What makes you angry?
There was a surprising level of anger in our Bible study last night. We were studying Mark 2:13-3:6, and looking at four controversies between Jesus and religious leaders (particularly the Pharisees). We were discussing the religious background to the sect of the Pharisees. The Pharisees were a group that was very serious about keeping God's law—so serious, in fact, that they had built up a whole bunch of other laws to protect themselves from going anywhere near breaking God's law. For example, to protect themselves from breaking commandment #4 (don't work on Saturday), they had a rule that one mustn't even look into a mirror on the Sabbath because, in doing so, one might see a grey hair and be tempted to pluck it out, which might be construed as ‘work’. We in the group were able to sympathize with them a little; in much the same way that a modern Christian might make a blanket rule not to drink alcohol or visit a pub to protect himself from the possibility of causing offence or temptation to an alcoholic Christian brother, the Pharisees made rules to help them to honour God in all areas of life.
We were able to understand a bit more, then, why the Pharisees were upset with Jesus. We could see their point, for example, in Mark 2:16, where they saw Jesus pushing the boundaries in the company he kept. Recently in our own city of Wollongong, there has been a corruption scandal, involving (among other things) local government officials having meals with property developers—which is highly suspicious, to say the least! When the Pharisees saw Jesus eating with tax collectors and notorious sinners, they were probably quite suspicious as well. The next two objections from the Pharisees (2:18-28) seemed a bit more trivial, but still, you could see their point. Of course, we knew the Pharisees were misguided, but still, they were godly and faithful Israelites, weren't they?
We really were having a good Bible study—it was friendly, we were learning about interesting aspects of ancient Judaism, we were gaining some understanding of the religious thought-world of people from a different point of view to ours (i.e. the Pharisees), and we were also enjoying eating these delicious little chocolate sticks.
But then, seemingly out of nowhere, close to the end of the Bible study there was this anger! It took us a little by surprise. The anger didn't come from me or from any of the members of the Bible study; it came from the most surprising quarter: Jesus himself! Faced with the possibility of healing a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath, Jesus said:
And he said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. (Mark 3:4-5)
What was going on? What had we missed? Why was Jesus so angry at the Pharisees? Sure, they were a little misguided and their rules seemed a little trivial, but they meant well, didn't they? Weren't they trying to honour God genuinely by their rules? At least they weren't paedophiles or corrupt property developers. Sure, they needed a bit of correction and understanding, but why was Jesus so angry at them?
We had a bit of a think, and then my wife Leonie (who often puts things well) said, “Maybe it's like the situation in Burma”. We looked at her. What did she mean? She went on: “Well, in Burma at the moment, there are these officials who are trying to keep control of their country, so they've been obstructing international aid coming in to help the millions of cyclone victims. They don't care how many of their people die, as long as they keep control. In effect, they have been causing the deaths of their own people. Doesn't that make you angry?”
We realized that Jesus had a very different take on the Pharisees compared to the impression we'd built up in the Bible study. The Pharisees may have been well-intentioned in their religious observances—they may have been trying to honour the true and living God of Israel genuinely—but that didn't matter. When push came to shove, they were more interested in their religion than in giving life and healing to a man in real need. Jesus exposed what was truly in their hearts. In reality, according to Jesus, their religious observances and their teachings were harming and even killing their own people (3:4). Jesus is angered and grieved at religious leaders—religious leaders who seem genuine, religious leaders who seem to be serving God. Because in reality, these religious leaders are destroying, killing and keeping people from salvation.
What makes you angry?
