The Scribes and the Pharisees

One of the first things Jesus says in The Bible is that the righteousness of His followers should exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. But, who were the scribes and Pharisees. What were their behaviors, their beliefs, their teachings? The scribes were the Lawyers. They were the teachers who interpreted the Law of Moses for the ordinary people of Israel. So, the scribes were the experts on the Law and the teachers of the Law. But, why did Jesus disparage them?

The scribes originated soon after the Law of Moses was given by God. They were the "Xerox" copiers of the manuscripts which were distributed to the synogogues and they became the teachers of the law because, as copiers, they knew the law better than anyone else. They were responsible for writing down the law exactly as it was written in the original manuscripts, so they were very well versed in what the Law said. Because of that knowledge, the scribes were the obvious choice to be the ones to teach the Law to the masses. They were given respect and honor by the Jews because of their knowledge of the Law. Because of human nature, the scribes began to be proud of their position and the honor and respect given them by the people, and they began to demand that honor and respect and acted like they were better than the general population because of their status as scribes, lawyers and teachers.

The Pharisees were a religious party made up of merchants and artisans, laymen in the synogogues, but powerful because of their strict adherance to the Law. Somewhere along the way, however, they began to apply oral traditions that expanded on how one was to observe and obey the Law. They influenced the rabbinic teachings with their oral traditions. And they felt they were set apart from the ordinary men of Israel, hence the name Pharisee, which literally means separation. The Pharisees demanded that everyone keep the Sabbath, maintain the purity rituals and conformity to the Law by outward appearance, yet they lacked inner righteousness. They did not walk the talk. The outside looked clean, while inside sin reigned.

When Jesus told us that our righteousness must be greater or better than the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, He was telling us that the inside of our cup needs to be clean, not just the outside. The heart is more important than the appearance. Jesus was telling us that we have to walk the talk, not just speak the teachings of Jesus, but live them, as well. Others should be able to see by our actions, our behaviors that we are His children, not just us telling people we are His children.

The Words in Red

I find it interesting that, when reading the Bible, the first words we have from Jesus are the Beatitudes. The first lesson we get from Him is a lesson on how to live. Meek, humble, hunger and thirst for righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers. If we were to live our lives in this manner, how wonderful the world would be. We're told, right there in the Beatitudes, not to be puffed up, full of ourselves, pushy and bullying toward anyone. Giving mercy to those around us, making peace between parties, staying true in our heart to the teachings of Christ. Living our life to please Him, and only Him. Not involved in drama, backbiting, gossiping and the turmoil that others bring.

Can you imagine what our lives would be like if everyone behaved the way Jesus described in Matthew 5:3-12? We could totally be focused on the spiritual battles we're supposed to be fighting if we would surrender ourselves to live the way Jesus just told us to. There would be an end to denominational religion. There would be no hungry people on the streets. There'd be no homelessness. What a life we'd be showing to the lost and dying world. We could make them want what we have, even without saying a word to them. They would see peace, harmony, grace, concern, joy. Everything that's lacking in their world. Instead, they look at our lives and see the same things they're going through in theirs and they wonder, what's the point? It's the same thing.

For the next week or two, I'm going to be sharing The Words of Jesus from the four Gospels on my Facebook page. I'm not going to give commentary, not going emphasize anything, just going to put Jesus' Words on the page. As if Jesus, Himself, were posting. I wonder if anyone will see it that way? I wonder if someone's life will be changed by just hearing His Words. I hope so. I'm praying so.