The teachers of…

The teachers of the law created a system that allowed them to feel superior, and then lifted not one finger to help others. Think how this might play out today. Today’s Pharisees might condemn the poor for their dysfunctional families, but not lift one finger to help. Today’s Pharisees might condemn the poor for their excessive drinking, but lift not one finger to ease their pain. Today’s Pharisees might condemn the poor for their laziness, but lift not one finger to provide employment. Today’s Pharisees might condemn the poor for their abortions, but not lift one finger to adopt unwanted children. I’m not defending dysfunctional families, drunkenness, and so on. But we can’t condemn these things at a distance. That’s legalism. We must come alongside, proclaiming and demonstrating the transforming grace of God. The Pharisees are people who have the Word, but hide it. Formally they honor the Word, building monuments for the prophets. But in reality they ignore God’s Word, effectively siding with those who killed the prophets (Luke 11:47-51). They’d created a system that the poor could never keep, and then instead of helping them, despised them for their failures. Jesus concludes: “Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering” (11:52)

-Tim Chester in A Meal with Jesus