the only true way,” we’ve passed from the desirable into the undesirable.  When that happens, we have truly, become the Pharisees and the Sadducees of today.

The Takeaway.

For me, the real lesson to be learned from these groups is that we should never be satisfied with where we may be in our relationships with God.  A Christian Faith is supposed to be a growing faith.  And if it’s growing, it’s going to be changing, evolving, and becoming more tomorrow than it is today.

A Christian Faith such as Christ would have us live offers exciting new vistas for us to discover and explore each day.  So, that’s the lesson.

Never become complacent.  Always seek those new vistas.  Always look for new faith horizons.  And trust God to help us in our never-ending quest of exploring our Christianity.

God’s Blessing on You All.

Richard

March 1, 2019