In this chapter, N.T. Wright addressed some of the main symbols of Judaism and how Jesus was actually responding to them. In conclusion of the chapter he covers what Jesus' symbols of the Kingdom were. The two separations Wright makes are interesting because he brings up a different interaction between the pharisees that I hadn't seen/thought of before. The clash with the Pharisees was not one of the Pharisees being the thought police of ancient palestine, but rather their entire worldview of Judaism.
Jesus was not replacing Judaism, but continuing and fulfilling it! The Pharisees were in a state of self-defense of Judaism and Jewish traditions. They were holding out for the messiah to reinstate Israel. What they didn't expect from Jesus is that he was opening up the story of Judaism to the rest of the world. He was expanding God's plan unto the rest of the world, and the Pharisees were not okay with that. They had forgotten that Israel was to be light to the world, and they were God's plan for salvation for the Gentiles. Jesus came and CLASHED with the Pharisees over this.
The scary part is that we are just as in danger of being pharisees today. I don't mean in the legalistic sense like we usually mean by the temptation to be pharisaical. What I mean is that as Christians we can easily slip into the EXACT same trap of holing up and waiting for our messiah to come and make the world the way we want it. We are CALLED to GO and be the salvation for the rest of the world. Not that we are the saving variable in the equation of salvation, but rather we are to offer and speak the message of the gospel TO THE WORLD!
Let us not be the new breed of pharisees.
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