A) INTRODUCTION.

B) THE LOVE FACTOR.

C) TO OUR LORD’S EXPLANATION.

 

 

A) INTRODUCTION

 

 

If you accuse me of being a Pharisee because I don’t love people, you would be correct in your assessment and I need to take your advice and change my behavior.  This, in fact, was our Lord’s deepest concern over the Pharisees, as expressed in His sermon to them:  “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the Law, [righteousness] judgment, mercy, and faith:”  Matthew 23:23.  Luke’s account (11:42) is even more expressive of the “love” factor:  “But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the Love of God:”  for your fellow human beings.

 

 

B) THE LOVE FACTOR

 

 

Our Lord is quite clear that it was the Pharisees lack of love for their fellow human beings that really bothered Him.  Here is Matthew 23:13:  “But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men:  for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.”  Notice the “neither suffer ye them,” i.e., neither do you care for you fellow human beings.

 

HOWEVER, let’s be honest!  Most people do not accuse someone (these days) of being a Pharisee because they do not “love” people.  The main reason for the accusation would be because the person is ridged in their keeping of Church doctrine, or God’s Commandments (mostly the latter; therefore I will address that issue).  In contrast to the above (the “love” factor), our Lord would NOT be in agreement with this accusation.  In fact, our Lord states in Matthew 5:20:  “For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.”  Notice here that our Lord is implying that the Pharisees “have” righteousness.  And that “righteousness” that our Lord is referring to we will see to be the “keeping” of His Law.  However, in their “righteousness” was no “love.”

 

 

C) TO OUR LORD’S EXPLANATION

 

 

To better understand what our Lord is implying, let’s finish Matthew 23:23 and Luke 11:42.  Here is Matthew:  “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the Law, judgment, mercy, and faith:  these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.”  And here is Luke:  “But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the Love of God:  these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.”  Notice, God admonishes them for keeping the statutes of His Law, “these ought ye to have done,” while being frustrated with their lack of “love” that should have been manifested in the doing of His Law, i.e., “and not to leave the other undone.”

 

If one where to really read God’s Ten Commandment Law, one should come to the understanding that the real reason and purpose of God’s Law is to show and manifest “love” for one’s neighbor, i.e., specifically the last Six Commandments; expressed and made possible only by the keeping of the first Four Commandments.  It is this that our God basically would have complemented the Pharisees for doing, had they expressed in the keeping of God’s Law the Love of God that is built into His Law.

 

The problem our Lord had with the Pharisees was however, that they made God’s Law “grievous to be borne,” Matthew 23:4.  Let’s read another of our Lord’s discourses to the Pharisees, as found in Mark 7:5-13:  “[5] Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, Why walk not Thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands? [6] He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart [HERE IS THE PROBLEM] is far from Me. [7] Howbeit in vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men {ANOTHER PROBLEM]. [8] For laying aside the Commandment of God [WHICH IS LOVE FOR THEIR FELLOW MAN], ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups:  and many other such like things ye do. [9] And He said unto them, Full well ye reject the Commandment of God {WHICH IS LOVE], that ye may keep your own tradition. [10] For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death: [11] But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free. [12] And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother; [13] Making the Word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered:  and many such like things do ye.”

 

The same concept is shown in the rest of our Lord’s discourse to them in the Book of Matthew, Chapter 23, that they continually added things to God’s Law that made it cumbersome and un-respectful.  In our Lord’s eyes they became “blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel,” Matthew 23:24, i.e., to “strain at a gnat” means to be adding to God’s Law things which were “grievous to be borne,” while to “swallow a camel,” means to have missed the purpose of God’s Law in the first place, i.e., “The Love Of God.”

 

Remember, God sees what is in the “heart,” it’s a “heart” issue, not the outward show we put on.  “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.”  Matthew 23:25.  And Matthew 23:27:  “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.”

 

In conclusion, to then JUMP to the deduction that our Lord then CANCELS His Holy Law because things were added to It is ridiculous to say the least.  Therefore, go ahead and call me a Pharisee for keeping the Law of God and practicing Its principles.  For the “Love” manifested in our Lord’s Law, I count it worthy to be ridiculed for, i.e., “For God is Love,” First John 4:4 & 8.

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