There Will Always Be Pharisees

I have many friends who have left the church. Though I understand why, I am saddened non-the-less. For some of them, it's a matter of finding a place to worship where they feel welcome and accepted. For others, it's a matter of leaving an institution that has become toxic for them. I am sad, because it doesn't have to be this way. I am sad, because very fine people are walking away from a church that sorely needs them. They have so much to offer.

A number of years ago, one of my friends asked me how I did it--meaning, how do I remain in a church that has become so polarized, reactionary, and less than welcoming. At one time in my life, I struggled with remaining in the church. In fact, I walked away for an entire year. But it was a funny thing. I discovered I couldn't get the 'catholic' out of me. It was as though that 'indelible mark' I had been taught about in childhood which baptism conferred on the soul, really was just that--something that could never be blotted out. Something that was a part of me and would remain there in the deepest fabric of my being no matter what I did. No matter how hard and how far I ran in the opposite direction, I would not escape it.

I came back to the church, because I realized the church was just as much mine as it was anyone else's. The church belongs to all of us. We are all church. I think I intuited what Flannery O'Connor so aptly observed: "The fleas come with the dog." Yes, indeed, and a very flea-ridden dog it is! To put it another way, there will always be Pharisees.

So, what is a Pharisee? Scripture tells us pretty clearly. It's the occupational hazard of anyone who seeks to live a religious life, but particularly of those who hold positions of authority. Here's the scriptural description of a Pharisee:

• teaches as doctrine the precepts of men
• makes void the Word of God for the sake of tradition
• is a blind guide
• is unable to read the signs of the times
• binds up heavy loads for others to carry and never lifts a finger to help
• do everything with an eye to being seen by others
• love to embellish religious garb with fringe and lace
• love to take the seat of honor at feasts and the best seat in the church
• love to be greeted in the streets and to be called teachers
• close up the kingdom of heaven to others, neither entering, nor allowing others to enter
• travel far and wide to make converts and then make the converts even worse
• tithe in small things, while neglecting the greater: justice, mercy, and faith
• strain out gnats, while swallowing camels
• is clean on the outside, but polluted within
• appears outwardly righteous, but is inwardly full of hypocrisy and iniquity
• builds the tombs of the prophets, canonizes saints, and adorns monuments of the righteous
• congratulates self on the observance of the law, thinking of self as better than others

This is scary stuff--and there's probably a little of the Pharisee in each of us, if we're honest enough to admit it.