Six Jerusalem Spies 

The Pharisees were the protectors of the traditions and laws of the Prophets, and they dedicated their lives to safeguard them. They impressed upon the Jews the importance of their rich inheritance from Yahweh. Jesus sympathized with them, knowing the fears of breaking with the past, forsaking teachings ingrained since childhood, and the conflicts surrounding embracing a new belief.

Jesus did not attack the Jewish religion. The religious leaders were less interested in truth and more in their power and finances. They resorted to the methods and tools of totalitarians and succeeded in having Jesus crucified, figuratively and literally. Throughout Jesus’ ministry, he was harassed, harshly treated, spied upon, banned from speaking, and given a death warrant before being unjustly executed.

The chief priests and religious leaders wanted Jesus stopped by any means. Since they could not convince Herod to imprison and kill Jesus as he did to John the Baptist, they pursued stacking up religious charges that could be presented at a trial.

The Sanhedrin commissioned six secret spies to amass evidence against Jesus. They observed Jesus at Jericho and feigned interest in becoming disciples to join Jesus’ family of followers. On the first of May, 28 CE, Jesus started the long walk towards Capernaum and wisely went only as far as the legal Sabbath day’s journey of one thousand yards. The spies, foiled, expected Jesus to go farther. But shortly thereafter came a second opportunity.

As they passed along a narrow road with ripening wheat waving on either side, the apostles picked the grain to eat as it was customary for travelers to help themselves. The spies jumped upon this infraction of doing manual work, namely, rubbing grain. Andrew defended their actions as necessary to satisfy hunger, likening rubbing grain to chewing it, which was permissible. The Pharisees protested to Jesus, who responded by referencing scriptural precedents where needs overruled Sabbath restrictions. He emphasized that the Sabbath was made for man's benefit, not man for the Sabbath, asserting his authority over such laws, which left the accusers speechless and reluctant to challenge him further.

A few days later, Jesus held an evening question-and-answer session in Bethsaida. The leader of the six spies asked why Jesus did not command his followers to fast and pray as John and the Pharisees advocated. Jesus responded by using metaphors to explain that his disciples did not need to fast while he was with them. He suggested that a time for fasting would come when he was no longer present. Jesus emphasized the inappropriateness of rigidly mixing old religious customs with his new teachings, illustrating this with analogies of sewing new cloth on old garments and putting new wine into old wineskins, advocating for adaptation and acceptance of new truths without discarding all the old ones that remain valid.

Before the second preaching tour of Galilee in September 28 CE, Jesus spoke in the Capernaum synagogue. After speaking, the leader of the spies convinced a man with a withered hand to ask Jesus if it was lawful to cure on the Sabbath. Jesus responded by asking if it was lawful to rescue a sheep trapped in a pit on the Sabbath, implying that it was even more appropriate to heal a man. Acknowledging the man's faith and emphasizing the lawfulness of doing good on the Sabbath, Jesus healed him, restoring his hand.

The Pharisees, frustrated and unable to provoke Jesus into wrongdoing, left angrily while Jesus admonished the crowd to maintain peace, underscoring the principle that saving life and doing good are permissible on the Sabbath.

During Jesus' final week in Bethsaida, the attitude of the Jerusalem spies observing him shifted significantly. Three of these Pharisees became deeply impressed by Jesus' teachings, while back in Jerusalem, a prominent Sanhedrin member named Abraham publicly converted to Jesus' teachings, causing a stir in the city. In response, the Sanhedrin recalled the spies; three returned to Jerusalem, conflicted but obedient, while the other three converted and were baptized by Peter, fully embracing Jesus' message.

In April 30 CE, during Jesus' epochal sermon, a Jerusalem spy questioned him and his disciples about their practices of not adhering to traditional hand-washing before meals, suggesting they were disrespecting the elders' traditions. Jesus responded by critiquing their adherence to man-made traditions that, in his view, often contradicted God's commandments, like the tradition allowing children to avoid supporting their parents by claiming their resources were dedicated to God. He highlighted the hypocrisy in prioritizing human traditions over divine commandments, referencing Isaiah's prophecy about insincere worship.

Continuing his discourse, Jesus emphasized that spiritual purity comes not from external actions, such as what one eats or how one cleans, but from the heart's expressions. He criticized the Pharisees and the deeply entrenched Jewish oral traditions, pointing out the absurdity of elevating these human rules above God's laws. His bold teachings signaled an inevitable confrontation with Jewish authorities, intensifying the tension between them, especially as he openly challenged their foundational practices and the manipulation of laws that burdened the people rather than fostering genuine spirituality.