Matthew 23:13 - 32

In today’s reading, Jesus is not mincing words with the Pharisees. This group of very devout Jews have drawn the ire of Jesus.

Labeling them blind hypocrites, he over and over cries out in lament, “Woe”!

 What is it that he laments?

·      They rob widows under the pretense of supporting religion (v.13)

·      They reject God’s rule in their own lives, and in doing so, people who were genuinely seeking God, instead buy into these religious ways, in effect blocking them from the kingdom (v. 14).

·      They promote their program, over the Kingdom of God. They chase after others, enrolling them in their program (v. 15).

·      They fail to keep their word. They break their oaths, and they make oaths (commit themselves) to things they value above heaven such as gold (vv. 16-22).

·      They make a public ceremony out of not committing a minor offence (such as tithing mint – they would be seen placing it in the offering, or straining their wine through a cloth so as to remove a gnat which is “unclean”) while privately they disregard God’s Commands (vv. 23-24).

·      They draw attention to the external, putting on a show cleaning the vessels of worship, yet they ignore their internal filth that separates them from God (vv.25-26).

·      They therefore are dying, decaying on the inside. This is what dead religion (over a living relationship) results in (vv.27-28).

·      And they their condition, more interested in monuments to themselves and the past, then movements of God in the present (vv.29-32).

I think we each could look at every one of these seven “Woes” and identify when we have been (or currently are) caught up in them.

I say that not to “point the finger” at others, but at myself. The Church, we, must always be willing to be under the reforming corrective force of God’s Word.

·      Do I, as I labor for the bit I believe God has asked me to lead, rob people?

·      Am I, right now, more interested in promoting an My Agenda over Jesus? Have I, right now, in my attempt to “understand” the Scriptures, as I write this blog, become so intellectually steeped as to lose the simple faith of a child? Do I hide in intellectualism and formality?

·      Am I, right now, more interested in my own Churches or organizations growth, then the Kingdoms? I know the style of worship I practice does not “fit” some people. Will I refer them to a church that might be a “better fit”? Will I behave, collaborate, with a kingdom perspective? Or I am caught up in competition?

·      Have I broken my oaths? I made them at baptism. I made them at Confirmation. I made them when I joined the Church. I made them when I was ordained as a pastor.  If I have broken them, it is because I placed value on something else. I made something else, higher than the throne of God.

·      When I lead worship, or teach, or simply have a meal with others, do I make an obvious public display of my “religiousness”, and yet in private, in my mind, and in my heart sin terribly?

·      In Church meetings, am I more interested in the program, and the buildings, and all the other important matters to the detriment of pastoral care, justice, and mercy?

·      Am I, if I am honest, dying on the inside? Has my passion for Jesus, that led me to leadership in the Church, somehow been snuffed out? How often we “put on faces” presenting that all is well, when it is anything but well.

·      With all that am I doing, am I actually thinking I am somehow better that those who killed the prophets?

Perhaps you are thinking I am being too tough on myself. I think not. I think we must not read of the Pharisees and think, “Gee, I am glad I am not like them”. That would be a mistake.

The Word of God is sharper than a two-edged sword. It must constantly be doing the work of cutting away that which human pride, human sin, all too naturally builds into us.

Do you relate to any of the questions for yourself, that I am asking of myself?