Reconsidering the Pharisees in Luke

The Lectionary reading for this Sunday (Luke 13: 31 – 35) begins with the interesting notice: At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, “Leave this place and go somewhere else.  Herod wants to kill you.”

Now, I don’t know how many times I’ve read this passage.  I’m sure I have.  Many times.  But, for whatever reason, it never completely registered to me that this warning came from some of the Pharisees.  Whoa!  The Pharisees?  Really?  Don’t these guys hate Jesus?  Aren’t they spying on him and watching for mistakes, waiting for their chance to catch him in an error so they can pounce? 

While it is true that the Pharisees in Luke’s writings, as in the other gospels, are antagonistic toward Jesus we might need to modify our perception of them somewhat, lest they become caricatures and stereotypes.  Luke provides a couple of stories that might balance our opinion of the Pharisees.

In Luke 7:36 and in 14:1 Jesus was invited to eat at the homes of some of the Pharisees. Granted, it didn’t play out so well for them in these stories, but the invitation was there.  Also in Luke’s writings we read about some Pharisees who became Christians – Luke 15:5.

Perhaps the Pharisees weren’t merely and only the melodrama villains with curled mustaches and black capes. 

But wait… Before we get all lovey-dovey on the Pharisees here let’s start again.

This reading began with some Pharisees coming to Jesus with a warning that Herod Antipas was planning to kill him.   But consider:  in Luke 9:7 – 9 Herod was fearful, but curious about Jesus.  He wanted to meet him.  And later, in Luke 23: 6 – 12, when he had the opportunity to kill Jesus (and even the expectation that he would kill Jesus) he didn’t.

So the question arises, was Herod really planning to kill Jesus?  Or were these Pharisees trying to stir up trouble? 
 

Either way, Jesus ignores their warning.