Jesus and the Pharisees

Overview

The cleansing of the leper, the healing of the paralytic and the call of Levi all work together to introduce a new element to the ministry of Jesus. the Pharisees.

Pharisees

The Lexham Bible Dictionary Understanding the Pharisees

The sect likely changed in form and function over time

The Lexham Bible Dictionary Pharisees

Members of a Jewish party that exercised strict piety according to Mosaic law. The Pharisees were a sect within early Judaism, becoming active around 150 BC and enduring as a distinct party until being subsumed into the Rabbinic movement around AD 135.

The Lexham Bible Dictionary Luke

Although Luke’s Gospel shares much material with Matthew and Mark, he provides a number of unique accounts of the Pharisees—many of which provide a slightly less decisive view of the Pharisees. The Pharisees first appear in Luke 5:17–26 during the healing of the paralytic, when Jesus uses the physical healing of the paralytic to demonstrate His authority in forgiving sins. The scribes and Pharisees respond with charges of blasphemy (Luke 5:21). However, Luke also notes that the entire assembly is awed by the healing of the paralytic (Luke 5:26).

Luke includes several accounts of Jesus interacting with Pharisees and using them as negative examples in His teaching. In Luke 7:36, Jesus dines with a Pharisee. When a sinful woman anoints His feet, Jesus offers a parable in which He contrasts the gratitude and hospitality of the woman with that of His host (the Pharisee; Luke 7:37–50). When Jesus dines at the home of a Pharisee another time, the meal serves as a channel through which He offers a corrective to Pharisaic rules governing the Sabbath. This establishes a series of contrasts between the Pharisees and their antitheses: tax collectors and sinners. Jesus portrays this contrast by comparing the prayers of the Pharisee and the tax collector (Luke 18:10–14), and in His parables of “lost things” (Luke 15:1–32). In the parable of the Prodigal Son, the dutiful son seems to exemplify the pious Pharisees, whereas the prodigal son represents the repentant sinner.

Jesus’ encounters with the Pharisees provide insights into the nature of some of their members. Luke records that they rejected the baptism of John (Luke 7:29–30). He also characterizes them as “lovers of money” (Luke 16:14). At the same time, however, at least some of the Pharisees seemed to have been curious about Jesus: they ask Him when the kingdom of God is to be expected (Luke 17:20), and some of them even warn Jesus of Herod’s plot to seize Him (Luke 13:31).

The Good

Daily Life focused.

God first - through scripture - then actions.

didn’t mingle Judaism with Hellenism/secularism

Focused on the common people.

Lived in the marketplace not the temple.

The Bad

Daily rituals lost the message of the Scripture

Power - through scripture - evidenced in action.

Using our piety for political influence and self advancement.

Used the scripture to enact influence over the common people.

Visited the market with the intention of drawing attention to their self righteousness.

Luke 5:21–26 ESV

And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” When Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them, “Why do you question in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the man who was paralyzed—“I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.” And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, glorifying God. And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, “We have seen extraordinary things today.”

Luke 5:27–32 ESV

After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything, he rose and followed him. And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

Luke 5:14 ESV

And he charged him to tell no one, but “go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as Moses commanded, for a proof to them.”