Hey saints,
Today, let’s look at how the enemies of our Lord plotted against Him:
“And the Pharisees went out and immediately began taking counsel together with the Herodians against Him, as to how they might destroy Him.”
— Mark 3:6
This passage follows right after Jesus healed the man with the withered hand on the Sabbath. The Pharisees were furious about Him healing on the Sabbath because it violated the additional rules they had established. To be clear, Jesus was not breaking the Law of Moses. However, the scribes had come up with their own interpretations, and these man-made rules were held in higher regard than God’s Law.
The issue they had with Jesus was that He exposed their hypocrisy. They substituted God’s law with their own, which kept people in bondage and elevated the teachers of the law to positions of power. This is why Jesus spoke against them:
“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.”
— Matthew 23:13
We see this happening even today with some religious teachers. They come up with interpretations of the Bible that enslave people to a works-based salvation, which places these teachers in positions of power and favor. An extreme version of this hypocrisy can be seen with people like Jim Jones, who developed his own interpretation of the Bible, leading his cult in to mass suicide in 1978. Similarly, Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, rewrote parts of the Bible to insert himself as a figure prophesied about in the Old Testament.
These are extreme distortions of biblical teaching, but we also encounter more subtle twists of Scripture that benefit certain groups of people. As believers, we must be aware of these deceptions.
Mark tells us that the Pharisees began taking counsel with the Herodians, a political group of the time. Their plan was to destroy Jesus. They were threatened by the disruption of their power, as their hypocrisy was exposed and their authority questioned.
What they completely missed was that Jesus wasn’t just another teacher of religion. Jesus was God in the flesh. He was sent forth from the Father as the awaited Messiah, but they were more interested in maintaining their power than recognizing the truth.
The same thing happens today. When the gospel is preached, it’s not that Jesus is unclear or the message is not understood. The problem is that people are more interested in their own self-righteousness. They love their sin and wickedness and do not want their deeds to be exposed. Jesus spoke of this in the Gospel of John:
“And this is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light lest his deeds be exposed.”
— John 3:19-20
What’s even more tragic is that, without acknowledging our total inability to save ourselves and accepting that we are fallen sinners, we cannot be saved. The very One who can save us is the One we reject.
Praise be to God for those who have placed their faith completely in Christ for salvation.
I pray this word helps you see the folly of self-righteousness and gives you one more reason to thank our Lord Jesus for the salvation we so freely enjoy.
Peace and grace to you.
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