Through the month of May we will look at an encounter that Jesus had with his detractors in which He gave sublime summary teaching on what the Old Testament was getting at.
After Jesus answered them wisely, the Pharisees got into the act in trying to catch Jesus in a mistake as they asked about the greatest commandment in the Old Testament.
“Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together” Matthew 22:34.
Through the month of May we will look at an encounter that Jesus had with his detractors in which He gave sublime summary teaching on what the Old Testament was getting at.
This verse comes on the heels of a question put to Jesus by the Sadducees. They postulated that a woman was married to seven brothers one after another as they died. They asked whose wife she would be in the resurrection. The goofy thing was that Sadducees didn’t believe in resurrection! This was not a question about marriage, but the real underlying issue was around framing Jesus. After Jesus answered them wisely, the Pharisees got into the act in trying to catch Jesus in a mistake as they asked about the greatest commandment in the Old Testament. They had no desire to really know the answer – they were immune to the underlying weight of Old Testament teaching. These groups were playing fast and loose with the Old Testament. Their motive was not to learn and grow deep but to catch Jesus in something they could accuse him of. “If he says this commandment, then we will accuse him of ignoring the others!” Their guns were loaded, and they were just looking for bullets.
Margaret Thatcher once said: “If my critics saw me walking on water, they’d say it’s because I can’t swim.”
That’s what was happening here. We see plenty of that today. We suffered through covid with this kind of thinking. “Which side are you on?” The idea was not to gain understanding but to demonize those with a different point of view. Now that we have made this kind of thinking mainstream, we see it constantly in the public media. We move away from meaningful dialogue and instead look to score points.
The question for a Christian is – “what is my motive?” In our congregation there are as many opinions as there are people. Perhaps instead of taking our lesson from culture, we could take it from the bible. Let us seek to understand. To be open to learn. To recognize that other people have a valid opinion whether I agree with it or not.
Pastor Leon Throness
