"But the Pharisees said..."

As they were going away, behold, a demon-oppressed man who was mute was brought to him. And when the demon had been cast out, the mute man spoke. And the crowds marveled, saying, “Never was anything like this seen in Israel.” But the Pharisees said, “He casts out demons by the prince of demons.” And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction.

The Gospel According to Matthew (ESV)

No jealousy here. As the scene unfolds we see the people awed by the things Jesus does, yet the religious leaders only find fault. When they see Jesus cast out a demon, they give satan credit. It obvious that this is out of jealousy, because the statement makes absolutely no sense.  “He cast demons out by the prince of demons”. If that isn’t a knee jerk reaction to a situation, I don’t what is.

The problem the Pharisees had was they were afraid of evil. Rather than confront it they ran from it. But, in all their running, they ran right into it. The people that witnessed this man begin to speak they said; “Never was anything like this seen in Israel”. That’s because they were seeing God at work in their presence. The Pharisees were so wrapped up in religious behavior and the pretense of the lack of evil they did not see what God was doing before their eyes. Jesus was confronting evil and improving a man’s life. They had gotten so far off track that they are calling good evil and evil good. “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah ESV) The Pharisees are losing their power over the masses to God and are outraged by it. They want to be the authority in Israel and God is reclaiming it through Jesus.

The lesson we can take away from this is that we must relinquish all power and authority to Jesus as our Lord and Master. Jesus sees evil and confronts it. He drives it out. Eventually that included the Pharisees themselves. God doesn’t want manmade religion. He wants obedient servants. Jesus was that and set the example for us in what we are to do as his disciples. Let’s see that example and follow it. Let’s confront evil in our lives and let him take care of it and follow him.

Today, let’s see what God is doing in us and praise him for it. Through Jesus lives are changed, sins are forgiven and evil is put in its place. Let’s preach Jesus to the world. Let the healing begin!

© 2013 Leo J. Woodman

"I came not to call the righteous, but sinners."

But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

The Gospel According to Matthew (ESV)

                                          photo  ©2013  Chris Parker, Flickr

Jesus deals with the Pharisees concerning mercy in this passage. They had been criticizing Jesus for eating with sinners. In other words Jesus was eating with those that the Pharisees looked down on. They thought themselves to be righteous and all others to be sinners. When Jesus tells them he came for the sinners, not the righteous he let’s them know they perceive themselves as righteous, so they see no need for his services.

They are quick to criticize Jesus for working with those they have no use for. They believe they have distanced themselves from sin and everyone associated with it. Yet, they don’t see that they too are in need of the Great Physician. They are counting on their religion and outward piety to convince themselves and everyone else they are not sin sick.

The shame of the situation is that they are in more need of Jesus attention than those they despise. The reason the tax collectors and sinners gather around Jesus is because they know that they need him. They seek the mercy that Jesus offers them. Its sad to see that the Pharisees show no mercy to others, because they so desperately need mercy themselves.

We that are in Christ must learn to show mercy to those that are not. We have received mercy, we must now give it. May we never look down on those we see still suffering in their sin sickness and leave them in it. Let’s be like Jesus and go to them and offer them the cure. Let’s seek them out like Jesus did and call them to something better.

© 2013 Leo J. Woodman