Faithful on Fridays Blog

Part Five

Hopefuly, you’ve seen why Jesus was so hard on the Pharisees and their influence. They primarily stressed how your life looks on the outside, conversely, Jesus was focused on the inside: your heart. Arriving at His last week on earth growing crowds began declaring He was the Son of David, the prophesied Messiah, the King who comes in the power and authority of God, Yahweh, Himself. That had to make their skin crawl since King David was such a big deal. If Jesus was the King the crowds said He was, then they were in big trouble for they rejected Him.

“Blessings on the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in highest heaven!” But some of the Pharisees among the crowd said, “Teacher, rebuke Your followers for saying things like that!” He replied, “If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!” Luke 19:38-40

Well, they certainly didn’t want that so they continued following and conspiring for His death to finally shut Him up. This assignment proved difficult since Jesus continued to minister with anointed teaching and healing, consequently, people ‘hung on every word’ (Luke 19:48). 

So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after Him.” John 12:19 

When Jesus toppled the merchandizing tables and declared God’s House to be for prayer they received more ammunition: authority. The Pharisees demanded to know who gave Him this authority and He answered that it comes from His Father who sent Him to speak of eternal life (John 12:49). When you reject Jesus you reject the Father as well. Jesus continued by telling two stories (Matt. 21:28-46) and closing His argument with this statement:

“The kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.”

Well, that says it all; it’s about fruit in your life. Jesus was clear, if you love Him with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and likewise your neighbor (Mark 12:30-31), then you’re living in the Kingdom of God or experiencing eternal life right now. When you have the mindset of a Pharisee you do the right thing for the wrong reasons and He knows it. God included this sect of religious leaders for a reason; they help us check our motives for the good works we do. 

How much do we desire the praise of men and be recognized? 

Is there sacrifice in our offering? The two cents of the widow was considered more to God than the huge offering of the rich.

At the end many Jewish leaders believed Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of David, but their fear of the Pharisees kept them from confessing it (John 12:42-43) and being shunned. They loved the praise that comes from man more than the praise that comes from God; that’s a good warning for us.