the pharisees: them is us

In Matthew 23:29-32Open Link in New Window Jesus blasts those who are determined to maintain the illusion that they represent Israel’s righteousness (the pharisees) because of their failure to acknowledge the role of the prophetic in their midst. Here is a powerful series of comments on this text by Stanley Hauerwas in his fantastic commentary on Matthew (highly recommended).

This is a sobering list of failure and judgment, with descriptions of hypocrisy and failure in which we cannot help but see ourselves. It is surely the case, for example, that many are kept from entering the kingdom by the lives we lead as Christians. Our problem is very simple–we simply do not know how to live as a people who believe that Jesus is the resurrected Lord. the joy and freedom that should name the lives of those freed from the demons become lost amid attempts to make our difference depend on matters that do not matter. We become adept at praising the prophets of the past, having lost the ability to discern the prophets among us.

Jesus describes the scribes and the Pharisees as “blind guides”. That they are blind is not unrelated to their desire to be guides. Those who would lead others often fear those they lead, and in particular they fear hurting those they lead. They think it is their task to make the life of those they lead secure. Yet a people who depend on prophets can never live lives of safety. A people required to remember that they area people whose forebears have murdered the righteous cannot live lives of safety. Those who would lead too often must hide from themselves what they know to be true because they think that those whom they lead cannot bear the truth. The blindness of the Pharisees and the scribes is a blindness that threatens the church no less than any people. The only difference between the Pharisees and those who would lead Jesus’ people is that the latter lead a people who have no reason to fear the truth.

Jesus’ condemnation of the scribes and Pharisees is sobering, but we dare not overlook the fact that the criticism Jesus makes of the scribes and Pharisees assumes that the people he is calling to be his church will need to be a people like the Pharisees and scribes. He even says that he will send prophets and scribes to the synagogues and towns of Israel. The church will need persons called to positions that help the church avoid hypocrisy through agents of direction to keep before the church the vision of the kingdom; the church will needs agents of memory to help the church read its scripture and tradition; the church will needs agents of linguistic self-consciousness to guard the church from mental laziness; the church will needs agents of order and due process to isnure unity and encourage participation in the decisions of the church (quote from Yoder, 1984,28-34)

Each of these agents will be tempted to hypocrisy. There is no guarantee that ensures we will lives lives of integrity. Hypocrisy can be avoided only if the church is a community capable of truthful speech. If such a community is missing, then those who would lead are doomed. Jesus’ condemnation of the scribes and Pharisees is severe, [but his]…description of how those called to help Israel live faithfully have come to lead false lives is suffused with pathos. His condemnations are harsh, but what could be worse for the scribes and Pharisees, like any of us, to get the lives they think they wanted.

Stanley Hauerwas, Matthew: Brazos Theological Commentary of the Bible (Brazos; 2006) 199-200

July 4, 2008 | Filed Under APEST, prophetic ministry, uncategorized |  

Comments

7 Responses to “the pharisees: them is us”

  1. Alan Hirsch on July 4th, 2008 4:00 am

    this picks up some of the threads of conversation in the last post on the need for people who create stability and who guard words and the dangers inherent in those roles.

  2. Matty O on July 4th, 2008 6:50 am

    I’m sure, you already caught this, but there is no Matthew 29Open Link in New Window. in my bible, anyway.

  3. Rick Meigs on July 4th, 2008 9:01 am

    I’m sure the reference is Matthew 23:29-32Open Link in New Window.

  4. Matt Stone on July 4th, 2008 10:15 am

    Love that Yoder.

  5. Isaiah on July 4th, 2008 10:20 am

    I like the bit about it being a community of truth. Truth about who we are is so important, so is humility. Like the parable of the priest and the tax collector praying. It’s truth before God and humility that is needed. Of course we also neeed to realize no one is immune to hypocrisy, everyone much watch out!

  6. Tim C on July 6th, 2008 9:52 am

    Fearing your followers because they might find out what you really are is a terrible place to be in. I have been there and it sucks. Not because of some secret sin, but primarily because the institutional framework I was in fostered the superman approach to its staff. If you were not l things to all people, you were some how defficient as a “minister”. In some ways I got a thrill off of this expectation, because in some small moments I felt like I lived up to it. t other times I sort of deceived myself into thinking I was the total package. But most of the time it was a cloud over my head. I think this kind of leadership structure fosters this kind of environment. It is definitiely unhealthy and unproductive for all people involved.

    Being more gifts based, egalitarian etc has been a breath of fresh air for the past three years. So thankful for that teaching in scripture.

  7. Steve Mac on July 12th, 2008 11:04 pm

    Really love this post. I’ve been chatting with a friend this past week who is pastoring a church that was on the verge - he thought - of going in the direction of three smaller missional communities because it had identified three groups of people it could reach better that way. The pain he is feeling at their requested desire for the status quo, (not the size of the place, or where they meet, but in that they do not want to adjust to being missional)is raising all sorts of questions for him about ministry. This post raised the issue he raised with them - “I cannot in all good conscience be the chaplain to your desires. Jesus won’t let me and it’s He I have to answer to.”

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