“That is such a Phariseetical thing to say”

I couldn’t help but be captivated by this rebuke when I saw it on Twitter. What did the sender mean by "being a pharisee?" What criteria was the tweeter passing?

But really, all these questions were one’s I was already pondering as part of a larger question that had been going around in my head for several years now.

Who are the modern pharisees?

I’ve heard many answers given to this question

• Fundamentalist Christians,
• Liberal Christians
• Moralist Atheists
• Totalitarian tolerantists
• Judgemental people
• it doesn’t apply to anyone

Often, I’ve heard some good reasoning as to how these groups match characteristics of the Pharisees, but that doesn’t mean they are just like the pharisees. Besides, what was the problem with the pharisees back then anyway? Why didn’t Jesus and the pharisees get on? Who threw the first punch? Did they even have a chance with Jesus or were they always out of his good books?

The tweet I mentioned was the final straw. I had to work it out for myself. I wanted to know both why this person was calling someone a pharisee and what was the actual problem with the pharisees.

I opened up a mind mapping app on my iPad and starting searching for every interaction Jesus had with Pharisees in Mark (it is the shortest of the gospels).

I added some simple notes on the context, what happened next, why the pharisees reacted and how Jesus responded. The patterns and information I started to noticed was fascinating. I knew I had to continue and look at the other gospels as well as more of the history and the other figures that were around at the time.

• Sadducees
• Scribes
• Teachers of the Law
• Priests

Some were obviously different but some of the interactions had similarities.

At this point, I haven’t finished my study on this topic but I am ready to start sharing what I’ve seen. I hope you will join me in this journey and perhaps at the end we’ll both be able to answer who are the modern pharisees.

Join me on this journey

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