Sparing neither Pharisee nor Sadducee

Well, there he was, at it again.  New Covenant Church Pastor Doug O'Donnell sparred neither Pharisee nor Sadducee in last Sunday's sermon: Dual Dangers.  He seemed to disregard utterly how offensive what he said would be to them and their progeny.  You know, Pharisees have feelings too.  Sadducees are not stones.  I mean, both of these groups are fellow humans, made in the image of God, with dreams and ambitions, hopes and aspirations, opinions and preferences.  So what if they don't entirely agree with what you or I believe, right?  Nobody's got it all figured out.  Do you?  It's just one opinion versus another, isn't it?  To each his own. 

And this lambasting from the pulpit, despite all these religious leaders' religious labors, their high public approval rating, and their respectable societal standing.  No doubt they had the equivalent of an M.Div. or Ph.D. from highly regarded institutions. They had credentials.  So who does this O'Donnell guy think he is?  I mean, in any case, only God knows the heart.  And why should this preacher's opinion matter any more than that of the Pharisee or Sadducee or their modern day counterparts?  So who does this man think he is?

Well, I suppose, a real preacher of the real Gospel of the living Lord Jesus.  That's who.  And he doesn't have the authority to preach from his own brains or to tickle the itching ears of the hearers.  And so, it was a less than perfectly tender word for those who want either to add to or subtract from the Gospel.  Well done.  Knocked us again a little off balance, but also steered us clear of falling off the cliffs of error.

The sermon reminded me of another place in the four-fold Gospel record where Jesus was questioned for offending the religious elites of the day.  In Luke 11, after Jesus had given the Pharisees and lawyers a little of what they had coming, a rather sensitive chap, a lawyer, said this to him: "Teacher, in saying these things you insult us also" (Lk. 11:45).  Jesus' reply is priceless: "Woe to you lawyers also!  For you load people with burdens hard to bear . . ." (v. 46).  And so on.  Jesus was the most tender man who ever lived.  And most loving.  And because he loved the sinners he came to save, not least those who were heavy laden with the burdens of the well-respected religious leaders of the day, Jesus was pretty heavy hitting with those very religious leaders.  These religious leaders put unbearable burden after burden into the backpacks of all would-be followers of YHWH.  Not very loving.  So Jesus lovingly lambastes them, protects and guides the sheep as he came to do, and heads toward the cross, where he would bear every last burden for every last one of his own.

Hallelujah!  What a Savior!  Hallelujah!  What a friend!

(Incidentally, O'Donnell's sermon includes a salutary word about remembering God's works, turning from that forgetfullness to which we are all so prone, and also a much-needed word about "weather-watchers.")