In Scripture we do not observe Christ serving the Pharisees…except in the dark of night when one came to him to acknowledge that he recognized Christ’s authority and to ask questions….Mostly we see Christ, as he was in their presence over meals, in the Temple, and walking the streets challenging the Pharisees for their judgement, their ignorance, their lack of humility, and for using religion to control and take advantage of God’s people. They repeatedly asked him legalistic questions in public in an effort to trip him up and bring charges against him. What he preached and the miracles he performed in their presence stoked their fear, jealousy, and anger. And what was it that caused such a reaction?…..That the gospel was for everyone, not just them, the Jews.. Pharisaisism is about exclusion of others, about pridefulness, about exercising special rights and privileges, about lording one’s power and privilege over others. It’s about looking down the nose at others and judging them as unworthy to have them walk alongside. It’s about pointing out the speck in the eye of others while unwilling to acknowledge the log in one’s own. Jesus called them hypocrits, “actors”, pretenders in the kingdom and reserved his harshest criticisms for them. Their response was inhospitableness to Christ and others, to double down on him until they manipulated others, the Romans with whom they collaborated, to get rid of Christ. They saw it as their job, their mandate, to define the kingdom themselves, for their own benefit. What we do see Jesus doing is forgiving them….from the very cross to which they had him nailed.
