“Woe to you, teachers of the law and
Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in other
people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who
are trying to.
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and
Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single
convert, and then you make the convert twice as much a child of hell as you
are.”
One of the big problems Jesus had with the “righteous”
people was that they judged …and judged by the external. Though they knew the scriptures backwards and
forwards -including the story of when David was anointed king of Israel and God told Samuel that He looks not at the
physical appearance but at the heart- these Pharisees and teachers of the law continued to
focus merely on the external. In doing so, this was the way they deemed who was
and who was not worthy to enter the
kingdom of heaven.
Hey! That sounds a lot like me!
Because, you know, that creepy guy living down the hall from
me this month…those wandering eyes, that way he talks and carries himself, that
cigarette hanging from his lip, that stupid little smirk he always has…I don’t like him. And apparently…I don’t love him either. If I did, I wouldn’t
avoid him like the plague. If I did, I would actually pray for him. If I did, I
wouldn’t judge him by those surface details I have in my brain of him. If I
loved him like Christ-and even the Law-calls
me to, then he sure wouldn’t be the example I am using in this blog.
Who knows…he might be searching for something…anything…maybe even God…and though I am
called to be that road sign, that welcome mat into God’s kingdom…I am the one
closing the door in his face. Maybe even deadbolting it. You’re not good enough
for my heaven.
Traveling over land and sea. Hah.
Ten months and I still haven’t learned.
Until next time,
Your friend the
Pharisee
