Seven Sayings of Jesus that Angered Pharisees

 Jesus was crucified, a Roman capital punishment, and the gospels report that Jewish leadership of the time was complicit in his trial and execution (e.g., Matt 26: 1-4; Luke 22:66-23:1).  Pharisees were popular teachers of Jewish law and tradition, comprising a major part of native leadership in first century Palestine.  Their voices were heard among the enemies of Jesus of Nazareth who eventually decided it was best to silence him.  Jesus was a forceful teacher of Jewish religion and morality and could be considered to be a Pharisee himself, if not for some of his peculiar preachments concerning God's name and his own prophetic standing.

I.  Your sins are forgiven (Mk 2:5)

Jesus said this to a paralyzed man.  The Gospel of Mark mentions that "some teachers of the law" (GNB) heard Jesus' pronouncement and had contrary thoughts:  "how does he dare to talk like this[?]; this is blasphemy[!]; God is the only one who can forgive sins[!]" (vv. 6-7).  The Greek word -grammateon- behind Good News Bible translation is rendered "scribes" in New Revised Standard Version as in the parallel in Gospel According to Matthew (9:3) and in the parallel story in Luke, which adds "Pharisees."  Jewish scribes were experts in scripture, translation and law.  

Mark has Jesus defend his communication of forgiving with a self-revelatory saying:  "the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins" (v 10) and a miracle (he makes the paralytic walk - "I tell you, get up, pick up your mat, and go home") (11).  

Sin is "offense against God" and Scripture and the Law of Moses identify things (words/actions) which are sinful.  Sin came into the world with the first man and woman.  They were given a guiding command by the Creator and they disobeyed, persuaded by the serpent, the Devil.  All their progeny, each and every person has sinned, we might say humanity is predisposed to sin.  We are in a bad place with respect to the Creator, the Almighty. 

A major thrust of Jesus' ministry was dealing with sin, in his actions and spoken words.  A good example is the pericope of the adulterous woman (Jn 8:1-11).  Its conclusion has Jesus say to her, " neither do I condemn you.  Go your way, and from now on do not sin again" (NRSV).      

Other similar sayings of Jesus:

The time has come.  The kingdom of God has come near.  Repent and believe the good news!  (Mk 1:15 NIV)

I am willing.  Be clean!  See that you don't tell this to anyone.  But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.  (Jesus healing a leper, Mk 1:40-45 NIV)

Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.  For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.  (Lk 19:9f  NIV)

Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.  (Lk 5:31f  NKJV) 

  

II.  Woe to the Pharisees!  For they are like a dog which sleeps in the crib of the oxen; for he neither eats nor lets the oxen eat (GTh 102)

(Tr. William Schoedel in Grant & Freedman, The Secret Sayings of Jesus [NY: Barnes & Noble, 1993], p. 190)  Gospel of Thomas was discovered in Egypt in the mid 20th century.  It is a collection of sayings of Jesus, some similar to those in the New Testament, others which are near replicas of Jesus' teachings in the NT gospels and some which are completely different.  It may be considered an independent witness to the oral tradition of Jesus' deeds and sayings.

Jesus of Nazareth spoke "woe" (Greek ouai) to Pharisees and scribes numerous times (cf., Mt 23; Lk 11:37ff).  They "shut the kingdom of heaven" and "neither enter . . nor allow those who would enter to go in" (Mt 23:13 ESV; cf. GTh 39).  Jesus was warning them of impending grief and doom because of the barriers they set up between people and God.  

The 'dog lying in a manger' or animal crib (i.e., a feeding trough) was a Hellenistic proverb and is  found in pagan sources from the first and second centuries A.D.  The Gospel of Thomas usage may be the earliest written record of the proverb (c. 50 A.D.), if we credit the scholarly work of April DeConick.  She considers GTh to be a "rolling" literary/oral corpus that underwent revisions as it was transported from Judea to Syria to Egypt (cf., A. DeConick, Recovering the Original Gospel of Thomas (London: T&T Clark, 2005), pp. 113, 121f, 231-233, 243f; idem., The Original Gospel of Thomas in Translation  (London: T&T Clark, 2007), pp. 278-280).  It is not unlikely that Jesus the Nazarene would utilize this proverb in his disputations with scribes and Pharisees, as he had a fondness and aptitude for picturesque speech (e.g., Mk 11:23), as well as similitude (e.g., Lk 17:24).  Also, there are two other sayings of Jesus featuring dogs as negative symbols (Mt 15:26, 7:6).  A neutral or positive image of dogs occurs in the parable of poor Lazarus with the detail that "the dogs used to come and lick his sores" (Lk 16:19-31).    

III.  Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham existed, I AM (Jn 8:58)     

The setting for this saying is the temple in Jerusalem where Jesus was publicly teaching during the festival of Booths (Jn 7:2, 14).  He engaged in a series of disputes based on his preaching which had aroused questions and controversy.  Among Jesus' hearers were Pharisees (7:32, 45; 8:13).  

Abraham was the progenitor of Israel, having lived some two thousand years before Jesus of Nazareth.  Jesus had been asked, "you are not yet 50 years old, and have you seen Abraham [?] (v. 57).  Jesus' reply caused his audience to attempt to stone him, but Jesus escaped (v. 59).

The "I AM" of this saying has underneath it the divine name in Hebrew, abbreviated YHWH or YH.  The meaning of the Hebrew term is 'I AM the I AM' or 'I AM' (Ex 3:14).  [Prior to Abraham is God and God is forever.]  Jesus is making use of God's special name to reveal (that he is in touch with God)  and who he himself is.  This unique use of  the Name is found elsewhere in John's Gospel (8:24; 8:28; 13:19; also, 6:20; 18:5; 6:35, 51; 8:12; 10:7, 9, 11, 14; 11:25; 14:6; 15:1, 5) and rarely in the synoptic gospels (Mk 6:50; 14:62; Lk 21:8).  [For a scholarly discussion of these sayings, see Raymond Brown, The Gospel According To John I-XII (Garden City, NY:  Doubleday, 1966, 1980), 'Appendix IV:  EGO EIMI-"I AM",' pp. 533-538.]  This type of usage within sayings of Jesus (also cf., GTh 77) would seem to have been evidence for the charge of blasphemy brought against Jesus by the Sanhedrin (see Mk 14).  Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee surely was aware this teaching would bring opposition. 

I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled (Lk 12:49)!

Whoever is near me is near fire, and whoever is far from me is far from the kingdom (GTh 82, tr. B. Layton).

        

IV.  What goes into someone's mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.  (Mt 15:11 NIV)

Foods or forbidden foods (see Lev 11) don't make one unclean, says Jesus, rather, what is expressed from "the heart" (v. 18), "murder, adultery, sexual immorality," (v. 19) etc,,  are what make a person unclean.  See the parallel story in Mk 7; Pharisees have criticized Jesus' disciples for eating with unwashed hands.  Jesus' double response to these leaders "from Jerusalem" (v. 1) emphasized the command of God ('honor your father and mother") over the unwritten tradition of interpreting something designated "korban" (Mk 7:11, a sacrifice to God, e.g., a loaf of bread) as unusable for helping a parent and moral purity (avoidance of murder, etc.) over ritual purity (see Mk 7:3-4).  The key to Jesus' teaching here is heart (Greek, kardian).  Matter from outside a person doesn't affect heart; thoughts, words, actions do affect heart.  Heart is the spiritual center of a person and has to do with interpersonal relations.

Some other sayings with the word, heart, in them:

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.  (Mt 5:8)

But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.  (Mt 5:28)

The good man brings forth good things from the good store of his heart, while an evil man brings forth evil from evil.  From the outflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.  (Lk 6:45)

Matthew has an added detail, not found in Mark's Gospel, wherein the disciples ask Jesus if he's aware that the Pharisees were offended by his teaching.  Jesus said,  "Disregard them!  They are blind guides.  If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a ditch."  [cf. GTh 34]

      

V.  The Son of Man is lord of the sabbath.  (Lk 6:5)

Jesus and followers were going through corn fields on the sabbath day and took and ate some of the grain.  "Some of the Pharisees asked, 'why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath' (vv. 1-2)?"  Jesus quoted scripture involving David in defense (vv. 3-4) and concluded with this saying.  The pericope is found in all three synoptic gospels, with an additional saying in Mark,

The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath.  (2:27)

Violation of the law of sabbath rest was an ongoing point of contention between Jesus and Jewish leaders of that day (e.g., Mk 3:1-6; Jn 5:17).  It may also have continued to be an issue for Jesus' followers after his death (see, GTh 27; Arland Hultgren, Jesus and His Adversaries (Minneapolis:  Augsburg, 1979), pp. 113ff, 83-84).  Jesus taught his disciples that "the ordinary man when he is in need" (G. Vermes, Jesus the Jew [Philadelphia:  Fortress, 1973, 1981], p. 181) and the necessity to do good do not profane the Sabbath.

VI.  If I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.  (Lk 11:20)           

Jesus performed miracles of healing (e.g., Jn 5) and exorcism and was accused by some, including Jerusalem scribes and Pharisees, of utilizing the power of the Devil in these works.  Jesus defended his actions with the above saying as well as, 

if a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand; 

if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.  

How can Satan drive out Satan?  (Mk 3: 20-27)

Also, 

Amen, I tell you .. whoever blasphemes the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven (Mk 3: 28ff ).

The Spirit of God and the kingdom of God are mysteries, difficult to understand, but if one is cured of disease, one will understand that and credit the source of the cure.  This faith of the sick is what Jesus of Nazareth was looking for and what philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche was adamantly against. 

"What is bad?  Everything that is born of weakness." 

"What is more harmful than any vice?  Active pity for all the failures and all the weak:  Christianity."

F. Nietzsche, The Antichrist (1895), § 2, tr. Walter Kaufmann, The Portable Nietzsche (NY:  Penguin, 1976), p. 570  

VII.  Is it not written:  'My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations?'  But you have made it a 'den of robbers.'  (Mk 11:17)      

The setting is the Temple of YHWH in Jerusalem before Passover and Jesus has overturned the tables of the moneychangers and merchants.  Passages from the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah appear herein to explain Jesus' violent action.  The scene is also found in John's Gospel (2:13-23) with a quote from Psalms, "zeal for your house will consume me," and another saying of Jesus:

destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up,

which shows Jesus knew his life was at risk.  

Mark says, "the chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him" (v. 18).  In John, this scene happens earlier in Jesus' mission compared to the synoptic gospels (see, Mt 21:12ff; Lk 19:45ff) and in John, Jesus is in danger whenever he steps foot in Judea (see, Jn 4:1-3; 5:1-17; 7:1,10,32; 10:31ff; 11:6-8, 16, 45-55; 12:1, 10f, 23-24).  Historically we know that Jesus had many conflicts with Pharisees and other leaders of his people.  Eventually Jesus was arrested, tried and executed.  

Afterword

A few books helpful on Pharisees and Judaism in Jesus' day:

Donald Gowan, Bridge Between The Testaments (Allison Park, PA:  Pickwick, 1986)

Gowan states that the name 'Pharisees' derives from a Hebrew root, meaning 'to separate,' and lists three probable things they kept away from, (1) "anything unclean," (2) "other people . . . who did not scrupulously observe the laws of ritual cleanness," (3) the "political," that is the governmental rulers of the nation (p 145f).

Jacob Neusner, Judaism in the Beginning of Christianity (Phila.:  Fortress, 1984)

Neusner says the Jerusalem Temple "stood as the nexus between Jew and God" and Temple "services bore witness to Israel's enduring loyalty to the covenant and the commandments of Sinai" (p. 18). 

Jesus was a Jew, a preacher/teacher who taught out in the open on love, forgiveness, hypocrisy (Mt 7:5), not judging others, introspection.  How could a follower of Jesus, walking the strait and narrow way (KJV), hate Jews or anyone?  I commend an organization, started by a rabbi, which seeks Christian support for helping needy Jews.

              

 

                 

    

                  

  

Proof For the Existence of God

I wish that God's existence could be proved so we'd all be united on this matter, very important.  As it is, there are atheists, theists, agnostics and even subcategories within these three classes of people.  Monotheism, belief in one almighty Deity is the best way to be, because God is.  How do I know God is?  I know because I understand that His name has been revealed, which is YHWH ( I Am The I Am).  It was revealed to Moses who vouchsafed it to Israel, descendants of Jacob.  With Jesus Christ, the name has been transmitted to all nations by his disciples.  I Am, is not the name simple?  It can, in truth, apply only to the eternal Being, because all other beings have either a beginning or end and thus 'are not' at some point.  

I am sad to report that the LORD God is very far from us, He can only be felt.  God can be felt by anyone.  This is the proof of His existence.                

Sometimes I Think I'll Feel Better Dead

"Sometimes I think I'll feel better dead" is a line from a song by Nils Lofgren and his group, Grin.  When I looked up the lyrics and found this verse, an emotional connection within myself occurred - hey, I feel like that a lot.  I often think I'll feel better and be better when I'm dead.  This implies unsatisfaction with my life.  This is partly because of self-criticism, but mostly because of the world we live in.  I'm sensitive to  bad things happening and use them as evidence for the doctrine of original sin and Christian teaching about the world being under the power of the Devil (cf. Rom. 8).  

I eagerly read the novel, Being Dead (1999) by Jim Crace on account of my wish for death.  I think when I die I'll be free of the evils of this world and into the blessed life of the kingdom of God (i.e., if God is willing to have me).  Ah, the next life.      

Lament: a Form of Feeling and Writing

To lament is to express regret or grief about something.  In speech, the word could be a noun or a verb.  A book of the Bible, the Old Testament, is called 'Lamentations.'  The reader should inspect that work to see examples of laments and grasp the meaning of  lament emotionally and intellectually.

Regret, guilt, sorrow are strong currents in human hearts and to lament some wrong in the world or oneself is often profound and may lead to betterment.  I lament looking at pornography, particularly bestiality on websites and am determined to reform.  Sexuality is part of our makeup and sexual desire is easily perverted.  

Jesus said,  13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 [a]Because narrow is the gate and [b]difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. (Mt 7, NKJV).  Also, Jesus said,  "Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate (GTh 6).  Morally, intellectually, I don't like pornograhy and hate the bad behavior displayed in bestiality, but for the sake of my perverted sexual impulses, I partake of same.  I regret my bad actions and do lament my own self.  What a strange creature a human being is!  

What is a Virus: a Philosophical Answer

The biology of viruses is such that, scientifically, it is unknown whether they are alive or not.  See Wikipedia for an overview of the virus.  They have some of the characteristics of life-forms, but not all.  They are sub-microscopic things that infect larger things, that is, plants or animals, even bacteria.  Essentially, a virus is genetic material, a string of DNA or RNA molecules.  They are free-floating genomes loose in the world and we know that the genome is powerful stuff, structuring and ordering cells.  Cells are the basic units of biology.
A virus cannot replicate on its own, it needs cells to do that.  It enters and takes over cells, forcing cells to manufacture many, many copies of itself. What is going on here?  Here is my answer:  a virus is a refugee from dead, extinct life-forms, maybe dinosaurs, maybe long-dead protozoa, perhaps even extraterrestrial.  They are stranded in the world, survivors of their original cells and are trying to recreate paradise, i.e., the primal organism they once powered.  The midichlorians of Star Wars are like unto real-world viruses.  The midichlorians mediate a 'Force' that gives purpose to intelligent life.  Viruses like the SARS-CoV2, exert force on living things.  Is this force good or bad?
An answer to this last question should not be easy, but should require not only scientific analysis, but philosophic, as well.  The easy answer would be viruses are bad; this is the common approach and also the medical view.  Viruses have been causing problems, uncomfortable, unwanted symptoms in people for millenia, though our discovery of the virus (Latin: poison) dates to the nineteenth century.  Yet viruses also have good results or outcomes in species.  Check out Charles Zimmer and his book.  So we have to consider that viruses are good and bad, from a practical standpoint.
A virus is an agent of change.  It changes living matter in an orderly process according to its memory of an original state. Its original state, some long-dead creature, is not compatible with recent life-forms, but a virus doesn't know that.  Its original, primal state, its long-gone context is not known to us.  It demands study and fully understanding the virus will tell us something radical about life in the cosmos.
Ask why change persists in the universe.  Why do things change and not stay the same? 
           

Movie: '3022'

I've viewed today, a 2019 film, 3022, with actor Omar Epps in lead role.  This is a science fiction movie, as it is set in the future when Earth has a colony on Jupiter moon, Europa and a refueling station is established along the way there.  All action takes place in and around the station, named 'Pangaea.'  Epps is terrific in the role of captain Laine, maintaining an admirable dignity though he suffers great stress, nightmares, illusions and seesaws between rationality and the edge of madness.  Early in the film, Earth is destroyed, blown up, though we don't definitely realize that until later, when three refugee astronauts from the International Space Station make it to Pangaea.  These three bring along hidden evil and conflict to the crew of Pangaea and eventually only Laine and crewmate-engineer Jackie Miller (actress Kate Walsh) are left alive.  These are the last two survivors of the human race (except possibly the colonists on Europa, but there is never any communication from these).  To subsist, engineer Miller comes up with plan to split Pangaea, thereby extending oxygen and food.  Accidentally the two survivors are separated when Pangaea is split and Captain Laine is determined to rescue Miller who is heard poignantly crying by radio.  In ending the film, Captain Laine arrives at the cast-off half of Pangaea and searches until finding crewmate Miller.  She is destitute when found and the two look at each other when Laine comes through the doorway with the focus changing from Laine to Miller and then back to Laine.  Laine's expression is a sight to behiold, with piercing eyes and quivering lips.  The camera lingers on his face and thought of Adam and Eve entered my mind.