Giving the Pharisees a Fair Hearing
Anyone familiar with the story of Jesus Christ has heard of the Pharisees. We tend to remember them as the legalistic group of Jewish leaders who were determined to put an end to the ministry of Jesus.
And for good reason. Recall the Gospel story of Jesus healing a man in the synagogue on the Sabbath. Rather than rejoice at this miracle, the Pharisees seethed with rage. Why? Because Jesus was “working” on the Sabbath, a violation of the Law.
In “Ancient Christianity,” Dr. Ken Calvert provides helpful background on the origins and motivations of the Pharisees. They were Jewish leaders who wanted to bring about a revival of Judaism by bringing the Torah into the daily lives of the Jewish people. Dr. Calvert says,
Another aspect of the Pharisees is that they’re very intent about bringing Torah into the daily life of Jews, into the everyday life. Do the Pharisees have a positive effect upon Judaism? Many scholars, and I would agree, think that they do.
Moreover, their hard-hearted adherence to the Law was motivated by a noble purpose. As Dr. Calvert explains,
The Pharisees are often misunderstood. . . . There is a faithful aspect to the Pharisees that we have to understand. We’ve got to understand that the Pharisees are first and foremost concerned about staying in the land, about never being exiled again.
God had already punished the Jews’ lack of faithfulness to the Law during their exiles under the Assyrians and Babylonians. Now, after returning to the Holy Land, the Pharisees wanted to ensure it never happened again.
They opposed Jesus in part because they feared he would upset the Roman order. And the Pharisees were afraid that if the peace was disturbed in Judea, the Romans would force the Jews into another exile.
This background on the Pharisees reveals a stubborn truth about human nature. Oftentimes we turn a good that we are pursuing—in the case of the Pharisees, faithfulness to the Law—into the very thing that causes us to sin and turn away from God. It’s a great reminder for me and one of my favorite lessons from the study of ancient Christianity.
