1. The Pharisees and “Cleansing the Inner Vessel”
High School History 2.13
The Pharisees
and
“Cleansing the Inner Vessel”

2. Historic Understanding
During the time of Jesus’ ministry in Jerusalem, the Jewish people were living under the occupation of the Roman army.
For 400 years the Romans relied on a Republican form of government but by the first century B.C. it had evolved into a series of military dictatorships.
Jesus was a Jew and like all Jews was a descendant of Judah, one of the 12 sons of Jacob (or Israel).
Many Jewish people hated Jesus.
The Pharisees were leaders of the Jews.
They hated and feared Jesus and his followers and wanted to kill Him.

3. The Pharisees
The religious and political groups at the time of Jesus were the Pharisees and the Sadducees.
The Pharisees were a religious sect among the Jews, but at various times they were considered a political party and a social movement that strictly observed rites and ceremonies that could easily be witnessed by everyone.
They prided themselves on their strict observance to the law and on the care with which they avoided contact with things gentile or non-Jewish.
Their belief included the doctrine of immortality and resurrection of the body and the existence of angels and spirits.

4. The Religious Law of the Pharisees
They upheld the authority of oral tradition to be of equal value with the written law. They reduced the practice of religion to the observance of many ceremonial rules to encourage self-sufficiency and spiritual pride. They were a major obstacle to the reception of Christ and the gospel by the Jewish people. They believed that because they openly obeyed many strict rules they were more righteous than other Jews. The Pharisees created many religious laws. On the Sabbath you could only walk a certain number of steps before you broke the law. Keeping the Sabbath holy was not a matter of what was the intent of the heart but what was visible to others from the outside. Pharisees pretended to be righteous while their hearts could be full of wickedness and hatred.

5. The Sadducees
The Sadducees were another sect or group of Jews that were active in Judea during this period of time. They represented the upper social and economic classes of Judean society.
As a whole they fulfilled various political, social, and religious roles, including maintaining the Temple. The Sadducees consisted of old high-priestly families who formed a Jewish aristocracy during the Maccabean war. They were powerful, though quite small in numbers.
Religiously, they held to the letter of the Law of Moses and denied the authority of ancient tradition.
They taught complete freedom of will in moral actions and were opposed to the Pharisees as to the belief in angels and spirits. They refused also to accept the doctrine of immortality as a necessary part of the Jewish faith.
It was through their influence that Greek culture spread in Israel. Their opposition to our Lord was the result of His action in cleansing the temple, which they regarded as an infringement of their rights.
They opposed the work of the Apostles because they preached the Resurrection.

6. Jesus taught the Jews.
Jesus taught the Jews that the Pharisees and the Sadducees were wrong.
It wasn’t enough to just be clean on the outside by washing your hands but it was necessary and even more difficult to be clean on the inside or to have a pure heart.
Jesus taught the difference between what could actually be seen and what wasn’t visible to the eye. He claimed it was more important to have a clean mind and heart.
The Atonement allows us to use the process of repentance to gain forgiveness for our thoughts and actions. This is not a visible process to be judged by others but a matter of honesty and integrity of the heart to be judged by God.

7. Examples from Jesus’ Ministry
Matthew 23: 1-6
 1 Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples,
 2 Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat:
3 All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.
4 For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.
 5 But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,
6 And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues,

8. Mark 7: 1-9
 1 Then came together unto him the Pharisees, and certain of the scribes, which came from Jerusalem.
 2 And when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say, with unwashen, hands, they found fault.
 3 For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders.
 4 And when they come from the market, except they wash, they eat not. And many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and pots, brasen vessels, and of tables.
 5 Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands?
6 He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
 7 Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
 8 For laying aside the commandment of God, ye
hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do.
 9 And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.

9. Jesus Cleanses the Temple
Matthew 21:
12 ¶And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves,
13 And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.

10. How did the use of the temple change?
Matthew 21:
14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them.
15 And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased,
16 And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?

11. 24 Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.
What are the differences in the Savior’s teaching compared to Pharisees?
Matthew 23:23-24
23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
24 Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.

12. Belief of Sadducees
Their opposition to our Lord was the result of His action in cleansing the temple, which they regarded as an infringement of their rights. How do we justify what we don’t like as an infringement on our rights? Are we ever like the Pharisees and the Sadducees? How?

13. Discuss Differences Matthew 23: 13-14
13 ¶But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.

14. Reason and Relate What does Elder Bednar mean by people of integrity?
What does it mean to practice what you preach?
“People of integrity and honesty not only practice what they preach, they are what they preach. And the Savior stands as the finest example”
(Elder David A. Bednar, “Be Honest,” New Era, Oct. 2005).