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"Here come da judge ..."
And now Jesus was approached by the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem. They had noticed that his disciples ate their meals with "common" hands&emdash;meaning that they had not gone through a ceremonial washing. (The Pharisees, and indeed all the Jews, will never eat unless they have washed their hands in a particular way, following a traditional rule. And they will not eat anything bought in the market until they have first performed their "sprinkling." And there are many other things which they consider important, concerned with the washing of cups, jugs and basins.) So the Pharisees and the scribes put this question to Jesus, "Why do your disciples refuse to follow the ancient tradition, and eat their bread with 'common' hands?" Jesus replied, "You hypocrites ... " - Mark 7:1-6.
Look at the context of this passage. Jesus had
- healed multitudes of the sick
- cast out demons
- empowered his disciples to do the same
- calmed a storm
- fed a multitude with five loaves and two fishes
- walked on water ...
Now here come the "judges" of Israel - "scribes and Pharisees." What do THEY see?
"Your disciples didn't wash their hands!"
"Maybe," they implied, "you do perform miracles. Okay - so these twelve went out and cast out some devils and healed some sick. BUT - THEY DON'T OBEY THE TRADITIONS. Just a few so-called miracles won't work. Even the devil can do miracles. If your miracles were correct, they'd be validated by your obedience to the traditions of the elders. We are the custodians of truth and righteousness. If you were from God, then ..."
They called Him and his followers "heretics." He called them hypocrites.
The nitpickers we will always have with us.
They took the same tack when he healed a man on the Sabbath and when he healed the man born blind. The blind man's answer - "ONCE I WAS BLIND, NOW I CAN SEE." Maybe experience DOES count for something.
Nitpickers don't judge by results and outcome, but by whether you jumped through all the right hoops. Never mind that souls are saved, bodies healed, homes put back together, lives redeemed, and Jesus is exalted as Lord of all. If you don't fit their theological formula, then it's all wrong and must be rejected. Jesus wasn't really too concerned whether He used mud, spit or bare hands to heal the blind. The object was that whereas the man was once blind, now he could see.
To put it bluntly, from the judges point of view, Jesus' methods were kind of sloppy. But they were effective.
Pentecostals are used to the nitpickers. "God doesn't baptize people in the Holy Spirit any more ... Tongues ceased when the apostles all died ... All those physical manifestations are out of order in the church ... Miracles don't happen today" and on and on. Pentecostals keep being baptized in the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, dancing and praising the Lord and experiencing miracles.
And when God's people get serious about prayer and repentance, the Holy Spirit keeps right on violating the traditions of the elders and bringing revival o the Body of Christ.
What do YOU think? Email me if you will. I'd love to hear from you.
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