Our tendency to imagine Jesus as
a young man being criticized and judged by an elderly religious elite
should be considered. The Pharisees that hounded Jesus during his
ministry were probably young, perhaps even younger than Jesus and his
disciples. Jesus contemporary peers would have been the respected
Pharisee Rabbis Hillel (who's teaching sounded a lot like Jesus) and
Gamaliel (who appears in the gospels and in Acts, and to whom Paul
the apostle was a disciple). These men were probably Jesus' age. But
these and other "important" Pharisees are mentioned by
name, and Gamaliel in particular was a lot more thoughtful, and not
as critical as these Pharisees that caused Jesus so much trouble. So
we can assume that the ones following Jesus around and being critical
were lesser, younger Pharisees, possibly disciples to these greater
ones. If so, they may have been as young as teenagers, and probably
no older than their early twenties. The disciples, however, were
mostly called from full-time work, or apprenticeships at the least.
They were probably at the youngest only around the same age as these
Pharisees, but most were probably older. Jesus himself was thirty,
probably a good ten years or more ahead of these Pharisees. This
significant age difference would have been even more significant in
the first century, and thirty years would definitely not have made
Jesus a young man in his day.
Here are the five times Jesus
clashes with the Pharisees in Luke 5 and 6.
1 – Jesus heals a paralytic –
Luke 5:17-26 – Jesus has authority to forgive sins.
2 – Jesus calls Levi the Tax
Collector, and then parties with his friends – Luke 5:27-32 –
Jesus came to call sinners to repentance, not the righteous.
3 – Jesus' disciples don't fast
– Luke 5:33-39 – Jesus' physical presence makes fasting
unnecessary
4 – Jesus' Disciples “harvest”
grain on the Sabbath – Luke 6:1-5 – Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath
5 – Jesus heals on the Sabbath
– Luke 6:6-11 – Jesus says it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath
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