“And the Pharisees went out, and straightway with the Herodians took counsel against Him, how they might destroy Him.”
In the days when the Saviour was on the earth, the Pharisees considered themselves to be the people of God, the only ones worthy of the favor of God, the only ones in fact who received the blessing of God. But Jesus taught the publicans and sinners, the low and the outcast, as well as the scribes and Pharisees and the great of the earth; therefore His doctrines displeased them.
The jealous Pharisees were utterly unable to meet the arguments of the new Teacher. With all their logic, backed up by tradition of long standing, they could not answer His charges or reply to His questions. The common people heard Him gladly, for He taught as one having authority, one who knew a “Thus saith the Lord,” or an “It is written,” for every blandishment of the enemy; one who met all the accusations brought against Him with such skill and unerring truth and power that His enemies acknowledged themselves defeated.
One course lay before them—they would call another faction to help them. The Herodians were courtiers, or servants, of Herod, King of Galilee, and would therefore have no little influence with the Roman government; indeed, they might be said to represent the government. To these men the Pharisees gave the task of getting Jesus out of the way. They themselves were unable to do it, lacking the skill and authority, so the civil power was called upon to assist them. In the end they accomplished their purpose upon Him.
There is to-day a class of people who claim the presence and power of God, who worship Him with great show of devotion. The church, at ease and satisfied with the traditions of the fathers, rich and powerful, no longer seeks the Saviour for spiritual guidance; but as in the days of old when the Pharisees approached the Saviour to question Him concerning civil matters,—the paying of tribute,—they leave their sphere, the simple Gospel and its promulgation, and turn their attention to making laws for the nation. There is a form of godliness, to be sure, but it is in the form of legislation on religious matters—matters not in the province of the church at all.
Having lost the power of the Gospel, the professed people of God have turned to the arm of the law for power. They seek to confuse the Saviour, in the person of His people, thru the “Herodian” lawmakers; and thus their cry, as of old, is, “Away with Him! away with Him!” He does not teach according to the traditions of the fathers, therefore He must be silenced. They do not worship as we do, do not keep the “Lord’s day” as we do, therefore they must be put out of the way. The parallel is a striking one.
God’s institutions will stand, His truth will prosper and triumph. Tho every State in the Union, with the exception of two, has laws to compel men to observe Sunday as the Sabbath, the true light will shine, and men will stand for truth. That Sunday sacredness is founded on nothing more than tradition is evident from the very fact that its advocates dare not leave it to God Himself to protect, but must needs extend the puny arm of man to assist the God of the universe to sustain a day they call by His name!