If you’re anywhere near my age group, you probably read that essay title and thought, “That sounds familiar.”
You’re right, the phrase is a song lyric from a 1980’s pop song by the artist Rockwell. It could be considered a one-hit wonder, but it was certainly a well-supported hit! Pop superstars Michael and Jermaine Jackson sang back-up on this quirky, eerie tune released by Motown.
I chose that title because it accurately describes what Jesus encountered continuously during his earthly ministry. People were always watching him, and listening to him, and trying to understand him. And criticizing him, and judging him, and trying to trap him. My focus will be on the Pharisees and religious leaders of the day. Let’s take a look at a couple examples.
Luke 5:29-31 (NIV) Then Levi (the tax collector) held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
So, Jesus is criticized and judged for socializing with people who are not currently following the rules of the Jewish faith.
Luke 5:33 (NIV) They said to him, “John (the Baptist)’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.”
So, Jesus is criticized for allowing his disciples to seek nourishment while they are walking miles on foot, ministering to people.
Luke 6: 1-2 (NIV) One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the kernels. Some of the Pharisees asked, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”
So, Jesus is criticized for allowing his disciples to help themselves to natural, unprocessed food while walking through a field when they were hungry.
And one more example of being watched on a Sabbath: Luke 6:6-7 (NIV) On another Sabbath he went into the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was shriveled. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath.
I ask again: have you ever felt like someone was watching you? I have. I spent over two decades in my career as an IT Professional in a management role. I provided leadership to teams working to build and support our company’s computer systems. It was a big job, and I was privileged to be provided with so much confidence by my own managers to lead such talented employees.
When you are in a position of leadership, people don’t just listen to what you have to say. They watch what you do. You become a living example of your message. Normally, I walked into work every day ready to embody the example. And if someone felt that something I said or did conflicted with the company’s message, I’d welcome them to bring it up and we’d discuss it calmly.
But sometimes people had in their heads that the position of the company or the department or the leadership group was wrong, and no amount of discussion would change their minds.
Back to Jesus. How did Jesus respond when Pharisees questioned him about his actions? Normally he answered calmly and tried to give them something to think about in order to change their views. In each of the examples I shared earlier, Jesus answered their questions about why he was doing what he was doing.
But eventually Jesus had had enough of being constantly in the spotlight of these religious watchguards. Answering their questions and criticisms calmly and reasonably didn’t change their minds about anything. In Luke 11:37 he moved to a stronger message. The subtitle in my own Bible for the section starting with this verse is Woes on the Pharisees and the Experts in the Law. When reading it, I could tell Jesus had reached the end of his patience with them. Starting in verse 37, and going clear through 54, Jesus addressed them with example after example of how they’re following a specific part of the law, but completely missing the overall point:
“You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.”
“You tithe 10% to God, but you neglect justice and love of God.”
“You load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them.”
The frustrated tirade from our Lord goes on and on. I can just picture it in my mind: his voice raised, words bubbling up inside him that he’d previously kept restrained; his followers watching him, mouths dropped; the Pharisees angry that he dare speak to them like that.
Or did any of the Pharisees open up their hearts to listen and maybe start to see that he was right? I imagine some of them did. But as anyone who has read through the rest of this gospel knows, it wasn’t enough to change the Pharisees’ view of Jesus.
Each of the gospel writers (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) documented Jesus’ Woes to the Pharisees speech, although they were not all identically described. Wikipedia makes this observation on this topic: “The woes are all woes of hypocrisy and illustrate the differences between inner and outer moral states. Jesus portrays the Pharisees as impatient with outward, ritual observance of minutiae which made them look acceptable and virtuous outwardly but left the inner person unreformed.”
But even though Jesus was frustrated and angry, immediately after Jesus’ rebuke of the scribes and Pharisees, we see Jesus’ compassion. He asks, “How will you escape being condemned to hell?” (Matthew 23:33). Jesus then expresses His desire to gather the people of Israel to Himself for safety, if only they were willing (verse 37): “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.”
Let’s pray: Dear God, we understand that you long for your people to come to you and find forgiveness. We know Jesus was not harsh in this passage to be mean. He was not having a temper tantrum. Rather, love guided His actions. Jesus spoke firmly against the deception of Satan out of a desire for people to know truth and find life in Him. Please guide our path in this direction every day. Amen.
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