Hypocrisy and Spiritual Pride
One Campaign SG2021 – Reading the Gospels, Reflection from Mark 7 (day 19). In this encounter between Jesus and the Pharisees, we can see that religious dedication per se, does not bring God’s approval. In the New Testament, there is no more-religiously dedicated group of people than the Pharisees. They were PHDs who would have spent hours upon hours memorizing God’s laws. Then meticulously making sure everyone followed them daily. However, as Jesus shows mere zeal and dedication does not also automatically guarantee pleasing God in the spiritual realm. In fact, mere dedication and zeal to religious practice leads to spiritual pride. The Pharisees were the spiritual elite and they considered Jesus, an upstart rabbi, who challenged. But so far, they have been batting zero in nailing him down. They try again, this time about Jesus’ disciples who ate with unwashed hands. It had nothing to do with hygiene 101 but religious tradition and purity, over and above what scripture commanded
