also meant that the Greek culture began to replace existing cultures and influence existing religious systems. Alexander founded Greek-style cities complete with theaters, public baths, and gymnasiums. He encouraged the introduction of Greek customs and pushed his Greek soldiers to marry local women. Because the Jews did not resist him, Alexander allowed them a great deal of independence, even permitting continued worship at the temple in Jerusalem. Still, there was an enormous amount of Greek influence on the Jewish people and their society. After several subsequent leaders and a rebellion in which the Jews briefly gained independence, two main sects emerged. One supported the Greek influence and the change it brought. The other resisted the change and sought to preserve strict Jewish traditions. The former group eventually became the Sadducees and the latter became the Pharisees of Jesus’ time. (Mark Strauss, Four Portraits One Jesus).In the New Testament, Pharisees are rarely shown in a positive light. Jesus is constantly challenging them for their hypocrisy and arrogance. Indeed they saw themselves as more pious than others and essentially worked to “build a fence” around the Law of Moses. In other words, they labored diligently to make sure that nobody came close to violating the Law by discussing and debating and prescribing everyday conduct. For example, knot-tying was unlawful on the Sabbath, however knots that could be untied with one hand were permissible. A person could tie a bucket over a well on the Sabbath, but only with a belt and not with a rope. Far from being ungodly, they sought to be the godliest people around by carefully considering God’s Law and making sure that there was not even a question as to whether or not it had been violated.
But despite the Pharisees diligence, despite their commitment to the God of Israel and His Law, they were not anywhere near the true heart of Yahweh. Jesus points out that they taught it was
acceptable for a son to neglect his elderly parents if the money that would have gone to help them was given to the temple or synagogue instead. This teaching was contrary to the will of God, so Jesus says, “…for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said, ‘This people honors me with their lips but their heart is far from me…’” (Matthew 15:7-8). Later, Jesus calls a group of scribes and Pharisees “whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness.” (Matthew 23:27). We tend to focus on their inner rottenness but we need to understand the outward beauty of the Pharisees. Unlike today, most people in this time revered the group of pious Jews. However, Jesus pointed out over and over that they had missed the point. They had missed the heart of God.Just like in the first century, it is possible for people who claim to follow God today to perform all the correct outward duties yet still possess a heart that is far from God. It is possible for people to “go to church”, read their Bibles, and even pray without actually being transformed into a new person whose heart beats to the rhythm of God’s. God wants our hearts, not our obligatory actions. To give our hearts away, though, is a scary thing even when the recipient is God. The reason is that God will change our hearts and perhaps cause us to do things that we would otherwise think to be crazy.
