It is vital to distinguish between Jesus' criticism of the way the Pharisees obey the Law and the criticism of the Law itself. It is not about abolishing the Law but fulfilling it, emphasizes Dr. Karma Ben Johanan, a lecturer at the Faculty of Comparative Religion at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, in a commentary for the Heschel Center of the Catholic University of Lublin for Sunday, November 5.

The passage from the Gospel of St. Matthew, which we read on November 5, contains the powerful words of Jesus. Jesus teaches his disciples not to act, giving them the example of the Pharisees and the scribes," said Dr. Karma Ben Johanan.

The lecturer at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem reminds us that for centuries, many Bible students identified Judaism with the Pharisees; hence, the religion of Moses was opposed to the followers of Jesus, i.e., Christians. "In this way, Judaism and Christianity was portrayed Judaism and Christianity as two opposite ways – one flawed and one true, one evil and one good," writes Dr. Ben Johanan.

Today, the antagonism between Judaism and Christianity has given way to a better understanding of what the criticism of Jesus was really about. As Dr. Ben Johanan points out, Jesus' words in the Sermon on the Mount – "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill" (Mt 5:17), they prove his reverence for the Law. It helps us to understand Jesus' attitude toward the Pharisees. "Jesus fully respects the authority of the Scribes and the Pharisees, who ‘have taken their seat on the chair of Moses’. The critique which he stresses is not against the Law itself, the Law which they have the authority to teach, but rather, against the way they themselves observe it”.

Modern knowledge of the New Testament and the process of its creation in the Jewish environment allows us to understand Jesus' attitude towards the Pharisees properly. According to Dr. Ben Johanan, their polemic "is based on shared values and doctrines, not on the negation of the other side." The Bible commentator points out that Jesus, as well as the Pharisee convert to Christianity, St. Paul, "explain their opinions, interpret the Bible, and preach like their Jewish brethren, especially the Pharisees."

In conclusion, Dr. Karma Ben Johanan recalls an excerpt from a 1985 document by the Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews: "Pharisaism, in the pejorative sense of the word, can spread in any religion. It can also be emphasized that Jesus' harshness towards the Pharisees is because he is closer to them than to other Jewish groups of his time" ("Jews and Judaism in the Proclamation of the Word of God and the Catechesis of the Catholic Church," III, 8).

Heschel Center KUL

The entire commentary follows:

To the rescue of the captives and hostages in Gaza and the elevation of the souls of the Israelis who were murdered and killed this October.

Matthew 23 is an extremely critical text, where the Pharisees and the Scribes serve as a negative model: Jesus teaches his disciples how not to act by setting the example of the Pharisees and Scribes against their eyes.  Yet who are the Pharisees, and how is Jesus related to them? What, indeed, is the essence of this harsh critique in our Gospel text, and how is this text’s interpretation may influence Jewish-Christian relations?

For centuries, the category of the Pharisees was designated by Christian exegetes to describe the Jewish people as a whole, and the Jewish tradition as a “Pharisaic” religion. The interpretation was usually charged with antagonism towards the Jewish Law, the halakha, and the “Pharisaic” religion, i.e., Judaism, was detested as a religion of Law, and juxtaposed with Christianity as a religion of Faith, thus depicting Judaism and Christianity as two opposite ways – one flawed and one true, one evil and one good.

Yet exegetes, theologians, scholars and people of faith have overturned these presumptions, and today we have the privilege of reading these gospel texts differently, without prejudice, and without assuming a dichotomy between Christianity and Judaism. First of all, we are now much more aware of Jesus’s respect to the halachic Law: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill”, as he tells us in Matt. 5:17. With the keys from the sermon on the Mount in our hands, we can open also to Matt. 23 and see that Jesus fully respects the authority of the Scribes and the Pharisees, who “have taken their seat on the chair of Moses”. The critique which he stresses is not against the Law itself, the Law which they have the authority to teach, but rather, against the way they themselves observe it: “do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example”. Many of us parents say similar things to our children: “do what I say, not what I do”. Certainly, it testifies to our imperfection as parents, but does not disqualify our parenting all together! 

It is important to make this differentiation between Jesus’ critique of how the Pharisees observe the Law and between a critique of the Law itself, because it allows us to reframe the entire polemic: instead of seeing it as a polemic between Jesus – as the ultimate Christian and the representative of Christianity – and between the Pharisees, which are representatives of The Jews. This becomes a polemic among Jews on the best way to observe the Law, and again, not to abolish, but to fulfil it. A polemic among members of the same group can be harsh, but it is based on shared values and doctrines, not on a negation of the Other. Indeed, the immense scholarship that allows us today to re-anchor the New Testament in the Jewish milieu in which it is written, shows us to what extent Jesus, and also Paul – who also seems extremely critical towards the Pharisees – themselves argue their opinions, interpret the bible, and preach the sermons – like their fellow Jews, and particularly like Pharisees. In the words of the Commission for Religious relations with the Jews in 1985: “’Phariseeism’ in the pejorative sense can be rife in any religion. It may also be stressed that, if Jesus shows himself severe towards the Pharisees, it is because he is closer to them than to other contemporary Jewish groups”.

About the Author

Karma Ben Johanan teaches at the Department for Comparative Religion at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Previously, she held the chair of Jewish–Christian relations in the Faculty of Theology at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, where she served until the summer of 2022.

Dr Ben Johanan is a historian of contemporary theology and religious ideas. She focuses on contemporary Jewish-Christian relations, secular-religious relations and political theology. Her book, Jacob’s Younger Brother: Christian-Jewish Relations after Vatican II (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2022), won the Shazar Prize for Research in Jewish History, and the Polonsky Prize for Creativity and Originality in the Humanistic Disciplines. This year, she was among the 9 winners of the Dan David Prize, the world’s largest history prize, for her research on inter-religious dialogue and conflicts. In the past she was a visiting lecturer at the Cardinal Bea Center in Rome.

Centrum Heschela KUL