Matthew Chapter 23
Picks up from yesterday, "How then does he call him Lord if he is his son?"
Except for the first few words, this entire chapter is in red. He is in Jerusalem. It is very near his death. These are the things he talked about that last day.
In vss 1-12 Jesus tells them to listen to the scribes and Pharisees, because they "sit on Moses seat". They are correct in the things they teach about the law. Therefore, the people were to obey that part. They were to observe their words, but not their works. 3b says they do not practice what they preach.
2021 - Here is that verse:
3 so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. [Mat 23:3 ESV]
How many sermons are here? False teachers, leaders, preachers, those who water down, those who take out the sting, those who modify for modern conditions. All are in this verse. We are to obey the underlying word, but we are to ignore the hypocritical practice of those who teach the word falsely.
They make the burdens of worship heavy on the people, but they themselves don't carry that burden. The Pharisees were so concerned with jots and tittles that they made worship burdensome. Like tithing even to the tenth gram of a spice they grew in the window box. They added such minute record keeping to the law and then probably bragged about how precise their own records were. They made things extreme that were meant to be principles. Worship was meant to be joyous and free, they had made it burdensome and bitter.
2020 - These first 12 verses "shine the light" on the religious elite. Jesus is not indicting the Romans who are oppressing the people, he doesn't mention them at all, ever. The Government was not the problem in Israel. It was the religious elite. Hmm...Were Pharisees supposed to be descendants of Aaron, or were they all Levites? I don't think so.
2021 - This seems like a good FB post today. Wonder why it didn't occur to me then?
2020 - So I went and looked up Pharisee. Here is what I found: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pharisee This is absolutely amazing. Why did no one ever ever ever talk about this!?!? It is worth following this link and reading about just where the Pharisees came from and what they stood for. Once you have this article as context for who they were, and then you see the castigation that Jesus heaps on them, you surely see where the attitude of "not changing with the times" comes from, you see that "higher criticism" is surely in the same vein with the Pharisees, and you should - absolutely should - reject that out of hand! I'm going to summarize it here, but the article is a must read!
The Pharisees were a "party" that arose during the intertestamentary period, probably in the time of the Hasmoneans, 165-160 BC, shortly after the Maccabean revolt. They were "spiritually aligned" with the Hasmoneans. The distinctive, separating aspect of this group was their insistence on the binding force of oral tradition. That tradition, to this day, is a basic tenet of Jewish theological thought. (As it is a basic tenet of Catholic thought!) The Pharisees arose in contrast to the Sadducees who were a priestly group, and who had always provided the spiritual leadership of Israel. The main distinction was that the Sadducees believed that EVERYTHING needed to have its basis in the Torah - the first five books. The Pharisees thought modern problems, since they could not possibly have been anticipated by Moses or the Torah (there's a "thinking" problem right there!) must be dealt with in a thoughtful way, and "adjusted" to modern situations. That meant going outside the literal, word for word, one to one correspondence that the Sadducees insisted was the only correct way. "They interpreted the Law according to its spirit." (Wow. Just wow.) And this sentence: "When in the course of time a law had been outgrown or superseded by changing conditions, they gave it a new and more-acceptable meaning, seeking scriptural support for their actions through a ramified system of hermeneutics." (So they used their own reasoning to CHANGE the Law of God and make it applicable to the times. And as they did this, they made it more "doable" for themselves, while making it next to impossible for those they proposed to inform. No wonder Jesus was so direct in his criticism of them. And in these first verses of Matt 23, you get these words: 2 "The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat, 3 so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. 4 They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. [Mat 23:2-4 ESV]. When they quote Scripture, listen to that, but do not do as they do. This would just cut all authority to modify the Law right out from under them. Jesus endorses a strict interpretation here. I guess the next thing to look up is exactly when and why the Sadducees decided that there was no resurrection from the dead. The Sadducees misinterpreted, the Pharisees reinterpreted.)
Ok, moving on....but the above is just...sooo much makes sense now!!! (Later, 1/2/21, Since the Pharisees had only become a "thing" in about 160 BC, they would have considered themselves separate - smarter, better, wiser - than their father's who had killed the prophets. They weren't just better than anyone in 1st century Jerusalem, they were also smarter than all who came before them. Just like Millennials!)
2022 - Jesus tells the crowds in these first few verses not to call people "rabbi", because there is one teacher, and all are brothers, not to call people "Father" because we have one Father who is in heaven, and not to call people "Instructor" (Greek word is "kathegetes") because there is only one instructor, Christ. I am not aware of an English word that is transliterated from kath-aig-A-tace'. The first says all are on the same level. That teacher is the coming, and is the Holy Spirit. Call no one Father, because God is in his heaven. Call no one instructor, for Christ is here to open those doors. This is the Trinity.
13 "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. [Mat 23:13 ESV]
Starting in vs 13, we see the first use of "woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!" Very direct language, very accusing, and without wiggle room. Note that Jesus is addressing the scribes and Pharisees directly, with the all the people including his disciples there to hear every word. This is the Messiah publicly demolishing the authority of the Scribes and Pharisees, and refocusing ALL authority on the word, as written instead of as interpreted. There are seven woes listed. These are addressed to the most (self)-important religious leaders of the time. What follows are many examples of the ways in which these leaders have perverted the law with their traditions, with their interpretations that stress the minutiae while completely overlooking the broad brush.
Another good FB post, following the one above. Use that first woe as an example of the seven, and then explain the rest.
The first one says they not only are so wrong that they themselves won't get to heaven, but that they are preventing others from getting there also. A very serious charge given Jesus' earlier condemnation of those who mislead children. Secondly, they go to great lengths to convert foreigners to Judaism, and then teach them their own perverted version of it, making the proselytes to Judaism even worse than they themselves are. They should have left those people alone! This is an interesting concept!
The third, in 16-22, is about swearing. Jesus shows how they have given priority to the "physical" rather than to the holy and spiritual. They have made the sacrifice more important than the altar. This is a long section. They were swearing by the offering, but if you swore by the altar, that one you didn't have to really keep. They were upside down in their thinking. Seems they were making what they could see and sell and tax and control more important than the God who provided them in the first place.
2022 - And why would they go to the trouble of making these distinctions about swearing? Only purpose would be to cheat those who "didn't" know the rules. Perhaps these rules had not formerly been public. The Pharisees could swear by the altar to pay a certain price, then refuse to do so and thereby cheat the seller, and claim they were still sinless because the seller should have known that oath was not binding. They went to this much trouble to make it "fair" to cheat someone! What a mindset!
The fourth is about how they weigh out the tenth of mint - of irrelevant herbs instead of the corn and wheat tithes that were intended - and spend no time worrying about mercy and justice. They obey the specifics but not the intent. The fifth time is about another human tradition they've added and made weighty while neglecting the real point. They make sure the dishes are clean on the outside - dishes and themselves - for others to see they use clean utensils, but they don't make sure the inside is clean, neither of dishes or of themselves. The sixth is about how nice their clothes are, so that they look pious and dedicated, but on the inside are dead men's bones. Stinking rotting flesh on the inside, unsaved, unacceptable to God on the inside where it matters but fastidious perfection on the outside - for men to see, while they neglect the things of God.
2022 - This verse: "24 You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!" [Mat 23:24 ESV]
Doesn't this reference "passing" a gnat? Isn't this about eliminating a gnat and making a huge deal of something that is no "strain" at all, while swallowing something that you are never going to be able to "get rid of"? Jesus is saying they act like tithing a tenth of the tiniest is a huge deal, while they consume great clods of evil that they can never expel. I'd not seen it this way before...but what else could it mean?
2022 - Vs 25, To make the outside clean, you must first get the inside clean. Look at the profound wisdom in this. How laser focused on the Pharisees was Jesus here. How accurate this description, so that all who heard - the CROWDS heard - just how far down the wrong path the Pharisees had gone, and they recognized the truth of it. The "eminence" of the Pharisees was gone forever after Jesus said these things in 23.
28 So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. [Mat 23:28 ESV] Is this me? Is this the modern church? NO! It is NOT the modern church. It is not about an organization, it is about individuals. It ties right back to the one about how our words proclaim our cleanness or uncleanness, rather than what we eat doing so. The outside can look just fine, like a tomb can look clean and wholesome, but on the inside, rotten, stinking, dead men's bones. This was all said about religious leadership in the time of Roman occupation. The government was doing what you would expect them to do. But the church leadership was undermining the true foundation of that society - of all society.
A third FB post in the series.
The seventh and last is their outward honoring of the dead prophets - especially those murdered for the things they preached. They do this to show that, had they been there in those days, they'd have recognized and accepted the truth those prophet's proclaimed, and heeded their warnings, unlike their fathers. 2021 - They were smarter than all who came before them. Jesus first points out that they are condemning themselves already in confessing that they are their father's sons, inheritors of what their father's did. This vs; 32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. [Mat 23:32 ESV] , and then also this verse: 36 Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. [Mat 23:36 ESV] I think Jesus is saying that they are their father's sons in that they too are about to reject and murder and persecute and deny the truth of the things they hear. They are going to crucify the Messiah - surely a worse crime than even their own evil fathers ever did - then persecute, whip, chase and kill others who proclaim the gospel. This will bring the wrath of God already incited by their fathers, already being played out, also on themselves, not just as descendants of evil men but because they are as bad or worse than those men. This generation will receive the culmination of God's wrath. The double punishment will be visited on them. (2020 - I need to get this whole thing put together...)
2021 - This is just too much...There must be a way to put the description of the Pharisaic mindset above from Brittanica with vss 29-32. In the same way that the Pharisees changed the rules in order to portray themselves as righteous, knowledgeable, fair, pure in heart, and a wiser and nobler people than any who ever came before, so our "leaders" today would NEVER have owned slaves, NEVER have looked down their noses at Asians, NEVER have taken advantage of opportunities that came from being children of a wealthy home. These SJW's who shout their superiority over the fathers who produced them back through generations are in fact declaring themselves as guilty as their father's were for the sins they commit. Because just like their ancestors, they see themselves as greater than those around them because of their self-declared brilliance, not realizing that the only difference between them and their fathers is that they are beating down a different class of people. But make no mistake, they are beating down whole groups of people in the name of moral superiority. This is the same thing! (((This is all originally in the Matt 23 comments.)))
Can I possibly put this together as a FB post, or must this be a website treatise with a link?
2021 - This verse:
36 Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. [Mat 23:36 ESV]
This was Jesus' last day as the flesh and blood that we are. And on this day, he tells the people listening that they are the last generation of the Mosaic Law, the last generation of God's chosen people. He is telling them that 70 AD is coming, that the Law is about to be abrogated, and that the church age will replace the Mosaic Law as the Gentiles will replace the chosen. This scenario is going to repeat. The day is coming when the last seven years will unfold. That generation will see the end as laid out in revelation. That will be then end of the Age of the Gentiles, and see the resurgence of the chosen nation of Israel, as the Jews recognize Christ in almost universal numbers across the world, and they come home to Jerusalem. That will be the end for the Gentiles, as they will have gone as far astray in their turn as Israel did in Jesus' time. It will be as the days of Noah, because in Noah's day, there were only Gentiles. Before you go wagging your head and saying tut tut tut about Israel, just remember that an even worse time is coming to the Gentiles. We must look to our own families, our children, and our grandchildren to make sure that they are not still here when those days unfold.
Last verse of the chapter, after all these condemnations, is here:
39 For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'" [Mat 23:39 ESV]
I think this is the blindness on them. They just won't recognize the Christ of Isaiah 53 as the Messiah. They will not today recognize Jesus as Christ though they have the benefit of hindsight and of the New Testament. A terrible thing for them to be shut off from seeing Jesus. 2020 - Jesus is quoting an OT scripture of the Messiah. I don't think it is about blindness, I think he is telling them that he is going back to heaven, and they won't see him again until he comes to fulfill...Oh my. It is Psalm 118:26, the same Psalm quoted as he entered Jerusalem, same as the young men were quoting as Jesus taught and healed in the temple. Taking a sec to read that Psalm. The Messianic part of this Psalm seems to start in vs 22. Before that it seems to be by David about his own relationship with God, even in the times of his distress. There is an MSB note at Mark 11:9 saying this is part of the Hallel (The Hebrew word for praise) comprised of Psa 113-118 which was sung at all the Jewish religious festivals, most notably at the Passover.