Beware the leaven of the Pharisees

 Please, please hear my heart in this.

Luke 10:25-37

“Then an expert in the law stood up to test him, saying, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? ”

“What is written in the law? ” he asked him. 

“How do you read it? ”

He answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,” and “your neighbor as yourself.”

“You’ve answered correctly,” he told him. “Do this and you will live.”

But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor? ”

Jesus took up the question and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him up, and fled, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down that road. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side. In the same way, a Levite, when he arrived at the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan on his journey came up to him, and when he saw the man, he had compassion. He went over to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on olive oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him. When I come back I’ll reimburse you for whatever extra you spend.’

“Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers? ” 

“The one who showed mercy to him,” he said.

Then Jesus told him, “Go and do the same.””

Luke 18:9-14

“He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee was standing and praying like this about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I’m not like other people — greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get.’

“But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even raise his eyes to heaven but kept striking his chest and saying, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner! ’ I tell you, this one went down to his house justified rather than the other, because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”” 

Something I notice when I talk about abuse and push back against the rigid teaching of gender roles and authority and submission in marriage is that people fear not keeping the law. We see certain passages as a law that we must obey in order to glorify God…we believe that God is glorified by our rigid keeping of the law rather than in being glorified by believing in the power of the gospel of Christ for you. The emphasis is on our works. The emphasis is in our ability to keep the law. There is no grace, no mercy, because we are focused on law keeping. We have exchanged the glory of God for the glory of man. We say women glorify God by submitting—that is, they glorify God by the law not by the gospel. We rely heavily on the law and forget the gospel. We need a deeper appreciation for the glory of God. 

The books I have been reading for research say that joy and love comes from obedience rather than obedience being an overflow from love and joy in Christ. They say that it doesn’t matter what we feel or how hurt we are, we need to just keep the law and the feelings of love will come—whether it be that our abusive husband will learn to love us or we will learn to love our abusive husband, love will one way or another come from obedience. 

Sometimes, when I speak about abuse, the responses I get remind me of those were upset when Jesus healed on the Sabbath, so He asked: 

“He replied to them, “Who among you, if he had a sheep that fell into a pit on the Sabbath, wouldn’t take hold of it and lift it out? A person is worth far more than a sheep; so it is lawful to do what is good on the Sabbath.” Matthew 12:11-12 

Or Mark 3:4

“Then he said to them, “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath or to do evil, to save life or to kill? ” But they were silent.”

There were many times when it seemed to the Pharisees that Jesus broke the law. They were more concerned about keeping the law than they were about image bearers. The law was made for man, not man for the law. God cares more about thr people in a marriage than the institution itself. 

Michael Reeves says in this great podcast, “The Pharisee only saw God’s commandments, but the tax collector saw God’s promises.” 

This podcast highlights a lot of what I have been trying to say. The topic isn’t gender roles or submission 😉 but the message applies— our focus should be the gospel. Always. 

The book, Jesus & Gender, does such a good job of explaining and emphasizing that message. The gospel is what we all need, always. Love, respect, obedience, all flow out of a deep love for God given to us in the gospel. 

So often when I and others speak about abuse, so many are like the Levite and the Priest. We need more “good Samaritans”. We need less Pharisees, and more tax collectors. Less focus on the law/commands and more focus on humility, mercy, and grace. 

And I am speaking to myself. I am not above reproach. I am still learning. I have been the Pharisee. I have been the Levite and the Priest. I still am at times. I am now trying to be on guard against the leaven of the Pharisees. And asking others to be as well. Let us confront the powers of darkness together. Let us look to Christ and have mercy and compassion.