DAY #39: February 8, 2009 - Matthew 23:13-33

Happy Sunday. This morning, we see further proof that the teachers of religious law and Pharisees were hypocrites. Their rejection of Jesus and emphasis on their petty demands had the effect of locking people out of the Kingdom and keeping themselves out as well. Anyone who might have gotten in through a saving relationship with God was stopped by these Pharisees. They made God seem impossible to please, his commands impossible to obey, and thus the Kingdom an impossible goal. (Verse 14 is not present in the best ancient manuscripts.)

The teachers of religious law and Pharisees were guilty of perverting their own converts, who were attracted to status and rule keeping, not to God. By getting caught up in the details of the Pharisees’ additional laws and regulations, they completely missed God, to whom the laws pointed. A religion of deeds pressures people to surpass others in what they know and do. Thus, a hypocritical teacher was likely to have students who were even more hypocritical. Making converts was laudable. But when the ones doing the converting are children of hell, then their converts will likely meet the same end.

Jesus pointed out the leaders’ hypocrisy regarding the binding power of oaths made to God for dedication for service or for contributions of property. The leaders should have been guides for the blind but instead were blind themselves. Two examples were given of the ridiculous lengths to which the overly legalistic system had gone—swearing by the Temple or the gold, and swearing by the altar or the gift. In one case, the oath could not be broken; in the other case, it could. Jesus illustrated the minute (and ridiculous) distinctions.

Jesus had explained that his followers should not need to make any oaths at all, for to do so would imply that their word could not be trusted. The leaders, by attempting to make distinctions in oaths, had lost sight of the fact that all oaths are made before God and should be equally binding. In other words, no oath should be made with a loophole. The hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees lay in their careful obedience to the small details of the law (tithing even the tiniest part of their income) while they ignored larger issues that were far more important—such as dealing correctly with other people and building a relationship with God (justice, mercy, and faith).

It is possible to carefully obey certain details of God’s laws but still be disobedient in our general behavior. For example, we could be very precise and faithful about giving ten percent of our money to the church but refuse to give one minute of our time in helping others. Tithing is important, but giving a tithe does not exempt us from fulfilling God’s other directives. The last phrase sums up all the “woes.” We also must not leave undone the more important things. Jesus was not negating faithfulness to God’s law; rather, he was condemning a concern for minor details that replaced true piety and discipleship.

How blind these religious leaders were—guides who were leading the people astray! Jesus used a play on words here—the Aramaic words for “gnat” and “camel” are very similar. The Pharisees strained their water so they wouldn’t accidentally swallow a gnat—an unclean insect according to the law. Meticulous about the details of ceremonial cleanliness, they nevertheless had lost their perspective on the matters of justice, mercy, and faithfulness, symbolized by the camel. The camel was not only the largest creature in the Near East but was also unclean. As the Pharisees took great care of the smallest details in order to remain pure, they had become unclean in the most important areas. Ceremonially clean on the outside, they had corrupt hearts.

The Pharisees were so obsessed about having contact with only clean things that they not only washed the kitchen utensils but also made certain that the utensils were ceremonially clean. Staying ceremonially clean was the central focus of the Pharisees’ lifestyle. Jesus pointed out that they had taken care of the outside, but neglected their own filth on the inside, for they were full of greed and self-indulgence. Jesus condemned the Pharisees and religious leaders for outwardly appearing saintly and holy but inwardly remaining full of corruption and greed.

Like whitewashed tombs, the religious leaders had put on a beautiful appearance, but inside they were full of dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity.

They were supposed to be the holy men and instead were filled with hypocrisy (in their wrongful application of God’s law and their attempts to make others live up to their standards) and lawlessness. Continuing the imagery of the whitewashed tombs, Jesus centered on the tombs of the prophets and the graves of the godly people, which were revered. This was ironic because these martyrs had, in most cases, been killed by the religious establishment of the day. For example, the prophet Zechariah was executed (2 Chronicles 24:20-22) and the prophet Uriah was killed (Jeremiah 26:20-23). While the current religious leaders said that they never would have joined their ancestors in killing the prophets, Jesus pointed out that they were no different from their ancestors at all for they were plotting to kill another messenger from God—the Messiah himself.

By using the description of snakes and vipers, Jesus called the teachers and Pharisees contemptible and obnoxious creatures. Their punishment evokes the imagery of hell and its eternal fires. There will be no escape for these men, for they had already cast aside any hope of salvation. The prophets, wise men, and teachers of religious law to whom Jesus referred were probably leaders in the early church who eventually were persecuted, scourged, and killed, just as Jesus predicted. The people of Jesus’ generation said they would not act as their fathers did in killing the prophets whom God had sent to them, but they were about to kill the Messiah himself and his faithful followers. Thus, they would become guilty of all the righteous blood shed through the centuries.

SO WHAT? (what will I do with what I have read today?)

Man, you talk about some rough condemnation - once again Jesus blasts these hypocritical religious leaders. And, once again the warning goes out that is type of behavior is contemptible. No preaching/teaching one thing and then personally living something different.

God, help me. Protect me from becoming some pompous/pious out of touch pastor who pretends he has it all together. Lord, you know the truth about me. Help me be authentic and vulnerable and real. Lord, You know I struggle with personal discipline. You know when I'm not walking with you as I should. You know that I struggle with anger if I'm not walking with You. You know how I can set the bar so high at times for others that it appears that I am unpleasable and as a result, it may lead others to believe that You are unpleasable. Lord, I confess how far short I fall. Fill me today with Your love and mercy and grace. Help me this morning be a conduit of those qualities to you people.

"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."

Matthew 7:1-5 (NIV)

PRAYER

Lord, speak to every heart this morning. Warn people. Comfort people. Convict people. Encourage people. Inspire people and give them hope. Don't let any of us leave this place this morning the same people who walked in. As people hear from You Lord, soften their hearts. I am reminded of Hebrews 3:7-11 (NIV)

"So, as the Holy Spirit says: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert, where your fathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I did. That is why I was angry with that generation, and I said, 'Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.' So I declared on oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter my rest.'"

Lord, do that kind of work this morning. Grow true disciples here at COV. Raise up genuine, authentic leaders for you. Start with me.