M.I.G.A.

 MIGA

They were deeply dedicated to seeing a moral revival among their people.  They believed the Word of God to be authoritative and if studied could bring an immoral people back to the God who founded their nation.  I suppose they even sang with great hope 2 Chronicles 7:14  “If my people who are called by my Name shall humble themselves…”  To say they were zealous would be an understatement.    They believed that if the citizens of the nation would live by the laws God had given then God would bless the nation with new heights of freedom, security, prosperity, peace and blessing. 

They could be a little harsh at times, but if being direct and confrontational could end corrupt behavior that would be a small price to pay.  They had to defeat the immoral influences that came from overseas.  They were constantly at war with liberal theologians and religious compromisers that watered down the Word of God.  The political insiders were not trustworthy, but in a pinch they would work with them.  Who knows, they may have even had hats that were stitched with the letters. M.I.G.A.  Make Israel Great Again.  

I am not talking about the Moral Majority, the Christian Coalition, Concerned Women for America, the John Birch Society, or the Tea Party.  The above description is of the Pharisee party of Jesus’ day.  The Pharisees were the conservative, Bible believing, repentance preaching people of their day.  They were also the ones who were most frequently opposing the ministry of Jesus.  

I find this concerning because I can more closely identify with the Pharisees than the Sadducees, Essenes, Zealots, or any other party in the time and ministry of Jesus.  Where they were wrong I have a strong potential to be wrong.  What they missed I am likely to miss.  What they misunderstood I have the potential to misunderstand.  While a great many scholarly articles and essays have been written about the Pharisees and their failure to accept the Messiah when He arrived, I would like to offer my minor contribution to the discussion.  

The Pharisees, because of their addiction to rule making and rule keeping, were susceptible to two specific failures that can afflict us today.  While there were, and still are, exceptions to my theory, when we come across those who adopt an “improved behavior will be our rescue” mentality these two failures will be present.  

The first of these is a tendency to be fakes.  Let’s face it, no one can or will keep all the rules. In our heart of hearts we know we are not keeping the rules.  But it is very, very important to appear to be keeping the rules, so we fake it.  We may deride the uber rich, but in our hearts we covet the goods of others as much as anyone else.  We may insist that women wear modest clothing, but we would never want anyone to look at our computer’s browsing history.  Pleasant to someone’s face and excoriate them behind their backs. All humans are fakers, but for a Pharisee faking it is critical to their very life because of their belief that the rescue comes from good behaviors.

The second failure of Pharisees is related to the first; Pharisees can be powerfully unkind.   That may be putting it too mild, that could and still can be brutal.  If the problem is the bad behavior or bad people then the cure is to make bad people stop doing bad things. They seemed to believe that if you condemned bad people long enough and loud enough they would decide to stop being bad and start being good.  The fact that anger never accomplished lasting moral reform apparently never occurred to them, so they would double down on their condemnations.

These are both very easy traps for me to fall into.  I want to be admired and respected by people of the highest moral character and standing.  If I want that kind of esteem I have to live that kind of life.  The problem is I often don’t.  So, the easy and pride protecting solution is to fake it.  To redirect attention away from my failures I can, and at times do, point out the failures of bad people.  If I can turn the attention from myself to tax collectors, prostitutes, news reporters or some other ‘evil’ person, I feel safe.  I can even justify my actions by claiming that I want them to repent. 

But Jesus was different.  Jesus was many things but never fake.  At His trial Jesus asked His accusers to name some sin He had committed.  But with His moral perfection came unparalleled compassion. “Does no one condemn you?” He asked the sinful woman. “No one, Sir.”  Jesus tells her, “Go and leave your sinful life.” 

Real and kind, that is a pretty good description of Jesus.  It is also a worthy aspiration for us all.