Worshiping God and not men

[Fez]

The misconduct of the Pharisees was hypocrisy, regally dressed them to look like pious people, and people of the time considered them as such, but they were not what they appeared

Jesus rebuked this behavior, why then, we do what the Pharisees?.

Why does the pope, cardinals, bishops - the shepherds, shepherds? with their mega churches etc. adopt the custom of the Pharisees?

What do they want?

Jesus rebuked more than their dress. And I fail to see how you can dress regally in order to look pious? One would think the opposite would apply.

[GoldenEagle]

Matthew 23 is a long description by Jesus of the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. He says they have seated themselves in "Moses seat," the position of authority, and they command things that they themselves will not do. They bind heavy burdens on people but they will not carry the loads. Jesus then goes on to utter seven "woes" on the Pharisees for their hypocrisy. The meek and mild Jesus resorts to words like "hypocrites!" "whited sepulchers," "serpents," and more. Talk about name-calling! I would hate to be on the receiving end of that when it is coming from God. But the humble sinners, who knew they were sinners, were attracted to this caring, straight-talking man. Jesus was real and the Pharisees were all appearance.

Take the story what is often referred to as the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32). The younger brother did things the wrong way. By asking for his inheritance the younger son (he got 1/3 of the estate as the younger son) was rejecting his father and wishing him to be dead. The younger son was a sinner and responded accordingly in repentance to his father who fully restored him. This represented sinners who turned to Jesus. The older son was jealous of his brother and of the father miss-using his inheritance. He also didn’t want the father to live and squander what he viewed as his inheritance. He tried to earn his father’s inheritance by doing good and working hard for his father. This represented the Pharisees. Notice Jesus didn’t give any resolution or indication of repentance but left us hanging as the story ends with the older brother and father discussing the situation.

Jesus was not "image conscious." He was willing to associate with wine drinkers, cheating tax collectors and even prostitutes. He accused the legalistic Pharisees of "teaching for doctrine the commandments of men" (Matthew 15:9) and likened their showy, hypocritical outward righteousness to "whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness" (Matthew 23:27).

Again, in Matthew 23 Jesus tells the Pharisees to their face, and before the public, that they are unbalanced in their weighting of issues. Judgment, mercy and faith are given insufficient weight but a tithe on the produce from their garden plots is paid with precise measure (vss. 23-24). Jesus said they strain out the gnat but swallow whole camels. Where was their judgment and mercy in verse 14 where Jesus said they devour widows' houses? But, they did pay tithes! They were skilled at applying the letter of the Law to every life situation but had lost the spirit of the Law along the way. This was why the people were alienated from them, and fearful. And, it is why Jesus found a ready reception of His ministry among the public. Jesus illustrated the balance between the spirit and the letter when dealing with the woman taken in adultery.

The Pharisees, quintessential spiritually abusive leaders, were quite unbalanced in their perception of what mattered most to God. Jesus said they, "...pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, - judgment, mercy, and faith...." (Matthew 23:23).

Edited October 4, 2012 by GoldenEagle

[friendofjesuschrist]

In short, and must have been over looked, but the clothes were mentioned earlier, yet, no one should judge anyone by their looks ( or at all), because JESUS came humble looking (almost like the homeless; who most people would never listen to). But the clothes thing was mentioned earlier:

REVELATION 17:3-6

So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness.

And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication.

And on her forehead a name was written:

MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT,

THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS

AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS

OF THE EARTH.

AGAPE ( P.S. GOD is bigger than all can imagine. GOD is a spirit. Never forget how JESUS came here. Clothes and those representations were of the OT).

Edited October 14, 2012 by friendofjesuschrist