The Pharisees are the perennial “bad guys” of the Gospels—or are they? This week on Sunday Dive, we’re unpacking the surprising backstory of the Pharisees and shining a light on their original motivations, which may not be as villainous as you think. We’ll delve into the cultural and liturgical world of first-century Jerusalem, explore what made tax collectors so universally despised, and discover why Jesus chooses a rare, loaded Greek word for “mercy” in his parable. Get ready for a deep dive into Luke 18 that might just upend your assumptions about righteousness, humility, and the radical nature of grace. (Mass Readings for Oct 26, 2025)

Diving deep into our Gospel we'll spend our episode looking closer at:

• Why the Pharisees were so zealous for extra rules and how their movement sprang from a desperate hope for the return of the Messiah and restoration of Israel [00:07:15]
• The real reason both the Pharisee and the tax collector find themselves in the Temple—and how it connects to the daily Tamid sacrifice, the heartbeat of Jewish worship, which surprisingly links to scenes later in Scripture [00:03:24]
• How an ancient Jewish historian, Josephus, helps us understand why the Pharisees thought themselves the most rigorous and godly—and how that attitude gets flipped on its head by Jesus’ words [00:08:30]
• That Pharisaic practices like fasting twice a week and tithing everything weren’t actually required by Jewish law but were extreme measures they adopted in hopes of saving their nation [00:30:25]
• The surprisingly scandalous history of tax collectors in first-century Israel, including that their alms were rejected by the poor and they were barred from court, plus the costly process of repentance that could leave them destitute [00:38:22]
• How the tax collector’s prayer uses a rare Greek verb, echoing only the high priest on Yom Kippur, so Jesus daringly places the words of Israel’s holiest prayer for atonement in the mouth of a despised sinner [00:44:44]
• And finally, how Jesus overturns the entire religious expectation of the time—showing that it’s not effort or perfection that justifies, but humble poverty of spirit, inviting us all to love our spiritual fragility [00:48:29].

For the full show notes, including citations and discussion questions, visit: kptz.io/30OT-C25