Dear friend, the world can seem scary and crazy. We’re on lockdown, loved ones are sick, and some are dying. But Good Friday is almost upon us, and then Resurrection Day. There is still reason to rejoice. Jesus is risen and has broken the power of sin and death in the hearts and lives of all who call upon Him in faith.
In each gospel this week, I’ve been reading the account of the betrayal leading up to the crucifixion.
My focus was Jesus. But I couldn’t help but continue to see the Pharisees and other religious leaders, standing out in bold opposition to Him.
They’ve been misrepresented, you know, those Pharisees. Almost every time they’re portrayed or described, we think about them as obviously pompous, obviously arrogant, obviously hypocritical. But their hypocrisy wasn’t obvious to the Jewish people at all.
You think, perhaps, that this is because they were naïve, and you wouldn’t have been so naïve? Well, maybe not. But perhaps there are some among us today who have been deceived by church leaders today who to our shock we have found to be hypocrites, leaders who claimed to be building a kingdom for the Savior, and we find out that all along they were building a kingdom for themselves.
Yes, I raise my hand. Over and over. I’ve been deceived again and again by many leaders that I thought truly followed Jesus Christ, who turned out to be breathtaking hypocrites. (I won’t name any here, but my head is swimming with the names.)
That’s how good they are at the games they play.
And the religious leaders in Jesus’ world were just that good.
This is why the crowds were shocked—shocked—when during His 3.5 years of public ministry, Jesus called out the religious leaders as vipers, whited sepulchers, and more.
In those days, the Jews had two sets of “governments.” The Roman overlords were the hated foreigners (picture Nazi Germany having conquered us, and our street corners swarming with German soldiers).
But as much as the Jews hated the Romans, the Roman government stayed out of Jewish religious affairs. If the Jews had wanted to hold a lynching because someone claimed to be a messiah figure, the Romans would have turned the other way, as long as the mob didn’t get too unruly.
Basically, as long as the Jews obeyed Roman law, the Romans just didn’t care what they believed or practiced.
And that leads us to that other government. The religious leaders.
When Jesus was arrested and brought to the Roman governor Pilate, the Roman soldiers did indeed take advantage of the opportunity to mock and torture a man who couldn’t defend himself: they were the ones who applied the crown of thorns and the purple robe, spitting in His face and slapping and beating Him.
But those bullies had no idea who He was. They weren’t even there when He was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane (in spite of confusing illustrations like this one).
After all, they didn’t care one way or another about a solitary man who wasn’t stirring up any trouble.
The crowd who arrested Jesus in the middle of the night were the lackeys of the religious leaders, and perhaps even some of the religious leaders themselves. The ones who knew who He was.
And the first physical persecution of Jesus? At that secret trial in the middle of the night, that wasn’t Roman soldiers. No, Mark 14:65 and Luke 22:63-65 tell us that it was the “godly” religious leaders who spat on Him and struck Him and mocked Him.
That is the depths to which they sank.
And my guess is, they would go out the next day and gently instruct their disciples in the finer points of what it means to honor God with their lives.
Because the best hypocrites are amazing like that.
And oh, did I say secret trial? When I was reading about it, my mind flashed to a secret trial held over a friend of mine, a group of men against her, proclaiming her judgment, because she had reported her abusive husband. But they are highly respected religious leaders, with many truly adoring followers. (Maybe you are one of them.)
You may know of other secret meetings at which those who are highly respected have done terrible things to the innocent ones. These are those who have shared in the sufferings of Jesus.
These truly highly respected leaders (respected by followers who were no more naïve than many of us have been) are the ones who decided that Jesus should die because He was usurping their place, attracting their followers to Himself. And they decided that they wanted Him to die in the most excruciating and ignominious way possible, simply because they hated Him that much.
That’s why they didn’t arrange for thugs to kill Him in the night. That’s why they aroused the crowd so that Pilate would hang a man that he knew was innocent on a Roman cross.
This is the depths of darkness they were in, they were already in: when Judas came back to tell them Jesus was innocent (Matthew 27), their reply, basically, was, “Why are you talking about that? That’s not our problem. That’s your problem.”
You think we care about guilt and innocence? Oh hahaha.
You’ve suddenly developed a conscience? That just gets in the way around here.
Oh, he’s returning the money we gave him to betray his friend to death? Well, it’s kind of “blood money,” you know, so we probably shouldn’t put that in the temple fund, but we can use it to buy that sweet piece of property over there.
We will “keep the law” (mint, rue, anise, micro-doctrine that we elevate to the level of salvation), but we will proudly (behind the scenes, of course, in secret and in the cover of darkness) thumb our noses at justice, mercy, truth.
Truly this is why Jesus said during the arrest (in Luke 22:53), “But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.”
It was the power of darkness—devilish, satanic power—fueling these men, for all their humble looks and earnest sermons and gentle admonitions and quiet prayers in the streets.
Jesus knew, all along. He knew exactly how it was all going to shake out. He knew that the visceral, demonic hatred of the godly religious leaders would lead to His death.
He knew that, even when He called them out, publicly, in the streets of Jerusalem.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!”
He knew.
And He moved forward anyway, doing what His Father had called Him to do, facing the horror and staring it down.
He is our wonderful, beautiful, strong, and loving Example and Savior. In spite of the religious leaders who try to block the way, we will run to Him. He wins in the end.
***
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So many Pharisees that exist in the church leadership today. If only more Christians were willing to see the Pharisees/hypocrites who are hiding dark secrets behind their “christian” facade.
I agree.
But……GOD KNOWS!
“They’ve been misrepresented, you know, those Pharisees. Almost every time they’re portrayed or described, we think about them as obviously pompous, obviously arrogant, obviously hypocritical. But their hypocrisy wasn’t obvious to the Jewish people at all.”
I thought this too, until the lights came on.
Wow, powerful. Thanks for this. While I’m here, just wanted to say how much I appreciate your blog posts and commitment to truth and discernment.
Just one suggestion. I wouldn’t usually comment on this sort of thing, but oddly enough it stuck out to me. The illustration of Germany defeating us and German soldiers on each corner: could this be clarified a little more to say “nazi Germany”?
Thank you for the suggestion, Hannah. That’s a good change, and I’ll do that.
Yes, HE WINS!! I am so thankful the final say is His!
Thank you for pointing us to the blessing of knowing Jesus’ willingness to endure all that He knew was coming to Him both from the Religious and politically corrupt leaders, in order to redeem on that cross true relationship with those whom He loves.
“fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Hebrews 12:2 NASB
“You may know of other secret meetings at which those who are highly respected have done terrible things to the innocent ones.”
Yes, yes, I do.
“We will “keep the law” (mint, rue, anise, micro-doctrine that we elevate to the level of salvation), but we will proudly (behind the scenes, of course, in secret and in the cover of darkness) thumb our noses at justice, mercy, truth.”
Yes, that is exactly what they do. It is grotesque and cruel and the antithesis of the God they claim to serve.
“He is our wonderful, beautiful, strong, and loving Example and Savior. In spite of the religious leaders who try to block the way, we will run to Him. He wins in the end.”
Yes, He is. And this is why I can breathe, why I can hope and trust. He is worthy, righteous, just, compassionate…
Thank you, Rebecca. This is, as always, so timely and helpful.
So ( without looking it up) I’m wondering about when Jesus says Father, forgive them… they know not what they do”. He could be talking about the Roman soldiers that did not know who he was rather than the leaders who orchestrated such evil. If so, it really changes, yet again, how abusers could use these words to seemingly walk away without consequences. What do you think?
That was something I questioned years ago, because the religious leaders DID know what they were doing–He told them point blank who He was, and they utterly rejected Him, because, of course, they had claimed the devil as their father.
But when He said “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do,” the ones who were there in His presence at the time were the ignorant Roman soldiers who had no idea about the prophecies or His preaching or anything like that, the way the religious leaders did.
I suppose, though, that the prayer could have encompassed anyone who was involved in Jesus’ death who truly didn’t know what they were doing, didn’t know the claims He had made or how He fulfilled the Scriptures and had so many witnesses to who He really was (His miracles, the Scriptures, John the Baptist, etc).
When I thought about this Scripture, I assumed that the prayer was answered, because I couldn’t imagine Jesus praying a prayer that wasn’t answered. With a few notable exceptions, most of those hard-hearted, demonized religious leaders were never forgiven because they never repented. The ones who did repent had lives so radically changed that their transformation was obvious to all.
Wow… this is not only so insightful and spot on, Rebecca… it’s beautifully written! Remembering this helps me a lot when I have been sorely disillusioned by religious leader, even my own (former) pastor! It’s nothing new! It’s even, sadly, something to expect.
During our past 3+ weeks stuck at home, I have been exploring church websites, and attending online worship. A time of reflection on the churches where leaders did not defend me nor care. A month ago a pastor told me that I do not qualify to participate in the Lord’s Supper because of my history of not resolving things with elders at 2 previous churches (where I was victimized). Moving forward, praying to find a church with solid preaching, and where my dear Hubby will hear the call of the Gospel. A pastor’s heart should be as our Shepherd who loves and rescues us.
actually 4+ weeks
I’m so sorry for what has happened to you. There was a certain point in our lives when we were quite bruised in soul, when we landed at a little church where the preaching wasn’t outstanding, but the people actually loved like Jesus loved and we saw the Holy Spirit moving. It was a wonderfully healing time for us. I pray you’ll find the body of Christ that you need and is right for you.