I believe that Pharisee is good man, they observe the Law and obey it strickyly.
Acts of one scribe or pharisee does not represent all of them, but Jesus appears address it for ALL of them (Nicodemus is excluded
).
The “Jewish religious leaders” a.k.a. the “scribes and Pharisees.” Customarily vilified as pompous, power hungry, controlling, self-righteous legalists who loved themselves much more than God; what’s interesting to note is how most of them did not start out that way. Most of the Pharisees actually began as sincere, devout, God-fearing men who simply sought to live holy lives. For them this meant constructing safeguards against sin and heresy, not so different from well-meaning Christians who construct detailed accountability checklists.
Still, you have to admit that abiding by the checklist had its own inherent dangers. Failure to comply runs the risk of reproach and shame; but even worse, successful compliance ran the risk of pride, warping people previously humbled by grace into those who don’t need grace anymore.
Human nature being what it is, it’s not that hard to see how a good Pharisee could go so bad.John 7:19-23 Did not Moses give you the Law? And yet not one of you keeps the Law. [If that is the truth] why do you seek to kill Me [for not keeping it]?
20 The crowd answered Him, You are possessed by a demon! [You are raving!] Who seeks to kill You?
21 Jesus answered them, I did one work, and you all are astounded.
22 Now Moses established circumcision among you--though it did not originate with Moses but with the previous patriarchs--and you circumcise a person [even] on the Sabbath day.
23 If, to avoid breaking the Law of Moses, a person undergoes circumcision on the Sabbath day, have you any cause to be angry with (indignant with, bitter against) Me for making a man's whole body well on the Sabbath?
There Jesus healed a man who had been paralyzed for 38 years. Yet rather than rejoice over the miraculous cure, the Pharisees got all mad because Jesus cured on the Sabbath!
John 5:5-8 5There was a certain man there who had suffered with a deep-seated and lingering disorder for thirty-eight years.
6 When Jesus noticed him lying there [helpless], knowing that he had already been a long time in that condition, He said to him, Do you want to become well? [Are you really in earnest about getting well?]
7 The invalid answered, Sir, I have nobody when the water is moving to put me into the pool; but while I am trying to come [into it] myself, somebody else steps down ahead of me.
8 Jesus said to him, Get up! Pick up your bed (sleeping pad) and walk!
However the Pharisees had lost focus on the big picture, choosing instead to short-sighted and obsess over the details. Consequently a checklist of prohibitions ensued. It included but was not limited to no carrying, no sowing, plowing, binding, grinding, sifting, baking, washing, drying, slicing, dicing, writing, erasing, making a loop, starting a fire, stopping a fire, opening a book, riding in a boat, tearing paper, tying knots, picking bones out of a fish, or combing your hair.
Jesus’ retort in verse 22, it seems as if his aim was against a comparable pretense of obedience on the Pharisees’ part. “Because Moses gave you circumcision,” Jesus said, “you circumcise your sons on the Sabbath. Now if a male can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses may not be broken, why are you angry with me for completely curing a man on the Sabbath?” Ostensibly, the logic runs something like this: Circumcision could technically be classified as work inasmuch as it involves (you know) slicing. Nevertheless, the Pharisees regularly circumcised on the Sabbath. By contrast Jesus does one work. The Pharisees make Jesus out to be a bigger lawbreaker than they were!
Jesus came, as he said, not to abolish the law but fulfill the Law.
Matthew 5:17 Do not think that I have come to do away with or undo the Law or the Prophets; I have come not to do away with or undo but to complete and fulfill them.
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