12. My Monologues with The Pharisees

My Monologues 12

My Monologues with the Pharisees (Lk 11)

My Respected Pharisees, I am truly astounded by the rigorous routine of your prayer life consisting of thrice a day prayers, daily study of the Holy Scripture, the elaborate ritualstic ablutions and purifications which you practise daily without fail etc.

As I understand according to your Jewish Traditions, every Jew is obligated to fast only once a year, on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, right?

Yet, my Respected Pharisees, you do fast twice a week which amounts to One Hundred plus times an year. Thus, you fast over One Hundred  times more than what is required by the Law, right? 

Incredible indeed!

Oh, boy! that's a remarkable feat! 

My Respected Pharisees, you were very meticulous in observing all the laws and stipulations, major as well as minor ones. 

My Respected Pharisees, though, as a Community, you were exempted from tithing, you paid it voluntarily. 

How generous of you!

You claimed to be the Guardians and  Keepers of the Mosaic Law and in fact you were! You did everything possible to follow the Mosaic Law strictly and effectively and demanded the same from the faithful.

My Respected Pharisees, over the years, especially from my seminary days, I have been told and taught and have read about your Group. As I understand, your Group had its origin a couple of hundred years before the arrival of Jesus Christ, whom you considered as your Arch enemy, right? 

Some of your honest and earnest Jewish ancestors, pained by the decadence of the Jewish religious practices and the decay of the socio-political life of the time, wished and wanted to get away from all the mess.They were disgusted with existing situation and disillusioned with its leadership, Isn't so?

So these brave men decided to come together as a community and live apart from the rest.They were not priests, but just ordinary Jewish laity. They wanted to lead an upright life based on the strict adherence of the Mosaic Law. As these brave men, your ancestors, got themselves a separate identity and way of life and came to be known as the Pharisees, right? 

Many young and dedicated Jewish men were attracted by the radical and genuine practice of The Law. The common faithful admired you for the heroic practice your faith and looked up to you for guidance. They gifted you with money and material to show their solidarity and support for your movement.

Slowly and steadily, your ancestors and you began to amass land and property. As you gained prominence, you began to have a very powerful influence in religion as well as in politics. Your thorough knowledge of Mosaic Law coupled with your newly acquired wealth and power made you almost indispensable to the Jewish community. Your all pervading powerful presence among the Jewish community became very suffocating indeed! 

Gradually, your genuine and renewed way of life was replaced by a rigorous form of religious formalism. You, Pharisees began to get corrupted to the core and you became an arrogant army of religious fanatics.

Thus your Pharisaic movement which started as a renewal community got itsef degenerated into an ultra formalistic, orthodox, and autocratic group.The prestine purity of Pharisaism was on the wane in a matter of less than four hundred or so years, right?

My Respected Pharisees, your initial fervor, enthusiasm, and energy to live a radical life based on the Mosaic Law resonates very much with a part of my life as a seminarian and as a priest. As i look back to my initial years of religious and seminary formation, I was brimming with religious ferver and genuine desire to follow the gospel values. As a novice, I used to spend more than an hour daily for personal prayers which was over and above the daily community prayers. Speaking of fasting, I went to the extreme. So much so, the Novice Master repeatedly had to order me to eat more!  

Oh, boy! I did engage in many of those pious activities mainly to be seen and to be praised by the rest of my companions and community! I loved to take delight in flaunting my pious practices and devotions. Several times, I used to take comfort in comparing myself with my companions and was proudly convinced of myself to be better than most of them.

I loved to fondle my own "conviction" that,

"I am not like this publican."

I prided within myself and kept on nurturing the budding  Pharisee in me!

That's me, a Pharisee in the making!

Well, going back further into my childhood, I picked it up fast that I could easily win praise and appreciation by putting up a show of piety and pretending to be pious. Sensing that my grandparents loved to see the their grandchildren kneeling and praying the daily Rosary and reciting other prayers, I did just exactly what they wanted to see so as to be noticed and appreciated by them. I played it to the hilt and kept on winning their affection and appreciation! 

I guess it was a mildest form of Pharisaism, right?  

My Respected Pharisees, you might be happy to know this sort of Pharisaic behavior became my frequent companion in my life, be it as a seminarian or be it as a young priest. I could and still am able to put up a pharisaic show of being a good priest. I was and I am often oblivious of the fact that the people around me were able to see and sense my hypocracy! They could easily feel me faking. Yet, I keep on nurturing the growth of the Pharisee in me as he continues to bring me rich dividends in the form of appreciation and applause! 

My Respected Pharisees, with my own pharisaic experiences, I am able to identify with you to a great extend. The near total erosion of the lofty ideals and noble values of your initial years do ring a bell in my ears! 

Coming back to you:

what is it that ticked you off with Jesus?  

You opposed him tooth and nail, didn't you? 

You availed yourselves of every opportunity to trick him and test him, Probably, with a sly smile on your faces,  you approached him with these questions, right? 

Remember, you had all sorts of apparent doubts and questions and wanted to know his views with the ulterior motive of tricking and trapping him, right?

be it on issues like paying the taxes to Romans, 

be it on breaking the law on Sabbath, 

be it on divorce, 

be it on the punishment to be meted out to the woman caught in adultery etc.

Somehow or other, you were bent on demonizing him and then getting rid of him, right?

Is it because, he was perceived a threat to your power and privileged position?

Is it because he kept on warning the public of the destructive type of the "yeast of the Pharisees"?

Is it because, hIs selfless ministry was eroding your selfish authority over the people?

Is it because he was considered to be anti- establishment? 

Is it because he pricked your conscience? 

All of the above factors might have contributed to your intense hate for him, right? 

My Respected Pharisees, it is so hard to imagine people like you to be happy. You are so worked up and worried about your power and position, you are just not able to relax and enjoy! 

Do you ever laugh? I wonder!

Sure, you are very good in laughing at others.

Could you ever laugh at yourself? 

Could  you ever enjoy a lighter moment of a hearty laugh even in the privacy of your own families?

Sure, you could easily grin at others, but not smile at  them, right?

Sure, you could easily frown upon on them disapprovingly, but not appreciate them whole heartedly? 

It takes a loving and caring heart to smile and to have a genuine laugh.

I wonder you have such hearts!

At least your behavioral pattern doen't suggest so.

My Respected Pharisees, do join me for a moment to take a free fantasy ride!

Suppose, Jesus was born more less at the same period when the Pharisaic movement was taking shape, don't you think, the founding fathers of your movement would have wholeheartedly welcomed Jesus with wide open arms?

Because, Jesus stood for more less the same radical change as your founding fathers wanted, 

Don't you think so?

I do!

Your founding fathers and Jesus were almost on the same wave length! They both wanted the practice of genuine religion based on Repentance, Forgiveness. and Love, right?

So, my Respected Pharisees, the antagonistic attitude you had towards Jesus is not due to any serious dogmatic differences. Rather, it is due to your deviation from the essence of Mosaic and prophetic teachings and due to your misplaced emphasis on external observance of the Law at the expense of its internal disposition, isn't so? 

It boils down to your fear of the lose authority and reluctance to give up the power, privilages, position and the pelf you kept on enjoying, do you get it?

Yes, my Respected Pharisees,  it is rather a negative aspect of our human nature to abuse the power and privilages we enoy. It is all the more true when such power and position are unlimited and unaccountable, right?

My Respected Pharisees,  was it not scary for you even to imagine to loose the power and privilages you  have been enjoying for ages? Jesus did not mince any words to keep reminding you of the abuse you were perpetuating and the deviation you were taking from the right path laid down by Moses and Prophets!, right?

No wonder! you were after his blood! 

Well, a sad but true fact is: 

My Pharisaic nautre too has often behaved like you and even joined you in clamoring for his blood!

Lord, you and I know fully well the times I have played up the Pharisee in me! At times as a priest I was able to put up a great show of a pious and praying priest! You and I know, many a times, it was all an hypocritical  show and a drama!

Lord, the names you called the Pharisees and the phrases you and your cousin, John the Baptist, used to describe them,

 like: 

"brood of vipers" 

"whitend  sepulchres"

 "hypocrites" 

All of these phrases could often be applicable to the little Pharisee in me!

Lord! many a times, You are perfectly right and justified in using those phrases to call me too! 

Lord, how I wish! 

Not to allow the little Pharisee in me to act up!

My Lord and My God, You know:

It is not that I am always a Pharisee or through and through a thorough Pharisee. Yet, at times, i am one among them. I have been very formalistic and  devoid of any inner meaning. I can be and I have been very hypocritical. 

It bothers me!

I want to reduces the instances of being and becoming Pharisaical. 

I want to keep in check the little Pharisee in me! 

I want keep him under a tight leash!

My Lord and my God, I am not so much of a Paragon of virtues, 

but very much of a Publican of vices.

My Lord and my God,

I want to refrain the Pharisee 

as well as reform the Publican in me!

My Lord and my God, 

All that I want is to turn myself like;

Nicodemus, the Repentant Pharisee 

and Reformed Publican.

I want to keep on seeking you night and day..

and eventually even to stand up for you in the midst of others...

and to be there at Calvary...

and wait to experience and to enjoy a New Life of Resurrection! 

My Lord and my God, thank you for your immense patience with Pharisee in me!

My Lord and My God, 

I want to spend some time in silence.. 

in Your Presence!

I want to listen to you, Lord!

"Speak, Lord, your servant is listening!"

Amen

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

JoAchen 

PS

These Reflections are neither pure scientific exegetical interpretations nor highly theological explanations. They are my devotional meditations mainly meant for my personal renewal and spiritual growth. Dear reader, as I keep holding you in my daily prayers, I request you to include me too in yours. Thank you!