I am not going to link back to this a lot of what has been written this week. We have to ask who are the Pharisees? Who are these people who are called hypocrites. We are aware that Jesus was speaking here to religious people We forget that they were also a party within the Council that ruled Jerusalem: the conservatives and Puritans of this age.

And we have been taught that being self righteous leads to dividing people into groups. What we need to add to this is that fascism, with the planned execution of those who did not fit into the model or ideology of the day, did not start with Ataturk killing Greeks and Armenians. It’s ancient. For the prophets died, from Abel to John the Baptizer.

Matthew 23:29-39

²⁹“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous, ³⁰and you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ ³¹Thus you testify against yourselves that you are descendants of those who murdered the prophets. ³²Fill up, then, the measure of your ancestors. ³³You snakes, you brood of vipers! How can you escape being sentenced to hell? ³⁴Therefore I send you prophets, sages, and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town, ³⁵so that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. ³⁶Truly I tell you, all this will come upon this generation.

³⁷“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! ³⁸See, your house is left to you, desolate. ³⁹For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

Last night we went to the movies. (The hard line reformed and traditional can go and damn me now). A good monster vs mecha one. Plenty of self sacrificing speech and warriors standing in the breach. But the interesting thing is that we were sitting in front of a group of geeks, who were talking in great detail about some MMPORG. And son two noted this, and found it quite unattractive. He did not want to go there. He did not want, as a grown man, to only be able to talk computer games.

Now Pharisaism, with its self righteousness and its consideration that only our way of living (not believing, living) is correct leads to people being damned for going to movies, or (more frequently) not recycling, not supporting this campaign or that, driving too big a car, or using various tools and technologies. It occurs among computer geeks when there are wars over versions of Emacs.

And this is dangerous. We need to know what we believe, and we need to be aware of our salvation. But the way we live will vary. As will the way we worship. We should be one.

We should suspect any ideology, for they lead to neatness, and neatness gets enforced, and that infringes on the liberty Christ died for, if not causing those who follow Christ to die.

Don’t go there. For in that group of prigs, chained by their festering hatreds, stand the damned.