The Pharisees Added to Life’s Burdens

Imagine what it would be like to have two kinds of people in the world: brick-givers and brick-takers. Every time you meet one of them, a brick is either added to your pile or one is taken off. Jesus would be one of the brick-takers. The Pharisees would be brick-givers. This function of religion became apparent as Jesus responded to a question posed by a lawyer of the Pharisees (an expert in biblical law on whom the Pharisees depended). He said: “Woe to you also, lawyers! For you load men with burdens hard to bear and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers” (Luke 11:46).
Jesus knew His audience. These religious experts attached hundreds of additional obligations to the Law of God. Yet they themselves were masters of the loophole. They even had ways of sidestepping the law of the Sabbath, which forbade carrying a burden on that day.
William Barclay quotes the tradition of the Pharisees, which said: “He who carries anything, whether it be in his right hand, or in his left hand, or in his bosom, or on his shoulder is guilty; but he who carries anything on the back of his hand, or with his foot, or with his mouth, or with his elbow, or with his hair, or with his money-bag turned upside down, or between his moneybag and his shirt, or in the fold of his shirt, or in his shoe, or in his sandal is guiltless, because he does not carry it in the usual way of carrying it out.”
Religious insiders still practice the art of brick-giving while having ways of excusing themselves from the obligations they place on others. For instance, many religious leaders teach that daily family devotions is a must, while acknowledging that they themselves have reasons for not being able to do it. Many religious people teach that Christians under grace, while not being under the law of the tithe, should start with the legal requirement of 10% giving and then add to it. Other religious teachers insist that God hates and prohibits divorce under all circumstances. But they know that God Himself divorced Israel because of her prolonged spiritual adultery, and they know that Moses the Lawgiver permitted divorce because of the hardness of people’s hearts (Deuteronomy 24:1-4; Matthew 19:1-9).
By contrast, Jesus consistently upheld the high ideals of the Law while making merciful provisions for the repentant sinner. Jesus understood the healthy tension between the holiness and the love of God, when He said: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).
Tomorrow, the next mistake the Pharisees made/make.