I recently started taking pastoral courses. The initial course covered the historical and cultural background preceding Christ and His ministry. The Hellenistic movement was seeping into every aspect of life and culture some 300 years before Christ was born. This was perceived as a threat by the Pharisees and their value of the Law and Jewish culture/tradition. Growing up, I had never learned the motivation for the Pharisees and other groups, given the cultural atmosphere. I had never understood the difference between the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The latter valued their priestly positions only insofar as the political status and wealth they could gain. The Sadducees weren’t threatened by the culture as long as the political stability remained.
After learning the details surrounding this time in history, it’s like I am seeing the New Testament in color. It’s understandable that the Pharisees would react to the Hellenistic culture so fiercely. Anything that wasn’t the Jewish tradition and was also popular among society, posed a serious threat to the importance of the Law as they lived it out. As is true with most believers…often our intentions are good but our expression can end up pushing people away. The Pharisees weren’t the bad guys I was always taught they were. They’re people who were trying their best to obey God and defend the importance of His instruction. I can relate to the Pharisees. As I was reading all the historical and cultural color of the time leading up to and during Christ’s life, I began to see similarities in the present period of the United States.
I can see people around our country with similar ideologies to the Pharisees, Sadducees, Zealots and Essenes. I can see an anointed movement of God that is extremely offensive and threatening to the “normal” that we’ve been living in up until this point. Jesus, His purpose and His ministry was in direct opposition to whatever people had built their lives on that wasn’t God. If the Pharisees couldn’t recognize the new way Jesus was introducing, they would see Him as a threat to their tradition. If the Sadducees couldn’t see that the true Kingdom of God arrived in Christ, they would see Him as a threat to the political stability and their status. For those who were open to God in any way He wanted to come and move, as well as those who came into contact with the new way embodied in Jesus Christ, the cost and opposition was worth the revelation of eternity.
Every move of God will elicit extreme offense and opposition as it challenges everything people have put their faith in that is apart from God. I see a leader, imperfect and unexpected, anointed by God to realign a nation to the Kingdom of God. I see the violent offense and opposition to this leader and the direction he is guiding the nation. I see God introducing a new way in every aspect of life – a reawakening. I see those who are closed-minded to the movement, perceiving a threat. I see those who are open to God and the new way struggling in earnest to realign and find the path. I pray the Church will regain its position of leadership in society. I pray God will bring revelation, to believers and unbelievers, of the way He is leading our nation. I pray believers will be relentless in seeking God and humble in receiving Him however He wants to appear and move.
Proclaiming Freedom 