take me to church

To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness. 

- Bertrand Russell 

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the principle behind lent and fasting in general is that the power of will that enables someone to abstain from vice / an indulgence is the same energy that enables someone to engage in virtue / a discipline

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1. what you do in private is more important than how you behave in public

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When Jesus had finished speaking, a Pharisee invited him to eat with him; so he went in and reclined at the table. But the Pharisee, noticing that Jesus did not first wash before the meal, was surprised. Then the Lord said to him, "Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? But give what is inside the dish to the poor, and everything will be clean for you. 

Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practised the latter without leaving the former undone. 

Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the most important seats in the synagogues and greetings in the market-places. 

Woe to you, because you are like unmarked graves, which men walk over without knowing it. 

One of the experts in the law answered him, "Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us also." 

Jesus replied, "And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them. Woe to you, because you build tombs for the prophets, and it was your forefathers who killed them. 

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Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering."

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Meanwhile, when a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus began to speak first to his disciples, saying: "Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs."

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One thing that really struck me this week is how the poor and diseased, downtrodden and undesirable members of society got kind and compassionate Jesus. but how the wealthy and powerful Pharisees got angry and indignant Jesus. It's interesting to note as well that his main gripe with them was how they treated, or mistreated rather, the outcasts of society - the untouchables. If you think about it, in every recorded interaction between Jesus and someone who on the outside was 'evil', unclean or unacceptable, he treats them with a kindness and respect normally reserved for acquaintances and respectable looking strangers - but when he talks to the Pharisees, who are supposedly the most learned and influential members of society, he talks to them like a gang of young punks who go around bullying and extorting money from his friends. It's almost personal, the way and intensity with which he rebukes the Pharisees.

His second charge against them is hypocrisy. He curses them for having the outward appearance of cleanliness while actually being rotten inside. Of being obsessed with rule-keeping and the appearance of righteousness, instead of actually seeking justice and showing love to those who need it most. I think it was the pretence that got him so wound up - that really ticked him off. Not the sin. Throughout Jesus's ministry he comes face to face with people who, by lawful definition, which is to say, by the Pharisees' reckoning, are labelled 'sinners' i.e. Levi the tax collector, the Samaritan woman at the well. And yet you don't see him condemning or berating any of them.

I think it's partly 1. because they don't claim to be righteous when they aren't - as in they aren't trying to trick others and delude themselves into thinking they aren't sinners - but also 2. because they aren't the ones responsible for keeping the law and therefore carry a bigger obligation to help the poor and the sick and the needy. It's like how you'd be harsher on a policeman or a judge committing a felony than if it was a 'regular' person who did it. Their civic duty, so much higher and heavier than the rest of ours, is therefore all the more appalling when it is neglected. With great power comes great responsibility etc. (Who am I? I am a cliche)

I feel like in Jesus' economy of mercy, the only thing worse than a sinner is a sinner who doesn't admit to being one and pretends to be good instead. And a small subset of them even go so far as to claim themselves experts of the law - and worse still - feel no guilt or shame at brandishing their status like a trophy and quietly lording it over others in the synagogue and marketplace. A man so spiritually dead he doesn't even feel the prick of his conscience.

So it got me thinking - who are the Pharisees of today? People who claim to know the law and keep it. People who are morally obligated to be righteous and show love to all members of society. Do the new Pharisees go to church on Sundays? Do they turn up for bible study on Fridays and quote scripture during small group discussion? Do they sometimes post bible verses as their fb statuses? Do they study medicine at university? Do they think of themselves as good people, morally upstanding, maybe even better than most?

I wonder if I were to invite Jesus in for a meal - welcome him into my house, cook him some spaghetti bolognaise - I wonder if I'd get kind and compassionate Jesus, or if maybe I'd warrant a good scolding instead

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Peter said to him, "Even if everyone else abandons you, I never will."