Matthew 23:13-26

13 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in people’s faces. You won’t go in yourselves, and you don’t let others enter either.

14 What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! You shamelessly cheat widows out of their property and then pretend to be pious by making long prayers in public. Because of this, you will be severely punished.

15 What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you cross land and sea to make one convert, and then you turn that person into twice the child of hell you yourselves are!

16 Blind guides! What sorrow awaits you! For you say that it means nothing to swear ‘by God’s Temple,’ but that it is binding to swear ‘by the gold in the Temple.’ 17 Blind fools! Which is more important—the gold or the Temple that makes the gold sacred? 18 And you say that to swear ‘by the altar’ is not binding, but to swear ‘by the gifts on the altar’ is binding. 19 How blind! For which is more important—the gift on the altar or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20 When you swear ‘by the altar,’ you are swearing by it and by everything on it. 21 And when you swear ‘by the Temple,’ you are swearing by it and by God, who lives in it. 22 And when you swear ‘by heaven,’ you are swearing by the throne of God and by God, who sits on the throne.

23 What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things. 24 Blind guides! You strain your water so you won’t accidentally swallow a gnat, but you swallow a camel!

25 What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and self-indulgence! 26 You blind Pharisee! First wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean, too.”

Comments

This makes for some tough reading. Where is the guy who was riding on a donkey and enjoying the children singing in the Temple? Where is the humble, servant-leader Messiah? This sounds familiar to us. Like when our boss chews us out or our parents fuss at us or a teacher scolds us. We’re used to people in power expressing disappointment and judgment, so we read this as such because it is so negative and it’s Jesus talking, the ultimate authority figure. We need to rethink this because Jesus made it clear with the donkey that he was not using power in that way. This is not the rant of someone in power directed against those under him. Jesus had no political power (as we will shortly see), so this is more accurately the prophetic rant of one not in power directed against those who are in power. This is a call for justice and mercy, from one outside the system, just like Isaiah (see chapters 5 and 10), Jeremiah (see chapter 13), Amos (5.18-24), etc.

Understanding it this way is important for a couple of reasons. First, if we are going to follow Jesus, we have to position ourselves similarly – as ones who refuse worldly power in order to speak prophetically to it. Second, it is in the nature of prophetic speech to carry meanings across generations. Jesus was not just speaking against the abuse of religious power in his day, he is also speaking against the abuse of religious power now. Our religious leaders make the same sort of moves as the Pharisees did. As Bono sings, “I can’t tell the difference between ABC News, Hill St. Blues, and a preacher on the old-time gospel hour, stealing money from the sick and the old.” Stealing money from widows and other vulnerable people didn’t end with the Pharisees. Neither did playing games with what counts as sacred. We move those around to suit our cultural preferences just as they did. We’re also just as good at making a big deal out of little things while completely ignoring the actual big things. We swallow our share of camels and our filthy coffee mugs sure look clean on the outside.

See, it’s a good idea to try and read all these woes as still coming from the gentle, donkey-riding Jesus, because they are directed at us. More tomorrow…

The New Living Translation (NLT)Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Matthew 23:1-12

1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 2 “The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses. 3 So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don’t follow their example. For they don’t practice what they teach. 4 They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden.

5 Everything they do is for show. On their arms they wear extra wide prayer boxes with Scripture verses inside, and they wear robes with extra long tassels. 6 And they love to sit at the head table at banquets and in the seats of honor in the synagogues. 7 They love to receive respectful greetings as they walk in the marketplaces, and to be called ‘Rabbi.’

8 Don’t let anyone call you ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one teacher, and all of you are equal as brothers and sisters. 9 And don’t address anyone here on earth as ‘Father,’ for only God in heaven is your spiritual Father. 10 And don’t let anyone call you ‘Teacher,’ for you have only one teacher, the Messiah. 11 The greatest among you must be a servant. 12 But those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Comments

Prayer boxes worn on the arm were meant to facilitate a life of prayer, but Jesus explains that for the religious leaders the opposite had become the case. The boxes had become symbols of honor that took the place of prayer. Receiving respect and deference from others soothed the unsettled feeling in their hearts that would otherwise only be soothed in prayer. The same was true of the titles. They enjoyed being called rabbi, father (a term denoting socio-political power), and teacher, hearing those honorifics given to them satisfied them so much they no longer needed to teach, nurture, or instruct. Jesus wants none of this and forbids his followers from using any titles at all for each other. He tells us to do the work as humble servants and leave out the self-promotion. Take joy in the work itself, not the praise/respect/title you get for doing (or not doing) the work. Don’t talk about praying or make it look like you pray – just pray. Don’t let anything other than prayer deal with the unsettledness that leads to prayer. Don’t talk about serving, teaching, shepherding, instructing – just serve. Serve in whatever capacity you have been called. Calling is fundamentally an unsettling, the Spirit giving you a task to do by making you feel uncomfortable until it is done. Don’t let anything give you comfort other than doing the thing that needs doing. 

The New Living Translation (NLT)Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.