Scripture Notes: Light and Darkness (Wisdom 18)

The Book of Wisdom reflects deeply on light and darkness as it revisits events in salvation history, particularly the plagues upon the Egyptians and God’s guidance of His people out of slavery. Pharaoh had already revealed his stubborn heart through eight plagues; He would not let the Israelites leave Egypt to sacrifice to God in the desert. He balked every time. Then came the ninth plague, which was probably worse than the others, for a deep darkness descended upon Egypt. No one could see anyone else. They could hear voices, but the darkness was so thick they could feel it in their very bones. They could not move. They were trapped in blackness and terrified.

But the Israelites had light where they were, for God gave it to them. The same God Who brought deep darkness upon Egypt bathed His people in light as a sign of the covenant He had made with their patriarchs. 

The ninth plague still did not make Pharaoh release the Israelites, so the horrors of the tenth plague descended. The Egyptian first-born died, human and animal alike, and God’s people fled Egypt on the first Passover, after their first-born had been passed over by the angel of death because of the symbolic sign of the blood of a lamb.  

God guided His people out of Egypt with “a flaming pillar of fire,” the shekinah, the glory cloud, a light in the darkness of the unknown trek into the wilderness. He also gave them the light of the Law, of His will for His people’s holiness. He provided them with the opportunity to enter into intimacy with Him, foreshadowing the infinitely increased intimacy that would arrive when the ultimate Light of the World, Jesus Christ, the true Lamb, came into the darkness to enlighten us for all eternity.

Scripture Notes: The Leaven of the Pharisees (Luke 12)

Jesus never hesitated to call people out, to get to the very heart of what was holding them back spiritually, to identify their sins and faults and failings. He always did it out of love, of course, but often it was what we call “tough love.” If we’re going to repent of our sins and change our ways, then we have to recognize our sins, and we aren’t always very good at doing that. What’s more, our sins can and do affect other people, causing scandal and leading those around us astray, so sometimes Jesus had to issue stern warnings, especially about the sins of religious leaders.

This is exactly what Jesus was doing in Luke 12. He was surrounded by crowds, so many people that they were actually stepping on each other, trying to get close enough to hear Jesus or even touch Him and be healed. Yet the Pharisees were especially sharp in their opposition and their challenges to Jesus, and they were not acting out of a genuine concern for others but out of their own pride. And Jesus knew it.

This is why He spoke up, saying, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.” The Pharisees were strong religious leaders among the Jews. People listened to them, for they seemed to have their spiritual acts together. They followed the right rituals and insisted on obedience to God’s law. They tried to set themselves apart from the crowd through their purity and devotion. But Jesus knew their hearts. Inside, these Pharisees were proud. Their actions served to boost their egos. They looked great on the outside, but inside they were a spiritual mess.  

This is why the Pharisees resisted Jesus. He called them to true devotion, to leave behind the show they were putting on and really embrace God and His will for their lives. He challenged their pride, showing them that they weren’t really as great as they thought they were, pushing them to recognize their sins and faults, to repent and to change their ways. And they hated it! They didn’t think there was anything wrong with them. In fact, they thought they were just right with God. Jesus was quick to tell them otherwise. After all, He would know.

We, too, have to be very careful about hypocrisy. Just as the Pharisees could spread their faulty ideas to others, we can catch the hypocrisy of the world around us, a world that so often focuses on empty show. We can end up looking really good on the outside but being a mess inside. We can be hypocrites, just like the Pharisees, and we can infect others with our own sins. So let us pray to our Lord and ask Him to help us clean up our spiritual mess so that our insides match our outsides and our whole being is immersed in Him.