not nice at all

I've decided that Jesus was not a 'nice' man. Not in the way I usually define 'niceness'. I have yet to read a passage in which he speaks with the Pharisees and is 'nice' to them. He does not use pretty words to pursuade them to his point of view. He does not placate or coddle them in any way. He tells it straight up. He calls them hypocrites and vipers and probably every other derroggatory names he could think of.

Interesting.

It strikes me, reading today's passage, that the Pharisees didn't really know God. I could just imagine them scouring their volumes and volumes of books written about their religon, trying to find something with which they could trip Jesus up. The funny thing is, all they come up with are petty rules and regulations. "Ah-ha! Your disciples never washed their hands before they started eating! And you call yourself a Rabbi!"

And Jesus just scoffs. He tells them off. "You people really have no idea, do you? You think you know my Father, but all you know are a bunch of petty rules your fathers made up to make themselves feel better about their cold, bitter hearts."

I wonder how often we as Christians do that. We harp on and on about a variety of 'moral issues' like homosexuality and abortion and euthenasia and stem cell research and pornography - the list is endless. But to what end? Do we raise a stink about these things because we really care about people or because it makes us feel better about our cold, bitter hearts?

I have friends who are passionate and opinionated about some of the aforementioned issues but I just can't do it. I can't look at a guy like Jesus and the way he treated the various people in his life and convince myself that he would have protested at an abortion clinic or written petitions about not allowing homosexuals to marry. That's not the Jesus I know.

The Jesus I know was hardest on the people who thought they had it all together. He was hardest on those who thought they knew what was morally right. He called them hypocrites and vipers. He didn't mince words with them. He pounded them over the head with their callous, legalistic, heartless behaviour. He pointed out how oppressive and unloving they were towards those who didn't fit their 'moral molds'.

Somehow, I don't think that's changed much. I think Jesus is still hardest on Christians. He expects more of us. He expects us to know his Father. He expects us to love like a child - unabashed and unashamed. He expects us to pursue the unlovely and heal the broken and battered and bruised. He wants us to live right lives, yes, but he wants us to focus on loving people - not condemning them. We need to love people first so that they can know the Jesus that saved them before we can teach them how to live right lives.

The Pharisees lacked love. Let's make sure we're not found lacking.