Pharisees

P.S. - This post is me thinking out loud. Feel free to drop a comment if you agree or disagree with this loud thought of mine. Thank you!

So my friends had been disturbing me to watch The Chosen since last year. However, I finally did watch season one recently, and one aspect that kept coming to my mind was the Pharisees. If you do not know, The Chosen is a multi-season television program that delves into the life of Jesus. The show essentially tries to portray the life of Jesus as accurately as they can. I think they are about to release Season Four at the moment (I still have to watch two and three 😅).

Anyway, stay with me. For Season One which I have just completed, my mind kept going back to the Pharisees. Watching that series made me think a lot about the Pharisees back then and I wondered about the Pharisees in this age and time. Some of the Pharisees were not bad people, they loved God and were doing what they thought was best. Like, they were the most revered scholars and they had an influence on politics and religious standards. For instance, when Nicodemus came to Jerusalem, we saw how he was respected and valued as a great scholar, teacher of the law as well as a great leader. The Pharisees wanted to please God; they spent time in the temple trying to understand and interpret the Torah. 

To be sincere, the teachings of the Pharisees and that of Jesus were similar except that the Pharisees were prideful and hypocritical, and they misinterpreted some of the biblical principles and teachings. One of the areas that the Pharisees and Jesus disagreed (in the series and in the Bible) was that while Jesus associated with sinners, tax collectors, and many others that had been rejected by the society, the Pharisees did not and they conflicted with Jesus on this. This is an aspect I have seen play out in today's society. When some standards do not align with popular Christian standards then it causes conflict in Christianity.

Are we not behaving like the Pharisees today? The attitudes of some Christians today resemble that of the Pharisees and not of Jesus. For instance, several Christians today are not in support of the Afro-gospel because according to them "it does not sound like a Christian song" or "because of the beat". And I wonder if our standard should be the beats or if its lyrical content aligns with the standards of the Bible. Also, a lot of Christians will raise an eyebrow if they see a minister or a pastor relate to celebrities or some people that they have tagged as "sinners" because according to them "He or she is a pastor". However, we see Jesus relating with sinners, prostitutes, tax collectors, the sick as well as the rejects. I wonder who Jesus would relate with if He came in this generation. Read Matthew 9:10-13.

What is my point with this diary entry today? Do not be a Pharisee!

I once read that a Pharisee today is someone who goes along with the urge to be seen as righteous by obeying the laws and principles while forgetting the more important matters of the heart. Don't be a Pharisee. Instead, hate the sin and not the sinner. Remember that “It is not the healthy who needs a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:31).

If you read till this point, thank you. I really do want to know what you think about this loud thought of mine. So, I hope you drop a comment. Regardless, see you in my next diary entry. Stay blessed!

#hephzibahsdiary
#lightbearer
#Godsdelight


Comments

  1. MermahJanuary 31, 2024 at 9:26 PM

    This💯
    It's east to be in a character of religiousness. Checking oneself is important🤍

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. HephzibahsdiaryFebruary 1, 2024 at 7:57 AM

      Yeah. I think it is important that we have these discussions.

      Delete
  2. AnonymousFebruary 1, 2024 at 12:17 AM

    Thank for this, christians today still need to be lectured, I have a lady in my area who is ready to work for God and am still trying to win her, the statement she made was hope they won't criticize her because of her dress cause she knew some people in my church who is ready to first cast stone on her, I just have to encourage her to come they way she likes to church, from dere I no shez going to change.In Luke 13 we read that it was Pharisee who warned Jesus to flee for his life. In addition, he had a friend named Nicodemus. Finally, the focus of a relationship with God for the Pharisee is the law, and one might say the Spirit of Christ is the living law. 🤍

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. HephzibahsdiaryFebruary 1, 2024 at 7:59 AM

      Wow...Thanks for sharing this story. Instead of leading people to Christ, I hope we don't lead them away.

      Delete
  3. AnonymousFebruary 3, 2024 at 12:27 AM

    Thank you for this. We are the first people to bury our wounded soldiers. I kept on saying this, when a brother or sister falls into sin, we should be there to encourage them not to forget that no matter what, they still have chances with Jesus and show them love , not castigating them and bury them again and again. The Lord will help us.

    ReplyDelete

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