Compromise part 2
Well, here I am again, the Pharisee who wrote to you some time ago. If you’d like to refresh yourself on my original message, go here: https://www.animatedbiblestories.net/blog/il4su0xl1ym6b3pt4b5zbqlcddzqs8
Since that message, many years have passed. I’m not old just yet, but I do have some gray hairs. I remain a Pharisee, and am still steeped in the traditions of our faith and in its laws, which I hold very dear.
Has anything changed? Other than the color of my hair? In a word, yes.
Yes, there has been a change. Not so much in a global sense. I mean, the Romans are still here, occupying us in an often-brutal fashion. And our faith, the traditional faith of our fathers, still goes on, longing for a Messiah who will restore the kingdom of David.
But, if you read my earlier message, you will note that I predicted some things. Mainly, I predicted this about Jesus:
“So, Jesus, this man of great promise, will soon fade from history. His followers will retreat back into their old lives, wondering, I suppose, what it all meant.”
To my surprise, that hasn’t happened. In fact, the followers of Jesus have continued, perhaps even stronger than ever, preaching about Jesus to anyone who will listen. And they seem to have an energy and a passion that defies logic, given that their leader, Jesus, was condemned as a criminal, and killed. I mean, how many executed criminals still have devoted followers, years after their death?
Frankly, and please don’t quote me on this, it’s almost as if Jesus is still alive.
In fact, don’t quote me on anything in this message.
Anyway, what about his followers? You may remember that I would have advised Jesus to recruit men who would be respected and welcomed by our religious leaders. Instead, he recruited what I considered to be a rabble of very unimpressive men, as well as some women of questionable honor.
I will come back to them in a moment.
But first, remember that I also ended my earlier message with the hope that I could just forget about Jesus. Here is what I said:
“Personally, I have gone on to other tasks and activities. I stay very busy. But despite all my efforts, I have not forgotten Jesus. I wish I could. I’ve tried very hard to close the door on my memories of him, but surprisingly, it has been difficult. There was something about him, some deeper truths that won’t leave my conscious thoughts. I wish those thoughts would just disappear, but they won’t. And I don’t know why. They keep me up at night. And they cause me to question things that I never before questioned, and which even today, I would prefer to leave alone and just accept.”
Well, that hasn’t changed either. In fact, Jesus seems to still be speaking to me today, now, many years after his death. How could that be?
If you remember, I speculated on what advice I would give to Jesus. And the core of my advice was “compromise.” Yes, compromise. Compromise with whom? Compromise on what?
My advice to Jesus was to compromise by submitting himself to our religious leaders. And to temper his message about the coming kingdom of God, and about standing up for the weak and oppressed. And, most of all, to compromise by conforming to our traditions and ways, and strict observance of the law.
Calling himself the Son of God did Jesus no favors. And disparaging Pharisees like me as hypocrites didn’t help him either.
In short, I thought Jesus needed to compromise with the status quo of our religious institutions, and to our definition of the Jewish faith, avoiding any upset to the power structure that we worked so hard to maintain. Instead, he seemed intent on turning it all on its head, claiming that we had ignored God’s commands about justice for the poor and oppressed, and that we had strayed from the true faith in our God.
Jesus was clear about his loyalties. Over and over, he repeated: his loyalty was to our Yahweh God, and only to him. And by omission, not to us! Truly, Jesus was obedient to God’s commands about justice and serving the poor. And he criticized us for using our laws and traditions to exclude the weak and the vulnerable. This is what he said:
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel!” (Matthew 23)
Tissot
The Pharisees Question Jesus
But now, you see, this is exactly where the words and actions of Jesus have called my own loyalties into question. I have begun to ask myself: am I more loyal to the institutions of our faith than I am to God’s commands?
I always thought that I was conforming to the traditional faith of our fathers. I mean, I fast. And I pray. And I observe the Sabbath, all in the strictest possible manner. But, is my heart in these things? Am I just going through the motions? Can I love these traditions and at the same time ignore God’s commands about the poor?
Even more important: can I love these traditions and like Jesus, criticize them at the same time? Or am I truly, as Jesus said, a “blind guide?”
The words of Isaiah have come to haunt me (Isaiah 58):
“Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the straps of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them
and not to hide yourself from your own kin?”
And that brings me back to the followers of Jesus. These unwashed men and women, the very ones I insulted as rabble, are now speaking powerful truths, just as Jesus did. It’s almost as if some hidden force is at work in them, inspiring them, even in the face of persecution from Pharisees. Like me.
Don’t tell anyone, but I’ve been in conversation with some of these men and women. They are explaining things that I never understood, and they are questioning my misplaced loyalties. It surely hurts when they call out my hypocrisy, which I can now see so clearly. But perhaps I needed to face who I really am, and how I have overlooked what is really important: loving God and serving others, regardless of their station in life.
And so, I am beginning to question my definition of what our faith should be.
There is irony in all of this, and perhaps you have already noticed it. You see, my advice to Jesus, years ago, was to compromise. Yes, to compromise with the traditions and institutions of our faith, the very ones that I have come to understand that we placed ahead of the true worship of Yahweh God.
Now, it seems, that I was the one who compromised. I compromised the very commands of our God to live out my faith as Jesus did, serving the poor and standing for justice. Why? Why did I compromise? It’s hard to admit, but I compromised so that I could comfortably live in an institution that served me, but which had lost its way, forgetting the weak and the vulnerable.
Perhaps it was the faith of Jesus that was the true faith, not mine.
But there is good news. And the good news is that there is hope for me. I mean, it’s not too late. Now that I am beginning to see the light, the light that Jesus shone into the world, I can, as Jesus said, turn from my old thoughts and ways.
These words of Jesus give me great comfort:
“Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11)
I sometimes ask myself where all of this is going. Am I really in the process of renouncing all that I once thought sacred? But in fact, as I contemplate the words of Jesus, it occurs to me that I am not really leaving the faith of my fathers, I am actually returning to it.
Perhaps Jesus had it right all along. And it’s possible, as I question the compromises of my own life, to turn to that true faith, the faith of Jesus. Please pray for me as I turn to his way.