The Pharisees are in many ways the punching bags of the New Testament. Every good story has some sort of villain, and the gospel is no exception. In the course of Matthew 23, eight times the phrase occurs, “Woe unto you scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites.” Coming from the Master, we know the statement is well founded, accurate, and appropriate. My question is, what is at the base of this criticism? What were the Pharisees doing wrong? Consider the following:
Matt. 23:5-7: Everything they do is done for men to see: they make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them Rabbi. We see their pride, false motives.
Matt. 23:11-12 The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. We see their pride, using God for one’s own gain.
Matt. 23:13 Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. We see their lack of mercy, exclusivity.
Matt. 23:23 Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices-mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law-justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. We see them ignoring the spirit of the law, and their lack of mercy.
Matt. 23:29 -30 Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ We see them failing to perceive in themselves the vices and mistakes of those who have come before them, pride.
The thrust of Jesus’ condemnation of the Pharisees appears on two parallel fronts, lack of mercy and pride. Jesus’ whole message against the Pharisees is really to criticize them for these two elements of wickedness.
What is not said
Notice in Matthew 23 what Jesus doesn ‘t criticize the Pharisees for. Nowhere in the text does Jesus say, “Woe unto you scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites you didn’t know your Old Testament well enough. Woe unto you, you didn’t spend enough time locked away in your houses studying the law.” Perhaps there is as much to learn in what Jesus doesn’t say as there is in what he does say. Very simply, Jesus doesn’t condemn the Pharisees because they weren’t smart enough or well spoken enough. He doesn’t even discuss their knowledge other than to say they were so caught up in it they failed to see its purpose.
Link of truth and mercy
Keep these things in mind as we note a phrase which is repeated throughout Psalms and Proverbs. The phrase is “mercy and truth.” The Psalms make a point of combining these two concepts into one beautiful harmony.
This is interesting because the words are not immediately compatible. If you think about it, truth is a dividing line. There is truth and untruth. It’s black or it’s white. It’s sheep or it’s goat. Mercy tends to step over boundaries and cross over lines and be an agent for bringing people together, not separating them apart. Here is an example:
Psalm 25:8-11 Good and upright is the LORD: therefore will he teach sinners in the way. The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way. All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies. For thy name’s sake, 0 LORD, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great.
Notice in verse 8 that the Lord teaches sinners His way. This of itself is a great act of mercy. I don’t want to glaze over that point. Young people, the fact we know the truth is an incredible act of mercy. While we were yet sinners God called us out. In a real sense, He chose us before we chose Him.
Then, in verse 9 of the Psalm, there is a change in character. The sinner is now meek. So in response to God’s mercy the sinner himself becomes meek. In other words, we have been shown an incredible amount of love and mercy, something, sadly, I believe we take for granted. But we have been shown this mercy so that we may act upon it; so that we may be changed.
Now look at verse 10: “All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.” The mercy that God has shown has come full circle, and now the receivers of mercy have acted upon that and changed their character and keep the testimonies and covenants of the Lord.
There is a very important and obvious point here. In order to keep the covenant of God, we must know what the covenant is. In order to keep the testimonies of God, we must know what those testimonies are. In other words, knowledge is required. To serve God you must know Him. The act of mercy by God in the first place can be summarized as His invitation. Then finishing in Psalm 25:11, the name of the Lord is called upon; it is recognized as great. This again emphasizes that there is a very specific knowledge from which the caller approaches God – with a knowledge of God’s greatness and mercy. For knowledge of the mercy, and the humility to seek it, the caller is shown mercy again.
Do we see here how closely mercy and truth are intertwined? It takes a great act of mercy for God to approach a sinner and call him/her to repentance by revealing to him His truth. In response we must develop meekness and mercy of our own and learn God’s truth. With our knowledge of God’s truth we then can understand him, and understand the meaning of calling upon His name, whereby we acknowledge our dependence and are renewed by His mercy.
In other words, it takes mercy to get truth and it takes the truth to receive mercy. The two concepts are intertwined and inseparable. Truth is vital and mercy is vital.
The Pharisees had only their knowledge
What was wrong with the Pharisees? They had only half the equation. Yes, they had their knowledge of the Old Testament. Yes, they knew their slant of the law and the prophets. But what good did it do them? Without mercy they were dead.
Knowledge is wonderful and necessary. It is the spring from which salvation flows. I encourage every young person to study scripture, work out the doctrines which we attest to believe and make them your own. Without study we cannot know God.
Yet sometimes we make it the whole story, we make it everything. We speak of the truth. We say that we have the truth. And, young people, we do. But the truth is more than a set of doctrines, it’s more than a list of “I don’t believe.” God requires not only truth, but also righteousness and a development of character that must result from that truth. Truth is an element of righteousness but it isn’t enough to have truth. We must have mercy, compassion, grace, patience, love, and faith.
I write this to myself. I find it very easy to get caught up in knowledge. I study sometimes more for the purpose of proving my faith and myself rather than for the purpose of understanding more fully my Lord and His plan. It’s a disease called intellectualism and it breeds pride, it breeds isolation, it breeds a cold heart, it makes you think that somehow you’re better. It’s very easy to get enveloped in knowledge.
When I read in Matthew 23 of Jesus’ condemnations of the Pharisees, I find it pierces my heart. And I make the warning that it is very easy to behave like a Pharisee; to get ourselves so stuck with the pride of knowledge that we don’t perceive God’s mercy. It is our challenge and our gift as Christadelphians, having had the truth fully revealed to us, to change our hearts and be truly humbled.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One