July 8T ime to Shout

Luke 19:39-40 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” 40 “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”
 
ONE main reason the Pharisee sect (religious group) was formed in Israel about 300 years before Jesus’ life on earth, was to preserve the Lord’s laws against foreign influence. Israel was controlled by various pagan leaders who were often deliberate to remove the One True God from Israel. Pharisees served a vital role to teach and follow God’s law. The synagogue system was developed for this purpose, so Jews would have a place of learning each Sabbath.
    But we have seen that as these men learned God’s law, they eventually became too focused on themselves. They became blind to the Lord God, even as he stood in front of them.
    Still, these legal experts often helped keep peace in Israel. They became the Jews’ representatives to the Greek rulers, to Rome’s rulers and to the various kings such as Herod the Great, who ruled in Jerusalem when Jesus was born.
    The Pharisees’ challenge was enormous and even life-threatening. For example, they had also witnessed false Messiahs ride into Jerusalem as Jesus did. Then they saw Rome crush those rebels and deliver grim retribution on their followers.
    The reason to know this is to understand the Pharisees’ motives here. As they said, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” perhaps they were urgently desiring peace in the streets to protect the Jews and their own lives. With the slightest provocation, the Romans could quickly move against Jesus and his disciples.
    But Jesus had come not to disturb Rome, but to force the Pharisees to confront their values. Do they continue to defend their own culture? Or do they submit to the Lord of Lords? Even on that day, they could not accept Jesus as the fullness of the law they rigorously defended.  
    Once more in response to their deaf ears and blind eyes, Jesus declared he is the Son of the Living God. This was not the day to be quiet. Nothing will stop the Lord God on his appointed purpose. If he needed rocks to speak for him he could make it happen. 
    Let’s remember how the Pharisee system began with godly intentions to preserve God’s commands. Then remember how they turned the law’s freedom into religious bondage. Their fears and pride bound them to their own system. Fearfully focused on earthly government, they would not declare the King of Heaven had come.
    Our world is encompassed with fear, isn’t it? Why? Are we putting too much faith in our political structures? Do we have too little faith in God’s kingdom come?
 
Prayer: Lord God, I don’t want a rock to speak for me. I want to stand up and declare you are Lord of heaven and earth. Amen.