The Pharisees and scholars of the law rejected the plan of God for them. You can be sure that the Pharisees and scholars saw things in the opposite way. They imagined that they were following the plan of God, not rejecting it. After all, didn’t they get their marching orders from the Bible! How can we tell if we are following God’s plan for us? Jesus gives the criteria in another passage when he says, “By their fruits you shall know them” (Matthew 7:16). The fruits of the plan of God? — love, forgiveness, generosity, kindness, hospitality, compassion. Following the rule book does not guarantee we are living according to God’s plan unless it is accompanied by those virtues which Jesus urges onto us, his followers.
