1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2 “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 4 They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
5 “Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; 6 they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; 7 they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.
8 “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. 9 And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. 10 Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. 11 The greatest among you will be your servant. 12 For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
Few things are worse, in my opinion, than a hypocrite. Dictionary.com defines a hypocrite as "a person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that he or she does not actually possess, especially a person whose actions belie stated beliefs." The root of all hypocrisy is self -- I want myself to be seen as better; I want myself to be honored above others; I want myself to feel okay. We are all hypocrites, and I wonder if we think that we are not, if perhaps we are the biggest ones of all.
Matthew 23 is a tough chapter. All throughout our Matthew study, we have heard the questions, plots, and evil schemes of the Pharisees. And now Jesus has had enough! This entire chapter is in red: Jesus' words. And many of the sentences end in exclamation points -- so He was really speaking with some gusto on this one. He is addressing the spiritual and religious leaders of His day, but I think we can glean some truth from this for ourselves as well, since we know that all Scripture is living and active in our lives, right?
“The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach." The teachers of the Law were still in leadership, and the Bible says it is God to establishes and destroys kings, so Jesus was telling the people that what the teachers were saying was true. The people were to obey what was read from Scripture, but not to do what they did. Their own traditions and interpretations had begun creeping in and being seen as equal to God's laws. What do we do today like this? What religious ceremonies and practices do we say people MUST do, but can really be found no where in Scripture? Or perhaps its what we don't do. Confession doesn't feel nice, so maybe it's not that important. I'm not saying we need to go to a priest, but just "confess your sins to one another" the Bible says. Our man-made laws these days may be more what we don't really need to do anymore.
"They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them." Do we ever expect people to behave in a way that we, ourselves, our not behaving? This is what the teachers were doing. I urge you to check yourself on this -- are you adding weight to someone's shoulders by expecting them to do something that you are not as a Christian or just in daily life? This is not good.
“Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long;" The teachers were not concerned about being holy -- just looking holy. The phylacteries were boxes containing scripture verses that they wore on their foreheads and arms in order to literally obey Deut. 6:8 and Ex. 13:9, 16. But rather than just keeping these scripture close to their hearts and minds, they made a show out of it by making the boxes bigger and bigger as a status symbol. How about you -- do you carry a certain Bible for a particular reason? Do you find pleasure in the amount of underlined parts you have? (My hand needs to go up on that one.) Are you more concerned with your Sunday outfit looking nice than the condition of your heart before you attend worship?
"they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others." Jesus clearly commands us to be great by our service to others -- not our positions of power and honor on earth. Serving others allows us to keep the focus off of ourselves. Just as Jesus came as a servant, so we are to live to serve rather than to be served. Clearly, the Pharisees were saying this but were not practicing it.
Which of these four stirs you most? I hope we are always seeking to be better followers of Christ, and that always starts with looking inwardly rather than pointing fingers outwardly. It is so painful for me to admit my hypocrisies, and yet, I know in order to become more like Jesus, I have to allow Him to help me work on those areas. I want my life to be lived in truth, not in deception. When I allow my own faults and imperfections to be exposed, I allow others to live truthfully with and work diligently on theirs. A humble transparency is the opposite of hypocrisy. That's my goal.
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