Modern Day Pharisees and Scribes

"I tell you unless your rightness surpasses that of the Scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven". (Matthew 5 : 20).

'Pharisee' is from the Greek word pharisaios taken from the Heb/Aramaic perisha, meaning "Separated one."

Letter of the Law

In the time of Jesus the Pharisees were one of the three chief Jewish sects, the others were the Sadducees and the Essenes. Of the three, the Pharisees were the most separated from the foreign influences that were invading Judaism and from the conduct of the common Jewish people in the land. Their main aim was to preserve their national integrity and strict conformity to Mosaic Law. The Pharisees later developed into self-righteous and hypocritical formalists. One of their major characteristics is the value they placed on oral traditions. 'Oral Law' refers to traditional rules and observances that were designed to adapt the written Law to changes of time. They gave priority to the Law, rather than Love for their neighbour.

The Scribes were learned teachers and authoritative leaders. Most of the time the Scribes earned their living by copying and interpreting the Law. In the New Testament the Scribes are mentioned as "teachers" of the Law, the rabbis and the official leaders of the people, along with the Pharisees and the Gospels, reffered to them as "doctors of the Law."

The Pharisees and Scribes obeyed the traditions of their fathers. Jesus Christ always criticised them for obeying these traditions of elders which nullified the Word of God. Therefore most often the Pharisees and Scribes were the opponent of Christ. For them the Law was more important than the Love of God. Even though the Word of God was among them, they did not want to open their hearts to the Word because their hearts were filled with hate, pride and avarice. They hated Jesus as He and His disciples did not pay heed to their traditions.

Mark 7: 1 - 23 describes an example of Jesus and His followers not observing traditional rules in relation to the Sabbath and cleanness. In Matthew 23, where Jesus pronounces His woes upon the Scribes and Pharisees, He repeates His prophetic curse upon them, "Woe to you" eight times because of their arrogance, hypocrisy, self-seeking ambition and scrupulous observances. Don't we see the same mentality even today among some of the members in the Religious Life and generally in the Holy Church?

Love of the Father

Yes, there are those of us who have the same arrogance, hypocrisy, self-seeking ambition and scrupulous observances which Pharisees and Scribes had. The Church means all of us - the Laity and the Priests and Religious - who make up the Mystical Body of Christ.

Jesus Christ did not want to abolish the Law; He came to fulfill it by showing the importance of the love of God. He wanted to show that Love is more important than anything on earth. However, the Pharisees and Scribes did not look at things from the human perspective. Hence, they did not understand Christ and were bent on imposing on the people, man made rigid and ridiculous traditions. These Pharisees and Scribes did not understand that they were also like slaves to the traditions set by their elders.

Likewise even today there are many of us who have the same mentality of these Pharisees and Scribes whom we read about in the Bible. Even though Pope Francis gives priority to Mercy and Love, some are not ready to open their hearts towards the Mercy and Love of God. Irronically, the resistance the Pope gets is not from outside the Church, but from within the Church. This is because we as a Church are also slaves to our own taditions. This happens because most of us are HEAD CENTRED and NOT HEART CENTRED as the Word of God wants us to be.

Some of us are more concerned about rituals rather than worshipping God from our hearts. There are lay people who are just waiting to pin point errors of the clergy and even a small inaccuracy of the priest while celebrating Holy Mass is something to be enlarged upon and spoken about. Some of us are so worried about these rituals that we fail to recognize the meaning of the Holy Mass celebrated up there in the altar of the Lord. Some misinterpret the teachings of the Church. Some pretend they are good Christians, but their hearts are filled with avarice, hate and jealousy.

Acts of Mercy

Come Lent and we as a Church are at our best, just waiting to show to the world what good Christian we are. We never fail to perform all the Corporal and Spiritual Acts of Mercy that is required of us during this time. But do we do it from our hearts out of concern for the suffering or from our head centred attitude to accomplish something and be happy about it? Most of us are like that. We perform such deeds without any empathy year after year and forget about it after Lent as we go about our day to day life. Mercy should be a part of our life as we journey through it. That is exactly what Pope Francis says. We do not need a time frame set by the Church calender to do that. The seasons of Lent and Advent are a reminder for us to stay focused in our Christian duty of loving our neighbour as ourselves, as Christ rightly pointed to us.

The Holy Church of Jesus Christ was established to spread love and mercy. Pope Francis always reminds us about the love and mercy of Jesus Christ. But many shepherds and sheep are not opening their hearts to the Love  of the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd wants all of us to be faithful to Him. He pours out His love to all. He invites us to change our lives and to follow Him always. Even though there are so many members of the Church who have the same mentality of the Pharisees and Scribes, there are also others who follow the footsteps of the Lord. Their is humility in their lives. But the weak, abondoned, marginalized, persecuted, are those with hearts of Mercy and Love. In the Bible they are the ones who recognise the Lord. They experience the taste of God's Love.

Therefore, let us ask ourselves, "Am I a modern day Pharisees or a Scribe?" If so, it is the time to change our lives, especially now, with the Season of Lent. We should change our attitudes and fill our hearts with humility. Unless we do so, we will not be able to experience the taste of God's Love. If anyone says he/she is a member of the Holy Church, humility should be prominent in his/her life. If not, he/she is not a Christian!

"Humility is a childlike virtue and this is true humility and not a rather theatrical humility: No, not that: The humility of somebody who said: "I am humble, but proud of being so." No, that is not true humility . The humility of the childlike is that of somebody who walks in the presence of the Lord, does not speak badly about others, looks only at serving and feels that he or she is the smallest... That is where their strength lies." - Pope Francis