Pharisaical Eyes

mark 2 study

The Pharisees, throughout the gospels, are always following Jesus around, ready to call Him out on what they thought was against the Law (or their religion).  Just in this chapter alone, the Pharisees challenged Jesus on His authority four times.  When Jesus healed someone, they called Him a blasphemer; when Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners, they questioned his behavior;  they criticized Him when He and His disciples didn't fast; and when His disciples grabbed heads of grain on the Sabbath, they judged Him.  These eyes, that were on Jesus- the skeptical, judging, unbelieving, gossip-starting, chaos stirrers- are watching everything you do too.  Some of them may not be sure about this "Jesus" that you worship, and want to see evidence of Him in your life specifically.  But most, are the ones ready to pounce on your mistakes, gratifying their doubts about Jesus and call out things that you do that oppose the world, mostly to humiliate you.  The great thing is Jesus never made a mistake, and He corrected the Pharisees' thoughts regarding the Law.  The reality is though, we do make mistakes, and the skeptics will notice.  However, we can also correct the thinking of the unrighteous, explaining that following Jesus doesn't mean we don't make mistakes, and we can explain the hope in Christ when we do.  Jesus asks us to be salt and light in this world, reflecting Him in all that we do-because the world will notice, so that when people see our good deeds, they might praise our God.  But what happens when they see us in our most ungodly times?  May they see Christ reflected in us by the way we handle our shortcomings.  May we own up to our sin, confess it, ask for forgiveness from the witness of it, repent and get closer to Jesus.  May we rest in His grace, and may the Pharisaical eyes see that.  Remember, it's the chief priests, the Pharisees and the scribes that sought out Jesus' death.  Jesus could correct them, show them love, be the best example- but their hearts were still hardened toward Him.  The same will be true for us.  There are some people whose hearts are hard, and will reject Jesus for the rest of their God-given life.  It's unfortunate, but there is nothing we can do about it, except pray that the Holy Spirit would one day soften their hearts toward Him.
     Whose eyes are on you? May you not give them reason to mock your Father, or call you out in your sinfulness. Instead, may they see the fruit of your devotion and transformation of your heart and give reason to glorify your Father in heaven.


~Leanne~