Do not doubt that there are, among Quakers today, our own Pharisees.

I do not refer to the actual historical figures, of course. The Pharisees were one of several schools of thought, or sects, among Temple Judaism, and not necessarily even the dominant one; they became dominant with the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, as the various other sects had been particularly targeted by Rome, were small and unpopular in the first place, or were too closely tied to the Temple itself. Much of the thought or approach depicted from Jesus in the Gospels was in fact most likely common among Pharisaic thought, or were the view of a particular sub-sect.

No, when I speak of Quaker Pharisees I mean the role they play, the caricature that they present in the New Testament. They are the powers of the status quo , those who approach the law in a prescriptive and restrictive way, highly legalistic, serving as a contrast for Jesus’s approach that is most led by love. And in this sense, there are most certainly Quaker Pharisees. Like the biblical Pharisees, they hold to our traditional forms because they are traditional forms, not because of their merit or appropriateness. They resist change or innovation, holding to tradition and orthopraxy as things seen as good in themselves, rather than things that became tradition and common practice because of their virtue, but subject to change as needs and people change. They speak of love, but are driven more by the inertia of Quaker history than by the promptings of truth and love.

I do not name anyone as I say this. Perhaps you are one of these Quaker Pharisees, or perhaps you think that I would say you are one. In truth, it is likely that most of us are, in our ways.

I do not say this to condemn anyone, but I do say it to challenge. Every one of us should look at ourselves, and see what we do because it is the way it is done, and what we do because we appreciate the underlying reason for it. What we do because it is what we were taught, and what we do because of love.

Change is always challenging, and resistance to it must be expected. But attend to love, and realise that love will bring change, and we may yet escape the path of the Pharisees.

Written June 2019

NOTE: I am aware of the controversial nature, in the modern world, of the use of the term Pharisee in negative ways in relation to the New Testament representation. I wrestled with this ministry for some time, due to the connection ⁠— as noted in the ministry ⁠— between the historical Pharisees and modern Rabbinic Judaism. The leading was quite insistent, and I can't say why. Perhaps that is part of the challenge it is supposed to represent; I do not know. I apologise to anyone who finds it offensive, and I do not say anyone is wrong to find it so. I trust that it does more good than harm, given the strength of the leading that led to me writing this.