Can anything kind be said about those dastardly New Testament villains, the Pharisees?

Every time I read about Pharisees in the New Testament, Jesus has just tied their tongues and confounded them once again. It's as if they possessed little or no value, except as pawns on a chessboard to be sacrificed willy-nilly to promote Jesus.

If I was a Pharisee back in the days when Jesus traveled through Israel to preach, heal and open tombs, I might have occasionally just stayed home in bed some mornings to hide and ask Mrs. Pharisee, "Have you gotten up yet to check MSN.com to find out where Jesus is today? I sure hope he's not in our neck of the woods. It's not a holy day here, is it? I sure hope not."

What was the ongoing quarrel between Jesus and Pharisees?

Simply put, there were a lot of Pharisees and other Jewish religious leaders who made the mistake of believing they were as good as they thought they were. They believed they were as blessed as they thought they were. They believed they were as righteous -- that is, pious and innocent -- as they thought they were. They believed they were as completely justified in everything they did as they thought they were. I sure don't know anybody like that around here. Do you?

And so, in the hope that all the rest of Israel might actually experience the joy and excitement about a God who loved them (that is, all the non-Pharisees, who knew they were not quite as good as they thought they were) Jesus made it a point to hunt down a Pharisee or two to prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that they were not as good, as blessed, as righteous, nor as justified as they thought they were.

Considering the crucifixion, should we wonder if Jesus had taken a wise course of action?

There's little question in my mind that Jesus' action, in truth, was actually quite fitting and wise. More than a few times every morning, afternoon and evening, there's a Jesus in my life. No, that does not mean that in Utah more and more people are dressing in robes and sandals wandering around the church or my home or on I-80 as I drive from Christ United Methodist Church to Tooele United Methodist Church. And no, it doesn't mean that I experience beatific visions.

What I mean is that on occasion I sometimes start making the mistake that I'm actually as good as I think I am. Maybe I flipped an omelet just perfectly one morning. Maybe I actually trimmed my mustache evenly for once. Perhaps I came up with the right answer in Trivial Pursuits a little faster than anyone else. And when great accomplishments like this happen, I might start to think, "Well, hey. I'm pretty good."

Luckily, a Jesus comes around -- fairly quickly, I might add -- to save me from being too much of a Pharisee by saying, "Nice omelet, but it needed more salt."

In the afternoon, another Jesus might drop by my office to say, "Next time, you need to tell your barber that your mustache is always awfully uneven."

By evening, I can count on a different Jesus saying to me, "Oh, everyone always knows the answer to that Trivial Pursuit question."

I am constantly gratified when the many Jesus' today-- often disguised as people in my family or as one of my friends -- or the "Pharisee-dueling Jesus" we all know from the Bible, straightens me out and prevents me from becoming a Pharisee. I'm indebted to all those who guarantee that when I wake up each morning, I won't need to worry about where Jesus is today. I can show my face with utter confidence and not get anxious, having to be as good as I occasionally think I am. And, if I happen to make that silly mistake -- "I thought it was actually a perfect omelet." -- I'm certain there will be a Jesus out there just waiting expectantly for me to make sure I recall how quite imperfect I really am.

In no way do I ever wish to have my tongue tied and feel confounded by Jesus, who truly has my best interests at heart, even when it's time for me to be educated about my possible Pharisaic thoughts.

So each day, thanks to Jesus, I am prevented from being a Pharisee. And instead, I am lovingly encouraged to be someone who sees life more fairly, and I become "fair-seeing" and not "Pharisee-ing."

I am reminded in many ways how to see each person I meet -- and myself -- with a realistic fair-mindedness that assists me in experiencing authentic blessedness, genuine innocence, real justification and unadulterated goodness.

With Jesus around, the blinders get removed, so I can acquire an honest and fair assessment of this life and experience the love that is truly available in it. When I learn to admit that, while I may not be as good as I think I am -- "I still think that omelet was perfect" -- nonetheless I am a good person and worthy of life's rewards.

Maybe it did need a little more salt after all. Tom