Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Stalking Jesus
With the rising conflict in Mark 2:1-3:6 over healing, tax collectors and sinners, fasting, and plucking grain and healing on the Sabbath, I begin to wonder why these Pharisees were, well, stalking Jesus. In an almost cartoon like fashion, these guys are following Him around to see if they can catch Jesus breaking some law that they so ritualistically followed. I could be wrong, but wasn't it also against the law to be out walking around on the Sabbath? I imagine them hiding behind trees as quiet as possible and then jumping out with, "AH HA! Now we got you!" But Jesus responds in ways that they cannot counter. "Curses foiled again! This guy is about to get what is coming to Him!" Jesus displays tremendous amounts of authority and power (he is the son of God after all), and this is His ultimate demise. The Pharisees see Jesus as some punk trying to take what is rightfully theirs. Jesus is seen as the inferior challenger and the Pharisees as the superior. Over and over again Jesus wins and the Pharisees loose honor and shame. When the normal systems of challenge and response are not working and the superior challengers are loosing honor and shame, someone has to die. No wonder Jesus tried to keep His identity a secret until the Gospel had been fully proclaimed.
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2 comments:
The Pharisees seem to have a bad case of foot in mouth syndrome. Jesus either makes them look like idiots, or refuses to answer them, making them look like idiots. He's always one step ahead of them. I love the story of the paralytic whose friends brought him to Jesus. The Pharisees are so clueless. "Who do you think you are to forgive sins?" They ask. I always smile when I read or remember Jesus' response.
The Pharisees were hypocrites...and what you said about them waiting for Jesus to mess up can be related to now. Many "Christians" hide behind trees waiting for followers of God to mess up. Then they point their fingers. As Christians, we need to be careful to not even compare ourselves to other Christians. Other Christians are not our standard. Jesus Christ Himself is our standard. If we spend time comparing ourselves to other Christians, we will always find something wrong with them to make us feel better about ourselves. It's important to remember that Jesus is our standard, and that standard, of course, is perfection.
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