Why were the Pharisees so troubled by Jesus? Why did they reject Him as their Messiah?
His claims were clear. And His miracles provided sufficient evidence to prove He was the Messiah. He healed the blind, raised the dead, and cleansed lepers. What more did they want?
But neither His claims, nor His miracles convinced the Jewish leadership.
They condemned Him as an impostor and plotted to get rid of Him.
What did they miss? The real enemy.
Their Messiah was to sweep in, knock Caesar off his throne, defeat the evil Roman Empire and establish Israel as the pre-eminent nation in the world. But Rome was not the enemy.
The enemy, a trio of adversaries to be exact, was far more sinister and cunning. Satan, sin and death comprised the axis of evil that stood against the people of Israel and held them under their power.
The Pharisees missed this critical truth. They missed it because they did not know themselves. They were blind to their lost condition and the fact they were spiritually dead like everyone else in the world.
They needed a savior, One who knew the enemy and could defeat it at every turn. They needed Jesus.
In one crushing blow He defeated Satan, sin and death.
As for Satan and his band of demons, Jesus “disarmed the powers and authorities, and made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” Colossians 2:15 (NIV)
As for sin, Jesus “appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.” Hebrews 9:26 (NIV)
As for death, Jesus “abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel…” 2 Timothy 1:10 (ESV)
Jesus knew the enemy, the real enemy of our souls. Through death and resurrection, He crushed them ending their reign once and for all.
Your enemy has been defeated. Rejoice in Christ’s victory for you and live as conquerors in life. This is truth that will set you free.
The Pharisees rejected Jesus because of self righteousness. They believed they were righteous because they believed they kept the law. In Matthew 23:15 Jesus said, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win one convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.
In Luke 18:10-14 Jesus speaks of two men, a Pharisee and a tax collector that went to the temple to pray. The Pharisee condemned the tax collector and praised himself while the tax collector acknowledged his own wretchedness and begged God for mercy. Jesus tells us that it was the tax collector that went home justified because he humbled himself while the Pharisee would not.
Jesus repeatedly confronted the Pharisees and condemned them. They would expect the Messiah to praise them for their good work. Instead, Jesus rebuked them. To the Pharisees, this could not have been the Messiah they were expecting, he must have been an imposter like so many others.
People today are much the same as they were then. There are those that believe they are righteous, and there are those that believe they can attain righteousness on their own. Many that call themselves Christians believe that Jesus saved them by forgiving their sins and now it is up to them to maintain their salvation by being righteous.
They then believe that when they “stumble”, Jesus will forgive them, again, and they try harder than ever to attain righteousness on their own. They disregard that the only righteousness available to them is from God, apart from the law. They reject Jesus just as much as the Pharisees.