Ashland tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919, 1914-02-12

Jesus 10 Dine,
A Pharisee invit-
ed Jesus to dine at his house. Jesus
passed in and sat down without the
Journalism Of washing, customary to
the Pharisees. The host thought Of
Jesus as holy man. and remarked
that it was strange that He had not
washed. Jesus then pointed out that
much of what even the holiest Jews
practiSed was merely ceremony. not
true religion. Outwardly they were
clean. but inwardly their hearts were
unclean-given to eXtortion-spiritual
wickedness. In Gods sight the heart
is the important matter. The inside of
the cup should first be cleansed.
From our Lords expressions. appar.
emily one OF the Pharisees' great fail
ings was covetousness. According to
the Greek. Jesus called them money
lovers" Once He told them that this
cOvetousness led them dishonesty to
! disregard others rights. He said. "Ye
! devOur widows houses" meaning that
they took advantage of widows to ac-
| CuuluIdIt DTOpellN lOl AhtlhpSi'SS' hp
parently many pharisees were rich.
Jesus pointed out that with such
wrong heart conditions God could not
be pleased. even though they ever 50
carefully observed the outward regu-
lations. of the Jewish Law. While they
were particular to 1.-THE even the small
seed OF which they grew but trtlinS
quantity. yet they neglected the weight
er matters Of the Law-tO deal justly
and to love mercy.
A Pharisee Invites Jesus to Dine.
Their covetuusness took the form OF
pride, as well as dishonesty. They
wanted to be very prominent in things
religious. and TO be hailed as RABBI
master. learned one. Jesus declared
that they were like sepulchres. out
wardly clean and whitewashed. but
inwardly full Of corruption. They
were holiness people merely in the
outward form or ceremonial.
Some of the PhariSees. especially ed
ucated. wel!-versed in the Scriptures,
were STYLED lawyers-DoctOrs OF the
Law. equivalent of what today are
termed Doctors of Divinity. Jesus
upbraided them. saying that they
placed grievuus burdens upon the COM
mon people. which they themselves
would not bear He meant that they
gave such hard interpretations OF
Gods Law as discouraged the people
! .tn 10 nrIu ~
fection which they themselves did not
try to live up TO- Apparently they
wished TO impress the people with the
sanctity OF the clergy They built sep.
ulchres for the Prophets. forgetfu that
their fathers. whose spirit they had.
were the ones who killed those Prophets,
Woe! Woe! Woe! Woe! Woe!
We are not To think of Jesus rs con
demning the Pharisees 10 eternal tor.
ment. or as intmating that this would
be the woe coming upon them. The
woe was that the PbariscCs were
about TO miss the great blessing which
God had promised lsrael-cbief asso'
citation in MesSiah's Kingdom. IGen.
tSlN --slo.I Ilub NhtIN b'Nh Nh'hSh -
raclites indeed" to complete Gods fore.
ordained Elect. the Kingdom offer
would not have gone to the GentIles.
The phnrsees were in the most IA
vored place for attaining joint-heir-
ship with Messiah; but they recognized
not what they We're losing. Jesus eX-
preston. Woe unto YOU is therefore
to be regarded sympathetically. This
thought is borne out by the context,
which foretels the great time Of trou-
Bile which came