Have you ever found yourself not liking the Pharisees when reading about them in the Bible? Why do we not like them? I believe the main reasons are their "showy religion" and lack of compassion for others. They are religious people but very cold and mean spirited toward others. They also strike me as the type people who would always have to be right. Does this sound like some "Christians" you have met?I believe the Pharisees are in the Bible for at least 2 reasons:
1. To show us what living for God does not look like. Jesus said He came to "give us life..." and He uses the Pharisees as examples of what this life is not.
2. To remind us that on our best day there is a Pharisee in us all.
I confess, I am a Pharisee to the Pharisee. I am angered so easily by their hypocrisy but fail to see my own. All joking aside, I struggle being around "religious" people. It's easier for me to hang out with people who's lives are full of sin that realize it than people who look at others condescendingly because they are self-righteous. This is why I am spending the next few months blogging about the life of Jesus. As much as we dislike the Pharisee in the Bible, we will like, yes even love, Jesus when we see Him for who He really is.
