Throughout the gospels there are a series of conflicts between Jesus and the Pharisees. So the Pharisees and scribes questioned him, “Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders?” Were the Pharisees the enemies of Jesus? Recent scholarship suggests that the conflicts described in the four gospels reflect more the period when the Church and Synagogue were at loggerheads several generations after the time of Jesus. In fact there is even a book entitled “Jesus, the Pharisee” because of how similar his message and methods were to that of the Pharisees. Both Jesus and the Pharisees were seeking to help people to find the presence of God in their daily lives. Their tactics for doing so differed but their aim was similar. It has taken two thousand years but Church and Synagogue are discovering how much they have in common. Let us learn for this experience that whatever disagreements or differences that exist among God-fearing people in the Church today should not be the source of division.
