How do you regard the Bible passages about the Pharisees? Are you glad that you are not like them in the same way that the Pharisee was glad that he was not like the humble sinner in prayer? You may not have applied to become a Pharisee. This was a short-lived sect and there are no longer any called by that name. Yet they were the dominant religious force in their generation as you are in yours. Those in the same positions are prone to the same faults and errors. On this basis, is there anything in my remarks to the Pharisees that could serve as a cautionary note for you?

Do you like direct answers to direct questions? Do you prefer them to be quick, clear, and concise? Then you would not like the way that I taught. For I gave answers in abundance, but they were indirect, being embedded in stories called parables. The scriptures report that this was the method I used to teach the people. My own disciples struggled with this and frequently asked me to explain the parables to them. I still use this method to teach. Are you attentive to and aware enough of the stories in your own life to see the embedded answers in them? He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

Do you like my promise that with every temptation you face that I will also provide a means of escape, that you may be able to endure it? Would you like it better if it referred only to escaping and not enduring? Does it seem like a contradiction to you the way it is written? It is if you look only at the temporal, material world, but this passage points to something beyond that. For I always offer you refuge in a transcendent place. I said that my Kingdom is not of this world, and comes not with observation, but it is within you. It is as close as shifting your awareness, and you can go there any time you like.

I tell you not to judge others that you may not be judged, for you shall be judged by the same standard by which you judge others. Does this mean that you must go through life oblivious and unaware? Yet I also commended awareness in that I wanted my followers to have eyes to see and ears to hear. How can these things be reconciled? I want you to be discerning in that you comprehend reality both visible and invisible. Can you do this and stop short of invoking the condemnation that is involved in being judgmental? Then I can give you discernment for my redemptive purposes in the lives of those you meet.