Sometimes we think of the Pharisee and the bad guys, but they were the good guys in Jewish society. They were like us: they were the committed ones. They weren’t fulltime ministers, they had jobs, but they were devoted to God. All day they tried to please God in order to enjoy Gods blessing. So, they prayed often, they fasted often, and brought a tenth of the parsley plant to the priest. They studied and memorised the Law and they tried to do it. Hower tey found it difficult to receive Jesus because the Pharisees didn’t think God would be like Jesus. The truth they had in the law, never fully revealed what God was like. The law was a divine list of instructions and as for them and their house, they were going to follow the List!

Sometimes when parents go away for a week, they leave a list of things for their teenage children to do and not do:

You shall not have you wild mates around. You shall not make noise that will annoy the neighbours

You shall not leave home without locking the house. You shalt eat properly and don’t be late for work, and you shall put out the rubbish.

 It not the parent, it is just a list.  It tells people a little about the parent: they value tidiness, they think of their neighbours etc. The list reflects in part the nature of the parents, but it is not the parent.

Perhaps just before the parents come home, the children make sure the list is done. They put out the rubbish and vacuum the house. They might have lived badly all week, but the list is done, and the boxes are all ticked.  They hope the parents who are not all knowing, will be happy.  Regardless, when the parents come back home, they screw up the list because now the person who wrote the list has come.

The Pharisees problem was, when the Author of the law came, they still preferred the list. When Jesus came to earth, the Pharisees found it easier to manage a list than a new concept of God. Their forefathers were the same. They told Moses to go up the mountain and get the list; meeting the requirements of an unchanging list had to be easier than living with an awesome and dynamic God.

Friend, the law was a revelation of a portion of truth, but the fulness of Grace and Truth is fully present and revealed in the person of Christ. God did not give us the law or even the whole Bible to reveal the Bible to us, but to reveal Jesus to us!   How do we see God...? Because Jesus was different to what they thought.