The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against Him, how to destroy Him. Mark 3:6 ESV¹

Read Matthew 12:9-14, 15:22; Mark 3:1-6, 12:13-17; Luke 6:6-11, 20:20-26

Malevolent is an adjective. It means “wishing evil or harm to another or others; showing ill will; ill-disposed; malicious: evil; harmful; injurious:”² Jesus experienced malevolence from the religious leaders of His time. These religious leaders, particularly those from the sect of Pharisees, were hateful toward Jesus out of jealousy. The more and more popular Jesus got, the more and more irritated these religious leaders got. People were flocking to Jesus instead of them. People were praising Jesus and not them. Their envy got the best of them; it turned into malice. They began to look for a way to trap Jesus and bring Him down. That task was easier planned than carried out.

Jesus was traveling “throughout all Galilee, teaching in … synagogues and proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom, and healing every disease and every affliction among the people” (Matthew 4:23). “At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat” (Matthew 12:1).

When the Pharisees saw this, they probably thought they had finally discovered something about Jesus which would disqualify Him as good and godly in the eyes of the people. “They said to Him, ‘Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath’” (Matthew 12:2).

But He turned this trick back on them by showing them how little they actually knew about the Scriptures; “He said to them, ‘Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. And if you had known what this means, “I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,” you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath’” (Matthew 12:1-8). This temporarily quieted them, but they immediately went about planning another attack.

 “He went on from there and entered their synagogue. And a man was there with a withered hand” (Matthew 12:9-10). This was probably a Pharisee concocted set-up, because “the scribes and the Pharisees watched Him, to see whether He would heal on the Sabbath so that they might find a reason to accuse Him.  But He knew their thoughts, and He said to the man with the withered hand, ‘Come and stand here.’ And he rose and stood there. And Jesus said to them, ‘I ask you, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it’” (Luke 6:7-9)? “‘Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out?  Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.’” (Matthew 12:11-12). The Pharisees “were silent. And He looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He stretched it out, and his hand was restored’ (Mark 3:5), “healthy like the other” (Matthew 12:13).

Again, the Pharisees were silenced, but “they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus” (Luke 6:11). The Pharisees left the synagogue in a huff and “went out and conspired against Him” (Matthew 12:14), “immediately [holding] counsel with the Herodians against Him, how to destroy Him” (Mark 3:6). To destroy Him—not discredit Him, not handicap Him, not limit His activities, not force Him to submit to their authority, but destroy Him! That is malevolence! To accomplish their ill intentions, the Pharisees had to side with the Herodians.

“The Pharisees were a religious party, and the Herodians were a political party. These two parties customarily fought against one another, but on this occasion, they cooperated in an attempt to entangle Christ.”³ As the saying goes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Jesus, with His teaching, His miracles, and His drawing of crowds, offended both religious and political leaders. The Pharisees and the Herodians put aside their differences in an effort to nail Jesus. But these unlikely friends would not be successful.

It took them some time, but they came up with what they thought was a fool-proof plan. “They watched Him and sent spies, who pretended to be sincere, that they might catch Him in something He said, so as to deliver Him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor” (Luke 20:20-21). “They sent to Him some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians … And they came and said to Him, ‘Teacher, we know that you are true and do not care about anyone’s opinion. For you are not swayed by appearances, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Should we pay them, or should we not’” (Mark 12:13-24)?  

“This was their strategy: if the Lord said yes, then the Pharisees would catch Him, but if He said no, the Herodians would catch Him. Either way, they thought, He would be caught. However, the Lord Jesus was wiser than these evil men and defeated their plan.”³

“Jesus, aware of their malice, said, ‘Why put Me to the test, you hypocrites? Show Me the coin for the tax.’ And they brought Him a denarius. And Jesus said to them, ‘Whose likeness and inscription is this?’ They said, ‘Caesar’s.’ Then He said to them, ‘Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s’” (Matthew 22:18-21).

They tried lies. They tried trickery. They tried flattery. But ultimately, the Pharisees the Herodians “were not able in the presence of the people to catch Him in what He said but marveling at His answer, they became silent” (Luke 20:26). Jesus was so much cleverer than they were; not only did He leave them speechless, He ended up astonishing them to the point that they couldn’t help admiring Him.

I have been the victim of malevolence more than once. Sadly, in each case, it was by people I thought were my friends. When did or said something which offended them, they turned on me. They might not have been out to destroy me, but they did try to destroy my reputation.

In being slandered, I have learned something. The Apostle Paul must have learned it too because he taught. “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’ To the contrary, ‘if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:19-20).

If you let God be your vindicator, and if you obey Him by being kind to those who have been hurtful to you, the truth will eventually come out, and your name will be most likely be cleared. The one(s) who drug your name through the mud will likely never apologize, but they will not be victorious. Though they have done everything in their power to bring you down, it won’t ultimately work. If you let God fight for you, you, like Jesus, will have the power of God on your side. And what is more, you will have the satisfaction of knowing you have taken the higher road. You can even “rejoice insofar as you share[d in] Christ’s sufferings, [knowing] that you [will] also rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed” (1 Peter 4:13). There are rewards both on Earth and in Heaven for that.

¹ Scripture quotations marked with ESV are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All Scriptures are taken from the ESV unless otherwise noted. To aid in understanding, I have capitalized references to God.

²http://www.dictionary.com/browse/malevolence?s=t

³http://www.ministrysamples.org/excerpts/THE-PHARISEES-AND-THE-HERODIANS.HTML