Maybe The Pharisees Weren't Quite What People Think

 Everyone Wants To Talk About The Pharisees. But Nobody Talks About What Jesus Actually Challenged Them On.

And that is causing a serious problem in understanding.

And I want to be clear that I'm not bashing anyone, I'm simply stating a reality.

I've had preachers quote entire passages of scripture in the comments sections trying to refute my liturgical beliefs.

I got a comment recently that said this.

"Jesus rebuked the dressed up adorned rule spewing Pharisees. He leads us with love and freedom in worship."

And I understand why people say that. It sounds right. It fits a certain narrative that has become very popular in modern Christianity.

But it is missing the point almost entirely.

Jesus never challenged them on what they wore. Not once.

He mentioned their robes yes. But not because the robes were the problem. He pointed to the robes as evidence of something much deeper. They were wearing the garments without having the character that the garments were supposed to represent.

That is a completely different indictment.

Yes they spewed rules. But Jesus never said the rules were bad or wrong. He actually said they were right and good. The Law was good. The commandments were righteous.

The problem was that the Pharisees themselves did not follow them.

They were hypocrites.

Jesus was checking their HEARTS.

Not their practices. Not their adornments. Not their garments. Not the liturgical structure of their worship.

He was checking the heart that claimed adherence while living in defiance. The heart that performed righteousness without possessing it. The heart that used God's Law to control people while ignoring God's heart for them.

He was not tearing down the Law. He was calling them to actually LIVE by it.

He was not condemning piety. He was condemning the performance of piety without the substance behind it.

And here is where this gets really important.

When people use that narrative about the Pharisees to dismiss liturgical worship and sacred tradition they are doing the exact same thing they accuse the Pharisees of doing.

They are taking something out of its context and using it to nullify something God actually established.

Because liturgy is not a man made invention layered on top of scripture.

Liturgy IS scripture.

Hebrews 8:5 tells us the earthly tabernacle was built according to the pattern shown to Moses on the mountain. God gave specific instructions for worship. Specific garments. Specific prayers. Specific postures. Specific incense. None of that was arbitrary. That was God Himself establishing the pattern.

And then Revelation 4 and 5 pulls back the curtain on heaven itself.

Elders in robes around an altar. Incense described as the prayers of the saints. Candles burning before the throne. Antiphonal singing. Prostration before God.

That is not a contemporary church service.

That is the Divine Liturgy.

That is literally Heaven On Earth

So before you use the Pharisees as your argument against sacred practice and liturgical tradition let me ask you one simple question.

Was Jesus checking their robes or their hearts?

Because if it was their hearts then the robes were never the problem.

The heart was.

And a changed heart does not get rid of the sacred.

It finally learns how to wear it with integrity. 

Wayne E Daniels