I am reading in the Gospel of Matthew Chapter 12 today. I have read Matthew 12 many times over the years but today some things regarding religiosity seem to be the focus of my contemplations regarding the motivation of these religious souls.
First we read in verses 9-14 the story of a man with a withered hand and how Jesus is confronting these religious people with a question that really is based on Jesus challenging their mercy, and they seem to have none. They are not excited and happy for the man who gets his withered hand healed, rather they are incensed that it happened on the Sabbath.
Later on in verses 22-32 there is another tormented human, a demon possessed man who was blind and mute. Jesus casts the demon out and the man can see and speak. Wonderful! Awesome! Amazing! Yet, the religious folks accuse Jesus of being a demon himself by doing this.
What is this all about? Why can't these Pharisees celebrate the deliverance of fellow human beings?
But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you. Matthew 12:28
But the Pharisees did not recognize the Kingdom of the God they thought they served. Why?
I think that it boils down to an inability to recognize the Truth. They don't recognize truth, nor Jesus as being the Truth sent by God. I believe that is due to their own motivations and desires that had set them on the religious path they had traveled to become a Pharisee. They could only recognize their truth.
Judas Iscariot. What is up with that guy? He was one of the disciples. He walked, talked, and ate with Jesus yet he sold Jesus out for 30 pieces of silver. I can imagine that Judas joined the group of disciples for reasons other than the truth of who Jesus was and what Jesus would provide to him. When Judas started to recognize that being a part of this group was not going to provide him with what he originally thought it would, he turned against them.
I know personally of a business person who, in a time of business downturn, turned to a popular faith teacher and began to employ the techniques this faith teacher was teaching which seemed to guarantee that he would begin to find God's material blessings if he just followed a pattern of giving and believing. It did not turn out that way for the business person who currently lives in a state of disbelief and bitterness. Perhaps God was, and is, more interested in the truth as applied to this individuals life. It wasn't working out as the individual wanted but it may very well have been working a process out for his very life.
Recently a phrase began circulating amongst the popular vernacular regarding people speaking their truth. Reading in the news today I saw an account that President-Elect Trump's Middle East envoy had gone to the Middle East and sat down with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to deliver a message from his boss: it was time for the cease fire deal - yet - if you listen to President Biden's leaving-the-term speech he made the other day, he will tell you his administration brokered the deal. Truth? Where is it in a changing world and greatly varying motivations and perceptions of human beings?
So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. John 8:31-32
So in closing, for me to avoid being a Pharisee of my time, I must extend the use of humility to myself, examining myself. Am I keeping my eyes on Jesus, listening to His voice and following His instructions? If I stay true to a pattern of prayer and Bible Study, I have a much higher probability in my faulty flesh, to recognize true, God-breathed Truth.
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