Pharisaic Party
I have always been intrigued by who “The Jews” were. In my youthfulness of being an immature CHRISTian, I supposed that they were referring to either the nation known as the Israelites or the Hebrews. But as my years flourished and I began to become more mature in the Word of GOD and my passion for research kicked in. I found out that this was not the case, I found out that when we read in the scriptures about The Jews the reference is the Pharisees hence the Pharisaic party.
Who were the Pharisees?
*They were separatists extremely accurate and minute in all matters appertaining to the Law of Moses. There was much that was sound in their creed, yet their system of religion was a form and nothing more. Theirs was a very lax morality, they were noted for their self-righteousness and their pride. They were Formalists, the Freethinkers, and the Puritans. The fundamental principle of the Pharisees, common to them with all orthodox modern Jews, is that by the side of the “Written Law” regarded as a summary of the principles and General Laws of the Hebrew people there was an “Oral Law” to complete and to explain the Written Law, given to Moses on Mount Sinai and transmitted by Moses by word of mouth. This Oral Law is a digest of the Jewish traditions and a compendium of the whole Ritual Law, and it came at length to be esteemed far above the sacred text. With all their pretenses to piety, they were, in reality, avaricious [covetous; greedy of gain; immoderately desirous of accumulating property], sensual [carnal about the flesh or body, in opposition to the spirit; not spiritual or holy; evil], and dissolute [loose in behavior and morals; given to vice; wanton; lewd; luxurious; debauched; not under the restraints of the law; vicious; wanton; devoted to pleasure]. They looked with contempt upon every nation but their own. Finally, instead of endeavoring to fulfill the great end of the dispensation whose truths they professed to teach, and thus bringing men to the Hope of Israel, they devoted their energies to making converts to their narrow views, who with all the zeal of proselytes were more exclusive and more bitterly opposed to the truth than they were themselves. The Pharisees at an early day secured the popular favor and thereby acquired considerable political influence. This influence was greatly increased by the extension of the Pharisees over the whole land and the majority which they obtained in the Sanhedrin. One of the fundamental doctrines of the Pharisees was a belief in a future state. They appear to have believed in a resurrection of the dead, very much in the same sense: as the early Christians. They also believed in a divine providence acting side by side with the free will of man.
Notice how the Pharisees “the Jews” asked him about toting his bed around rather than acknowledging the fact that this man is now up on his feet and walking. I am certain that the man was making a show of himself because of the excitement he had that just could not be contained within himself. What if this was you? Could you just get up and go about your day as if nothing had happened to you? The answer is no. We get excited and want to tell anyone who will listen that we have a brand new shiny car, or a house, or a career change, and so on. We are excited and we want everyone to be excited for us. We want the ewws and ahhs some of us want the blessings from those we share our great news with and some of us want to cause envy. I can just imagine the Pharisees asking the man “Who is the man that said, “take up your bed and walk”? They said this with a tone of arrogance/contempt, I am sure. And as stated in part 1 of the blog “Healed On Passover” the man must not have known JESUS and we can see that this is accurate because when he tried to reply to their question the man did not know HIS name and JESUS had slipped away from the crowd before the man noticed as he turned to try and point HIM out to them.
Sometime later the man was in the temple, hopefully, he was there to worship GOD, listen, and learn from the scriptures of GOD from the Priest. Or maybe he was there to show everyone there that he is now healed. We do not know because the scriptures did not make it clear, what we do know is that JESUS rolled up on him there. When the guy saw JESUS in all his excitement, I can imagine him holding on to JESUS with huge hugs, kissing HIM, and thanking JESUS over and over again. And when JESUS was able to get a word in edgewise, JESUS says to the man “See, you have been made well. Sin no more for fear that a worse thing will come on you”. Okay, so the infirmity that this guy suffered came from his own doing. Most of us today suffer from pains and ailments that we caused to ourselves. We either did something or said something to invite the self-imposed infliction onto our bodies and or organs. GOD/JESUS had nothing to do with what our bodies are inflicted with. GOD/JESUS however, will allow the infliction but GOD/JESUS is not the ONE to blame or to religiously proclaim that HE knows how much we can bear or that HE is teaching us a lesson. These are just some of the ridiculous sayings that I not only hear among CHRISTians but non-believers as well. First of all, non-believers in CHRIST JESUS should suffer from all that sin has to reward them with. At some point, CHRISTians need to realize that because GOD/JESUS is a Healer, and when we are afflicted or our loved ones are afflicted, if GOD/JESUS is the ONE who placed the affliction onto us; why are we asking/praying for HIM to remove the affliction? It just does not make sense.
Now, we know that the man and JESUS eventually departed one another’s company because the man told the Pharisees that it was JESUS who made him well.
You will want to return for the next chapter in this exciting saga.
*Note: Information regarding the Pharisees is taken from the Easton and Smith Dictionaries.
John 5:10-15
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