Am I a Pharisee?

Jesus Christ was condemning the Pharisees because the apostles of Christ were eating without observing the ritual of washing hands, the ritual of washing their legs and the Pharisees complained, they went to Christ Jesus and said to him " how can your Disciples eat without washing their hands? Instead of Christ Jesus scolding the disciples he turned and condemned the Pharisees. Then I ask these questions; what is Holiness? And what can one do to be called a holy person?

Looking at how Jesus Christ reacted to the Pharisees that have always thought in their hearts and by their standard of keeping the laws of holiness still he was able to condemn them for seeing the disciples as people that were breaking the law of holiness. Now let us see what holiness implies.

Most people may believe that holiness means to be pure in spirit and in truth, while some others may also believe  that holiness is when one keep all the laws of the Bible and even laws of the land, observe and follow them all to the latter, while some other persons will say is living a righteous life with fear of God. All of these meanings may seem right to some who do not really understand the right meaning of holiness that Jesus Christ was about to explain to the Pharisees which made him to condemn their actions.

I ask you again, if one does not keep the commandments of God is that person a holy individual? I know your answer will be NO!. If you obey all the commandments of God to the latter are you a holy person? The answer all of us will give to this question is Yes! right?

NOW LETS COME TO THE ACTUAL TYPE OF HOLINESS CHRIST JESUS WANTS THE PHARISEES TO KNOW ABOUT.

The problem of the Pharisees is one of our problems today, the Pharisees could not understand what this was all about. The Pharisees were wonderful people, they kept the laws to the latter. They kept all the laws God gave them through Moses, they were faithful in keeping laws. A Pharisee does not steal nor break into someone's house and steal from the person, they are known to be the well behaved persons in the city, they fast when the time comes for fasting and they observe whatever thing the laws instructs them to do without any complain. They give one-tenth of everything they earned. A Pharisee has beside his bed the commandments of God, before he goes out in the morning he reads the commandments of God and when he gets back from where he went to at night, he reads his commandments before going to bed in order to be sure he didn't break any of the commandments during the time he went for his daily activities.

In all of these efforts and diligence, Jesus Christ never saw them worthy to be called holy people because of these reasons I am about to share with you as we forge ahead.

THE REASONS ARE AS FOLLOWS;

1. THE PHARISEES BELIEVED THAT HOLINESS IS ABOUT KEEPING LAWS

This is one of the reasons why the Pharisees never violated or disobeyed any law given to them, they believed in doing all they can to keep the laws of holiness. Anything that will make them to disobey the laws of the commandments will be avoided totally. A good citizen of a country is one who keeps to the laws and constitutions of the country. In the civil and traditional laws the reason for keeping the law does not matter much rather what matters is that you keep the laws.

But in relationship to God, Holiness is not about keeping the laws, you must know this that keeping laws is important and very basic but you can keep all the laws of God and when you die, for keeping the law given to you to the end when you die God will still send you to hell. Let me ask you, am I scandalising you? Are you confused with what I just said? You may not keep the laws and when you die because you didn't keep the laws, because of the reason for which you did not keep these laws, God will send you to heaven because of why you didn't keep the law. I ask you again, is it possible?

The laws of God are not absolute like the civil laws, traditional laws, etc. There is a principle that guides the laws of God, and that principles must be applied. That principles may make you to keep the law, because you didn't follow the principles but you kept the laws, when you die you go to hell but if you follow the principles guiding the law and you break the laws, when you die you will go to heaven.

This is one area the Jews and Pharisees did not understand about Christ Jesus and they said No! we are going to kill you because you are destroying the laws of our fathers, the laws of our ancestors. But Christ Jesus said to them that "I have not come to destroy the law but have come to fulfill the law"

Let me use one example to explain what I mean by following the principles that guides the law which at the end even when you didn't obey the law you will still make heaven.

In a situation where you supposed to keep the Sabbath day holy which was seen in the commandments of God as law and when you were about to do your Sabbath obligations, your neighbor whose child is so sick calls for you assistance maybe because he does not have money to take care of his child who was sick and when you get to the hospital that morning, the doctor says that the child needs blood and immediately you go to the bank ATM and withdraw some money to go get some blood from the blood bank, for doing this you have already violated the law of keeping the Sabbath holy, when you get the blood to the doctor and immediately the doctors tells you that the child needs food and you quickly move and bought food for the boy to eat, if after doing all these things and already you wanted to attend to church that morning of Sabbath day and because of what happened you were not able to meet the church program and the child finally get saved and healthy again, do you know you will make heaven even when you broke the law of keeping the Sabbath day holy just because you followed the principles that guides the law of God Jesus was trying to teach the Pharisees which is love and compassion. Had it been that the doctor  refused to treat the child because he was trying to keep the Sabbath day holy and eventually the child dies, the doctor  will go to hell, even though he obeyed the laws and kept the commandments of God through keeping the Sabbath day holy. The reason why the doctor will go to hell is because he refused to assist  the child as a result of keeping the law, he didn't follow the principles the guides the laws of God. The principle of love and compassion is what propels one to act and on that bases one will merit heaven.

Like the Pharisees they will not consider your present condition, they will try to obey the law first before assisting you, like what happened in the story of the good Samaritan where you could see the Pharisees and the Levites crossing over the Injured traveller without any assistance because they were trying to keep the laws and thereby refusing to show compassion and love to that person who was attacked on his way by thieves.

The Pharisees had misconceptions about holiness, they had misunderstanding and misrepresentation of what holiness is all about.

2. THEY KEPT THE LAW FOR THE WRONG REASONS.

Many of us today keep the laws of God for the wrong reason. They kept the laws because they want to make heaven, the Pharisees keep the laws because they wants reward and so afraid of punishment and that is exactly the reason why many of us keep the law even in our recent time.

In Conclusion

Today it's our fundamental right and duty as children of God to always learn to show compassion and love to one another rather than acting like the Pharisees who thought holiness is by absolute keeping the laws and doing everything that the law says rather than following the principles that guides the law of God. Whether you are from another religion, tribe, colour, etc what is  important is for us not to condemn and see one another as enemies but as brothers and sisters of the same father who creates the universe, we shouldn't always be like the Pharisees that want to keep the laws at all times, rather we should do our best to teach and accept one another with love, because it's by being able to show kindness and love to one another we can attain that level of holiness Jesus Christ was trying to preach to the Pharisees.

Thank you.🙏Rafd9828