New Testament BIBLE STORY #24

 New Testament BIBLE STORY

#24

Especially  written  for  children

Chapter Thirty-two:

Plain talk about Scribes and Pharisees - The Jews begin to reject Jesus

WOES TO THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES

     And Jesus said to the crowd and to His disciples, "The

scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat; so all therefore

that they bid you observe, that is according to the Word

of God, and what they have authority over, that observe and do,

but do not follow their works for they say, but do not do

practice what they preach."

     Although the words "according to the Word of God, and what

they have authority over" are added by myself, it is clear from

all that Jesus has said as recorded in the four Gospels, this is

the true meaning of what Jesus was saying to them. We have 

seen that Jesus said much of the doctrines and teachings of the

Pharisees was "leaven" and to be ware of their theology. We have

seen that Jesus many times did not agree with the ideas and the

theology of the scribes and Pharisees, so it is obvious that He

was not telling people here to BLINDLY, without question, do 

and practice everything that came out of the mouth of those two

groups of people, the scribes and the Pharisees.

     Yet, Jesus did admit that they did have a certain amount of

authority from Moses and did have some things correct, so 

where their authority and teachings were in line with God's word,

people were to admit it was correct and so do the truth that they

taught. But, He was just as clearly teaching here that people

were NOT to follow the life example set by the scribes and

Pharisees, for as we have seen Jesus often told them they were

hypocrites...they often said what God's word did teach, and

wanted people to obey it, but they did not do it themselves. 

So people were to be aware that their example was often far 

from what people should follow.

     Now Jesus got really to the point, did not hold back, and

painted in graphic words the foundational nature of the scribes

and Pharisees. He went on to say, "They bind heavy burdens, hard

to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders; but they themselves

will not move them off with even a finger."

     Religious cults are prone to do this sort of thing. They

rule their members with all kinds of laws that govern every facet

of their lives, from the time they wake up to the time they go to

sleep. The scribes and Pharisees were in many ways a religious

cult, and how they loved to burden people with hundreds of "do

this" and "do not do that" laws of life, that were not the laws

of God. The people were under heavy burdens, and the leaders

of the two groups Jesus is addressing, were not willing to lift

the smallest of these man made regulations, that could, in a

figure of speech, be lifted from them with just one finger.

     Jesus continued: "They do all their deeds and works to be

seen of people; for on their arms they wear extra wide prayer

boxes with Scriptures verses inside, and wear extra long tassels

on their robes."

     In their religion of those days, there was a lot of meaning

to such clothing. Remember the Old Covenant of the Old 

Testament age was in many ways full of physical rites, rituals, 

sacrifices, Temple worship, and even decorating their homes 

and clothing with Bible verses was often practices. The scribes 

and Pharisees went to the ultimate extreme in decorating 

themselves with Scripture verses.....but it was, as Jesus said, 

mainly for outward show, in order to tell others how "religious" 

and how "godly" they were, but in fact the opposite was the 

true case.

     

     Continuing with Jesus' words, "And how they love to sit at

the head table at banquets and in the most prominent seats in the

church! They enjoy the adulation they get from people on the

streets, and they revel in being called 'Rabbi' or 'teacher' in a

vain religious sense. Do not let anyone call you "Teacher" in

this vain pompous religious way, for you only have ONE 

"teacher" - God in heaven. You my disciples are on the same 

level as brothers and sisters. Do not address each other with 

pompous religious titles. And further more, do not address 

anyone here on earth with the religious title of 'Father,' for only 

God in heaven is your spiritual Father. And do not let anyone 

call you 'Master' in a spiritual religious way, for you have only 

one Master - the Christ, myself, the Messiah."

     Right away we can think of one large religious body of

people who use the word "Father" as a religious title for its

church leaders. Jesus here clearly said such a practice was not

to be done. It is so true in so many cases, that when Jesus said

"do this" people do not, and when Jesus said, "do not do this"

people do it. Such is the deception of the human heart.

     To further amplify the state that Christians must have one

towards another, Jesus went on to say: "The one who thinks he is

the greatest among you, must be your servant. Those who exalt

themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will

be exalted. How terrible it will be for you teachers of religious

law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites you are! For you will not let

others enter the Kingdom of God, and you will not go in yourselves. 

Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites you are, for shamelessly 

you cheat widows out of their property, and then, to cover up the kind 

of people you really are, you make long prayers in public. Because of 

this your punishment will be the greater."

     Yes, those leaders of religious law, were very clever at getting 

money from people, even from the widow, who would often

give over whatever property they were left by their husband at

death, to "the church" as we say today. And so it still is in our

time that many "religious" teachers out there are masterful at

getting people to give and send them money. Now and again we 

see such people and their "religious work" be exposed on TV. Such

persons usually have great personal wealth, or their organization

does, and they live off the organization with a life style is up

with the "rich and the famous" in the Hollywood circle of movie

stars.

     Continuing: "Woe to you religious leaders of the scribes and

Pharisees, you hypocrites! For you travel around the earth, over

land and sea to make one convert, and when he is made, you make

that person two-fold more the child of hell than yourselves. 

Woe unto you, you blind guides, which say, 'Whoever swears 

by the Temple, it is nothing, but whoever swears by the gold on 

the Temple, is a debtor and is obligated to pay and fulfil what he

has swore to do.' You silly fools and carnally blind: for which

is the greater, the gold, or the Temple that sanctifies the gold

that is on it? The Temple where God says He would dwell is the

greater of course!

     And you also say, 'Whoever swears by the altar, it is

nothing; but whoever swears by the gift of sacrifice on the

altar, he is a debtor to pay in full what he swore to do.' You

fools and you blind: for which is the greater, the gift on the

altar or the altar itself that sanctifies the gift? Why the altar

is the greatest of course!

     So, whoever swears by the altar, swears by it and everything

that may be upon it. And whoever swears by the Temple, swears 

by it and all things upon its walls, and especially by Him that

dwells in it - God.

     And whoever swears by heaven, swears by the very throne 

of God, and by Him that sits on the throne - God Himself!"

     As we can see Jesus did not mince His words towards those

religious leaders of the people known as the scribes and the

Pharisees. Truly some of the teachings they held were by nature

and by common human logic, very silly and foolish, and as Jesus

bluntly put it "hypocritical."

     Going on with Jesus' scathing rebukes: "Woe unto you scribes

and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are careful to tithe even on

the smallest parts of your income and goods, but then you IGNORE

the large important parts of the law - JUSTICE, MERCY, and

FAITH. Oh yes, you SHOULD tithe, but you SHOULD NOT leave 

UNDONE the more IMPORTANT things. Blind guides you are! 

You strain your water so you will not accidently swallow at gnat; 

then you turn around and swallow a camel!

     How terrible it will be for you teachers of religious law

and for you Pharisees. You hypocrites! You are so very careful 

to wash and clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but you

forget the inside. You are filthy - full of greed and self-indulgence! 

You blind Pharisees! You should first wash the inside of the cup, 

then the outside will get clean also, as you wash the inside.

     Woe, unto you scribes and Pharisees. Hypocrites! You are

like whitewashed tombs - looking beautiful on the outside, but

filled on the inside with dead people's bones and all sorts of

impurity. You all try to look like upright godly people

outwardly, but inside your hearts are filled with hypocrisy 

and lawlessness.

     Woe, unto you scribes and Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you

build tombs for the prophets your ancestors killed and decorate

the graves of the godly people your ancestors destroyed. Then 

you have the nerve to say, 'We would never have joined them in

killing the prophets.' In saying what you say, you are accusing

yourself of being the descendants of those who murdered the

prophets. Go ahead. Finish what they started! 

     You snakes, you sons of vipers! How will you escape the

judgment of hell fire?

     I will send you prophets and wise men and teachers of

religious law. You will kill some, and whip others in your

churches, chasing them from city to city. As a result of your evil 

heart you will be guilty of murdering all the godly people from 

righteous Abel to Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you murdered 

in the Temple between the altar and the sanctuary. I assure you, 

all the accumulated judgment of the centuries will break and 

come upon the heads of this very generation."

     Jesus as you see, did not mince His words at this time. His

time had just about come to an end as far as living in the flesh

as a human being. He had been very badly treated, shamefully

treated, by those religious leaders of the people of Judah. They,

of all people, should have known better, they were the ones

supposedly reading and understanding all that the word of God in

the Old Testament was saying. Many, many passages told of the

first coming of the Messiah, and how He would live, and teach,

and heal, and proclaim the truths of the Kingdom of God. Those

scribes and Pharisees should have been able to have recognized

that Jesus the Christ was indeed the very promised Messiah. The

words Jesus used against those two groups of religious leaders

were fair and proper words. They deserved every bit of Jesus'

condemnation.

     Jesus finished this attack on the scribes and Pharisees by

thinking of the people in general, and how they had been

influenced to deception by those leaders, so much so that in an

overall sense, that deception would last for a great time to come. 

He said, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and

stoning those whom God sends to you! How often would I have

gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under

her wings, but you would not let me do it! Behold therefore, your

house is forsaken and will be desolate. For I tell you, you will

not see me again, until you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the

name of the Lord' " (Mat.23: 1-39).

     Jerusalem, the city, and the majority of the Jews to this

very day, are still spiritually forsaken, and their house is desolate. 

They still do not accept Jesus as the Messiah.

     They have had great troubles for many centuries. They still wait

for the Messiah to come. They will indeed not see Jesus, until He

comes again in glory. Then as the prophet Zechariah (chapters 12

to 14) shows, they will see that the very Jesus Christ that walked 

among them centuries earlier, IS the MESSIAH! They shall then 

praise Him and will indeed say, "Blessed be HE who comes in

the name of the Lord."

A WIDOW GIVES ALL

     Jesus had been teaching for some hours. He was getting a

little tired so He sat down across from the Temple treasury, and

watched the multitude putting money into the treasury box. Many

very rich people put in large sums of money. Then came along a

poor widow, and put in just two copper coins, which make a penny,

a very very small amount compared to what others had put in. 

So small an amount that some would have thought it pretty well

amounted to nothing.

     Jesus, knowing through His miraculous power of the Spirit,

the true situation of what this widow had done, called His

disciples to come, and He said to them, "I tell you of a truth,

this poor widow has put into the Temple treasury more than all

who have contributed. For they all contributed out of their

abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in EVERYTHING 

she had, her whole living" (Mark 12: 41-44; Luke 21: 1-4).

     Nothing more is mentioned by the Gospel writers. But we can

easily get the message Jesus was giving His disciples. The heart

of the woman was much larger in attitude than any of the wealthy

who had contributed. They may have given large amounts of money,

but they could have given more really. And you talk about "faith"

that was exhibited by this widow, yes, she had great faith that

God would provide for her. It does not say in the accounts, then

again, it does not need to. Jesus noticed it, and I'm sure this

widow was blessed in a physical way somehow, and that God 

made sure her daily needs were met.

THE START OF REJECTION BY THE JEWS

     The Jews had great expectations of Jesus. They were sure He

was going to start to lead them to full freedom from the Roman

Empire. They had welcomed Him to Jerusalem with great acclaim 

and celebration. But all they saw was Him teaching in the Temple. His

teaching was fine and even spectacular, and shocking at times,

yet they thought, when was He going to break forth into a rallying 

army type leader who would gather them all together and lead them 

to victory over the Roman army. 

     He had mighty miracle working power that they thought could 

surely  destroy all the armies that Rome could send upon them. 

They were beginning to get doubts in this Jesus who called Himself 

the Messiah, and the Son of God.

     Now among those that went up to worship at the feast time of

the Passover were some Greeks. These came to Philip, who was 

from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, "Sir, we wish to see

Jesus."

     These Greeks had probably heard about Jesus' triumphant

entry into Jerusalem, and now wanted to learn more about and from

this man. We are told that Philip went to Andrew. Philip may have

wanted some other person to talk to about the matter, as these

Greeks were Gentiles, and Jesus did not normally go out of His

way to teach and preach to Gentiles. The Gentiles would have the

door to the Kingdom of God fully opened to them after Jesus'

resurrection, when God made it known to the Jewish disciples 

of Christ that salvation was for everyone....Jew or Gentile.

     Both Philip and Andrew went to Jesus to pass on to Him the

request from these Greek persons. The narrative, recorded by the

apostle John, simply goes into the words of Jesus. We are to

assume these are the words given by Jesus to both His disciples,

Jews, and to these Gentile Greeks.

     And Jesus said, "The hour has come for the Son of man to 

be glorified. Truly, yes true indeed, I tell you, unless a grain 

of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone, and

fruitless; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his

life, looses it, and he who hates his life in this world will

keep it for ever in the eternal life to come. "

     Jesus was here speaking of Himself, that would die, but in

so doing, much fruit would be brought forth by His death. He is

also speaking to His disciples who would want to follow Him. 

He was once more telling them that they were to have their hearts

primarily set upon eternal life in the Kingdom, and not on being

wrapped up in the physical things of this life. His disciples

must even give up their lives like He was going to give up His

life, IF called upon to do so, for the sake of the Kingdom of

heaven.

     Jesus going on with the last thought I've mentioned, said,

"If any one serves me, he must FOLLOW me; and in so doing, 

where I shall be there shall my servant be also; if any one serves 

me, the Father will honor them."

     Yes, all who live and die as a follower of Christ, shall one

day be with Jesus. There will come a resurrection from death, 

at the coming of Christ in glory, as we have seen, and the dead in

Christ will be raised to immortal life, and those living when He

comes shall be changed from flesh and blood to immortal sons 

and daughters of God (1 Cor. 15; 1 Thes. 4 ), and meet Jesus in 

the air, in the clouds, and as the apostle Paul said, so shall they

ever be with Christ.

     Jesus, now looking at what the near hour of His death would

be like, said, "Now is my mind troubled. And what shall I say?

Shall I say, 'Father, save me from this hour'? No! For it was for

this purpose I have come to this hour just ahead of me. Father,

glorify your name."

     Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and I

will glorify it again."

     Was this voice, the very personal voice of God the Father?

We need to be careful not to jump to that conclusion too fast,

for as John records, the crowd hearing that voice, did not

automatically believe it was God Himself speaking. As in our

Governments of this world, a "spokes-person" on behalf of a

leader of a nation, can speak in the first person, acting for the

President or Prime Minister of the nation. So, it could also be

in God's Kingdom. Here is what John recorded as the reaction 

of the crowd when hearing this voice, "The crowd standing by 

heard it and said that it thundered. Others said, 'An ANGEL 

has spoken to him.' "

     Whatever, either the voice of an angel or the voice of God,

Jesus went on to say, "This voice had come for your sakes, not

for mine. Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the ruler

of this world be cast out; and I, when I am lifted up from the

earth, will draw all men unto myself."

     As the apostle John recorded, he said this to show what

death He would die. Being lifted up, using that figure of speech,

was well understood by the Jews and all within the Roman Empire.

It signified being crucified on a cross or stake. Crucifixion was

a common method used by the Romans to slowly kill someone. 

In most cases it was a slow death, over two or three days, but I'll

have more to say on that when we get to the actual crucifixion of

Jesus.

     The ruler of this world to be cast out, that Jesus referred

to, was Satan himself. At the death of Christ, the works of Satan

were conquered. Sin began with Satan in the distant past. And

from the time of Adam and Eve and their sin, ALL people have

sinned, and the wages of sin is death (Romans 6: 23) - eternal

death in the lake of fire which is the second death spoken about

in Revelation chapter 20. Jesus' death would pay the penalty, He

would take our sins upon Himself, so upon our repentance and

accepting Him as our personal Savior, we could be freed from

Satan's hold and death's hold on us. 

     At the death of Christ for the sins of the world (John 3:

16) Satan would be in essence, cast out from holding the people

of the world in his grip. His power over us would be broken

through the shed blood of Jesus. He would still be allowed to do

his work on earth for another two thousand years or so, before he

would finally be chained up for a thousand years, as Revelation

20 tells us. But Jesus dying on the cross would make sure and

seal Satan's fate of being cast out....and as God often calls

things done that are not yet literally done, but so sure are they

that they will be done, God sometimes uses words that speak as 

if they are now done. This is what Jesus did here, spoke as if 

Satan would be cast out NOW, at Jesus' death. In one way as

I've mentioned Satan would be, but in the literal sense Satan is

not put away from the earth until the one thousand year reign of

Christ begins, when Jesus comes again in glory to establish the

literal Kingdom of God on earth (Rev. 19 and 20). 

     After Jesus had mentioned that he would be "lifted up" which

all present knew He meant that He would die by crucifixion, the

crowd said, "We have heard from the law of Moses that the Christ

remains FOREVER. How then can you say the Son of man must

be lifted up? Who then is THIS Son of man you talk about?"

     Jesus replied to them, not in a direct way, He had over the course 

of His ministry told them plainly WHO the Son of man was.

     He replied in the way that showed they should have known by 

now WHO the Son of man was, "The light is with you for a little 

longer.  Walk while you have the light, lest the darkness overtake 

you;  those who walk in the darkness do not know where they are

going. While you have the light, BELIEVE in the light, that you

may become the sons and daughters of the light."

     Once more Jesus was referring to Himself. He was the light.

They needed to BELIEVE in HIM! They needed to walk in the 

light of truth He was teaching them. He was again telling them 

they needed to become true sons and daughters of God the Father.

     When Jesus had said all this, He departed and kept Himself

hidden and out of sight from them. And John tells us that though

He had done so many signs and miracles among them, they still 

did not believe in Him, they did not believe in Him as they should

have believed in Him.  It was all as the spoken word of the

Prophet Isaiah said, "Lord, who had believed our report, and to

whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" (Isa.53: 1). It was

not given for the majority of the people at that time to believe,

for Isaiah also said, "He has blinded their eyes and hardened

their heart, lest they should see with their eyes and perceive

with their heart, and turn to me to be healed" (Isa. 6: 9, 10). 

     Yes, Isaiah was inspired of God to say these things because

it would not be God's will to takes the blindness away from the

hearts of the majority of the people during the time of Christ's

ministry. Nevertheless God had called a number of the people to

believe in Him, even a number of the authorities within the

Jewish nation believed in Jesus, but for fear of the sect of the

Pharisees, who had a huge amount of pull and sway in a political

religious manner, they did not openly confess they believed in

Jesus, lest they should be put out of the synagogues. God had

called them to believe, but as we have seen, we have out part to

play in that calling. As free moral agents we can decide how

we will "run" with the belief God grants us. These people who

believed, did not run well with it. As the apostle John states,

they loved the praise of men MORE than the praise of God. 

They made the synagogue or church their "social club" and did 

not want to be "put out" on account of believing in Jesus. Possibly, 

after Jesus' death and resurrection, some of them took a firmer stand

on their conviction  and were not bothered about being put out of

the synagogues, but at this juncture in time, they were more

afraid of men than God.

     We need always be more fearful (which is a deep respect and

honor) of God than of men.

     Jesus was not yet through speaking. He cried out, "He who

believes in me, believes not merely in me but in HIM that sent

me. And he who sees me sees also HIM that sent me. I have come 

as LIGHT into the world, that whoever believes in me may not

remain in the darkness. If any one hears my teachings and does

NOT keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not at this time

come to judge the world, but to save the world. He who rejects me

and does NOT receive my sayings has a judge; the WORD that I

have spoken will be his judge on the last day. For I have not

spoken on my OWN authority; the Father who sent me has Himself

given me commandment WHAT I should SAY and WHAT to speak. 

And I surely know that His commandment is ETERNAL LIFE! 

What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has commissioned me 

to say" (John 12: 20-50).

     Jesus' main purpose in coming the first time was to die for

the sins of the world, to give people a way out of sin, and a way

to eternal life (John 3: 16), through His shed blood on the cross. 

It was not Jesus' time to judge the world, to judge all the people 

on the earth. That day of judgement was not for that time, it was 

for a much later time, but people would even then not be judged 

out of Jesus' own mind per se, but judged by the very word of God, 

which of course includes all the words and teachings of Jesus that 

are recorded in the New Testament.

     God has revealed His will for us, how we should live, what

we should practice, what we should think and say and do. It is

all in His word we call the Bible. Christians, the children of

God the Father, are to as Jesus said, live by every word that

proceeds out of the mouth of God (Mat.4: 4). All people, one day,

shall be judge by that very word. We need to read it, understand

it, love it, want to follow it and live by it. If we have that attitude 

of mind we need not fear our judgement day, for we shall be under 

the grace of God. We shall be loved by Him, and we shall inherit 

eternal life.

                .............................

Written January 2003