Matthew 23 - Jesus Issues a Scathing Rebuke of the Pharisees' Hypocrisy

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A Warning Against Hypocrisy

As Jesus made his way to the cross, his speaking out against the Pharisees and teachers of the Law became more pronounced. In this case he made these accusations in public, whereas before it was just to the disciples.

Notice he doesn't undermine their authority, which was given to them by Moses. He calls out the fact that they don't practice what they preach. And, in fact, they were laying heavy burdens on the people making it harder for them to follow God. Today we call this legalism, where following Christ is all about perfect adherence to the Law or worse laws we make up that aren't scriptural. 

Contrast this with Jesus' words to the disciples in Matthew 11:28-30.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Jesus didn't come to add to our burdens, but he took our burden of sin to the cross. Jesus died for us so that we might be freed from the Law and our sinful nature. Jesus came to offer life and life abundantly. (John 10:10) Following Jesus with your whole heart and being led by the Holy Spirit is living in the freedom God wants for you. 

The other issue he brought up was their pride. They loved the applause of men. They loved sitting in the places of honor, and wearing religious symbols to make them seem "holier than thou". 

You may or may not know what the term "phlylacteries" means.

They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments: Both the phylacteries (small leather boxes with tiny scrolls with scriptures on them, tied to the arm and head with leather straps) and the borders of their garments were worn in the attempt to conform to the Mosaic Law (Deuteronomy 11:18, Numbers 15:38-40).

Finally, Jesus tells them not to get caught in titles, as if a title makes one any better than anyone else. It was not so much the title itself, but the attitude that went with it. So the question might be should you even call a pastor for example "Pastor Mike"? 

I found this explanation regarding this question helpful. 

From the rest of Scripture, we can see that Jesus did not intend this as an absolute prohibition, rather as speaking to the heart that loves, collects, and cherishes such titles. We know this because, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, godly men spoke of themselves with some of these titles.

· Jesus was called Rabbi: Matthew 26:25 and 26:49; John 1:38 and 3:26.

· Paul called himself a father: 1 Corinthians 4:15, Philippians 2:22.

· Paul called other Christians his children: Galatians 4:19.

· Paul called himself a teacher: 1 Timothy 2:7, 2 Timothy 1:11.  - Guzik

Jesus again shares his definition of true greatness. Those who are great are those who humble themselves. He will be the greatest example of humility when he lays down his life for us. After Jesus humbled himself and died on the cross for us, God exalted him to the highest place that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of the Father. 

Are there elements of legalism in your life? Are you still trying to do religious things to be accepted by God or receive accolades from others? Where do you need to go to Jesus and release your burdens to him? Don't accept the heavy burden others try to put on you, stay in Jesus' "easy yoke"!

Seven Woes on the Teachers of the Law and the Pharisees

If you ask someone what they dislike the most about the Church nine times out of ten they are going to say, "The church is full of hypocrites!" And in a way we are all are hypocrites to some degree.  We say we are Christians, disciples of Christ, and yet we do not always do what Jesus did. Or, we often are guilty of doing the opposite of what Jesus would do. Paul talks about this struggle we all have with sin at the end of Romans 7. 

But in today's passage Jesus goes after the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and teachers of the Law.  Probably the worst charge he gave them was that they shut door of the kingdom of God on the people they were supposed to be leading to God. And we know this door is Jesus Christ. 

Jesus then goes on to describes all of their religious activity, which they do to glorify themselves not God. We are not familiar with making an oath or what he calls "swearing", other than in the way we think of it today. I.e. cussing It is sort of like when we say, "I swear to God", as if it makes our words more trustworthy. Essentially this is what the Pharisees were doing. 

Out of obedience to God’s Word they refused to swear by the name of God (as commanded in Exodus 20:7). Yet they constructed an elaborate system of oaths, some of which were binding and some were not. It was a way of making a promise while keeping fingers crossed behind one’s back. - Guzik

The Pharisees did good things which are commanded by God, but they did them with superficial motives. For instance, it appears the Pharisees went on mission trips to win converts. But the problem was what were they converting them to their own kingdoms.

Their zeal in evangelism did not prove they were right with God. These religious leaders went to great lengths to win others, but they brought people to darkness, not light. Guzik

Moslems and other cults are great at recruiting others to earn rewards, but again what are they recruiting them into. I.e. For some radical, fundamentalist Moslems it is to obtain virgins in heaven. There were some radical Christian churches that have done this in history as well, though others argue they were really false versions of Christianity. 

We know Moses also taught tithing. The Israelites were to give God their first tenth of crops and livestock. But the Pharisees took this Law and went to extremes like tithing on their mint and spices. It wasn't real sacrificial giving, but for all for show. 

"Their tithing was meticulous and noteworthy; but hypocritical because it served to sooth the guilt of their neglect of the weightier matters of the law. It is both possible and common to be distracted with relatively trivial matters while a lost world perishes." - Guzik

Jesus finishes his scathing rebuke of the Pharisees and teachers of the Law with a few interesting metaphors. We usually think of Jesus as kind, compassionate, and gentle, which is he is for sure. But it is obvious Jesus is not a fan of hypocrisy. It made him more angry than anything we see in the gospels doing! 

He said things like they were like, "A cup that looked shiny on the inside but was filthy on the inside." .He called them "whitewashed tombs". They look shiny and clean on the outside, but they were like rotting corpses on the inside. 

Finally, Jesus called them a "brood of vipers!", basically a bunch of snakes. 

Jesus' words today are stinging and remind us how important it is to live a life worthy of our calling. We have seen a lot of damage done to the body of Christ and hindrance to God's kingdom coming on earth as it is in heaven due to hypocrisy, immorality, and greed. 

As I said before none of us are perfect. We all struggle with sin of all varieties and types. We can all say, "If not for the grace of God there go I." In our weakness Jesus is strong if we humble ourselves God will lift us up. But today's passage remind us that Jesus hates hypocrisy!

Pray that God will through the Holy Spirit transform your heart, will, and mind to live like Jesus were if He were you!