Mama sat through church (she never missed a service). On the way home, she complained about the preacher’s sermon, the family with the noisy kids, and the choir director’s lack of skill. Over Sunday dinner, Mama bowed and prayed. Daughter Sally had watched Mama that entire morning. As they passed the food, little Sally piped up, asking, “Mama, did God hear you when we left church, and you were angry about the sermon, the family, and the choir?” Mama’s face turned a little red as she said, “Yes, Sally, God heard me.” “Well, Mama, did God hear you when you prayed for the food right now?” Mama said, “Well, yes, Sally, He…He…He heard me.” Sally asked, “Mama, what does God think?” What kind of God did Mama believe?
What kind of God did the Pharisees believe? The Pharisees strictly followed the Talmud (also called the Oral Torah). They thought it offended God more to teach anything contrary to their oral traditions than to contradict Scripture itself. In horror, they saw Jesus’ disciples eating with hands not first ceremonially cleaned. The Pharisees proudly had a hand-washing prayer: “Blessed be Thou, O Lord, King of the universe, who sanctified us by the laws and commanded us to wash the hands.”
DID GOD REALLY CARE HOW THEY WASHED THEIR HANDS?
Did God sanctify them because they followed the Talmud? Was God more concerned with washing hands while Israel died spiritually? The Pharisees believed in a transactional God. The premise being: I follow our rules, and God will bless me.” Sadly, the Pharisees couldn’t personally obey the 600+ laws they lay on the people. Jesus commented on the Pharisees’ hypocrisy. They “tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger” (Matthew 23:4). The Pharisees didn’t know the holy God they were to love more than life itself.
WORSHIP THAT’S A FARCE
Their attitude highly offended Jesus. It’s ironic that Pilate ceremonially washed his hands before he handed Jesus over to be crucified. Jesus quoted Isaiah, “‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God. For you ignore God’s law and substitute your own tradition.”
NICE OUTSIDE BUT ROTTEN INSIDE
Outward appearance was everything to the Pharisees. Jesus summed up their inner heart condition: “For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you.” Tragically, the Pharisees thought their sins were hidden from God.
Is your heart like Mama’s? Like the Pharisees? Are you a religious person, one who looks nice and healthy on the outside, but your inner world is quite different? How about a test? How did your heart respond this past week, if and when you saw the thousands who lost their lives in the flooding in Nepal and Tibet? Did you get on your knees and pray for a nation where believers are few and far between? Did you care? Mama wouldn’t. The Pharisees wouldn’t. Neither of them believed in the God Who can change one from the inside out. What kind of God do you trust in?