Pharisees

The Pharisees were never trying to be bad guys, they just wanted to make sure they had rules drawn up as a guard so no one could accidentally leave God's morals. Their goal most likely had less to do with legalism and more to do with clarity. 100 simple rules for righteousness. And they did have a good precedent: God himself set up some very specific rules in the law.

But the laws repeated throughout all of Scripture have less to do with actions and more to do with heart. Love the Lord your God. Love your neighbor as yourself. Seek justice, love mercy, walk humbly with your God. Defend the rights of the poor and needy. Care for the orphan and the widow.

Where Jesus and the Pharisees disagreed were when their rules missed the point of God's laws. Resting on the Sabbath does not mean disregarding the needs of others. Washing your hands does not determine the state of your soul. Jesus had some radical teachings, but he also had a lot of common sense when it come to how we should act. We all have an idea of what it means to be a good person, and a lot of it falls fairly squarely into Jesus's instructions. Don't be a hypocrite. Love people regardless of their station in life. But it went beyond that. Love those who hate you. Love God more than yourself, and love all else equally with yourself. Those step beyond the common sense "good" person qualities we have in our minds. Because really, aiming for "goodness" does not mean much until we realize that God is Good. Once God comes front and center, the rest of the Bible and its instructions begin to fall more clearly in place.

But even so, it is tempting to go and "clarify" some teachings by adding guard rules about them (they're like guard rails, but rules). Don't be a Pharisee. If our lives had more honest mistakes and less hypocrisy, if our love had more patience and less conditions, if our mind and hearts focused more on the source of goodness than the technicalities of it, perhaps fewer "good" people would be attacking the church, and instead be drawn to it. Perhaps fewer of the needy would feel like the church hated them, and learn instead how Jesus went to the prostitutes and the tax collectors--the Jews that had betrayed their own people. Perhaps the hurting could see the church as a place of healing. Perhaps we could work together and better act as the body of Christ.

Obedience is key to faith in Christ. But double check what you are obeying: God's word, or the Pharisees' how to book for God's word.