Sin confuses us, especially spiritual sin such as pride, envy and anger. Therefore, when someone becomes consumed with one of these sins, that person most likely doesn’t even realize how irrational he becomes. Take the example of the Pharisees [Mark 3:1-6].
It didn’t
take long for the Pharisees to allow envy to cloud their thinking about
Jesus. The Pharisees wanted all the
attention. They wanted to be looked up
to and honored as the authentic teachers of the law. So when Jesus showed up, and many were astounded
by the authority with which He taught, the Pharisees immediately began to
criticize Him.
The sad
reality we witness in their actions is that they appeared to be blind to their
own malice. The envy that filled them kept
them from realizing that they were actually acting with extreme
irrationality. This is an important and
very difficult lesson to learn.
Jesus was
put in a situation where He chose to heal someone on the Sabbath. This was an act of mercy. It was done out of love for the man to
relieve him of his suffering. Though
this was an incredible miracle, the disturbed minds of the Pharisees looked
only for a way to twist Jesus’ act of mercy into something sinful.
Though this
may not at first be that inspiring of a thought upon which to reflect, it’s
necessary to reflect on it. Because we
all struggle, to one extent or another, with sins like this. We all struggle with letting envy and anger
sneak in and distort the way we relate to others. Then, too often we justify our actions just
as the Pharisees did.
We should
reflect on this gospel with the hope that the poor example of the Pharisees
will help us to identify any of the same tendencies in our own heart. Seeing these tendencies that they struggle with
should help free us from falling into the irrational thinking that comes as a
result of sin.
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