Pharisees Pt 3:
12 Signs You Might Be a Pharisee: The BUN RULE!
I have a good friend who won’t mind me sharing this story. She used to attend a church with a great list of extra rules and regulations. And she was the queen of the Pharisees! She was CODE baby! She dressed correctly, acted correctly, talked (or didn’t talk) correctly, ate the right stuff, everything! She was a model citizen. But one day she noticed a group of ladies shopping at the same (group approved) grocery store where she was shopping. These ladies were dressed very similarly to her. They seemed to be in code too. So she approached ham and introduced herself. After offering up some condescending looks, laced with perhaps a little pity, these women physically turned their backs to her and shunned her. She was shocked. She was “perfect, righteous and holy” in her own circles. What was it that caused these women to feel that my friend was not worthy of their “acknowledgement”? She labored over that question for a night or two. Why? What about me was not good enough?
Then it dawned on her! It was the buns! They had a “BUN RULE!” My friend had (unwittingly) wandered into a pack or Pharisees who deemed her shameless and lewd for having her hair down and not in a bun. Other than that her appearance was almost exactly the same. She had no idea about the “bun rule” and they failed to explain that one “major” detail. (Gnat! -*cough*) I know for a fact they missed out because this woman is very gifted and has a very edifying testimony, but they just couldn’t stand her bunlessness! She had met Pharisees that could “out Pharisee” her!
She was troubled because it hurt her feelings to be shunned, and perhaps to be thought of as less than “holy”. So after agonizing about it and it dawned on her! “That is exactly how I make anyone feel who doesn’t keep my code,” is what she concluded!
7) You might be a Pharisee if: You are not submitted to, accountable to, or interested in interacting with in a meaningful way, any of Christ’s followers who don’t conform to the group code.
I used to define myself as “independent”. What a clumsy brand. I do believe that individual churches should be autonomous. But there is a certain elitist arrogance I struggled with for years. (Still struggle some, I suppose.) The most edifying fellowship I had the whole time I was pastoring an Independent Baptist Church was with a man outside the “circle”. He was CHURCH OF CHRIST!!! We had a whole list of condescending nicknames for those folks. But I noticed him smiling across the Barnes and Nobles. His hair was “too long” (so I hoped no one would see me talking to him) but I was drawn by his smile like a moth to the flame. He ministered the love and grace of God and radiated sheer child like joy. I was dumbfounded. He was not “code”.
I never saw him again. Maybe he was an angel. We talked, prayed, and cried for two hours right there standing in the bookstore. I never forgot him.
This “Cambellite” had the incarnational Christianity my heart was longing for. I realized then that God’s children are His business! All His children are gifted, and their gifts are not just a nice luxury that I might at my convenience take advantage of. THEY ARE ESSENTIAL FOR MY EDIFICATION AND ORGANIC GROWTH.
I am not “independent” anymore. I am hopelessly INTERDEPENDENT! I can’t love my Lord and not love His people. How do I dare judge another Man’s servant? How do I assume that God is not at work in his life at every stage of the journey? I’ve belittled men with long hair, only months after I cut my own hair, as if God is patient with me but no one else. I have sarcastically railed on folks who used a different version of the Bible without ever taking the time to patiently explain my position, It’s all about attitude.
What is your attitude toward folks without buns?
(Part 4 coming!)