Matthew 23:13-39
New International Version 1984
(NIV1984)
13 “Woe to you, teachers of
the law and Pharisees, you
hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You
yourselves do not enter,
nor will you let those enter who are trying to.
15 “Woe to you, teachers of
the law and Pharisees, you
hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and
when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.
16 “Woe to you, blind guides! You
say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by
the gold of the
temple, he is bound by his oath.’ 17 You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the
temple that makes the gold sacred? 18 You also say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it
means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gift on it, he is bound by his
oath.’ 19 You
blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20 Therefore, he who swears
by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. 21 And he who swears by the
temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. 22 And he who swears by
heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it.
23 “Woe to you, teachers of
the law and Pharisees, you
hypocrites! You give
a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more
important matters of the law—justice,
mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter,
without neglecting the former. 24 You blind guides! You strain out a
gnat but swallow a camel.
25 “Woe to you, teachers of
the law and Pharisees, you
hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee! First
clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.
27 “Woe to you, teachers of
the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which
look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones
and everything unclean. 28 In
the same way, on the
outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of
hypocrisy and wickedness.
29 “Woe to you, teachers of
the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and
decorate the graves of the righteous.30 And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would
not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’31 So you testify against
yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the
measure of the sin of your forefathers!
33 “You snakes! You brood of
vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? 34 Therefore I am sending you prophets and
wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others
you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. 35 And so upon you will
come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of
righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you
murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 I tell you the truth, all this will come upon this
generation.
37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your
children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you
were not willing. 38 Look,
your house is left to you desolate. 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.’
When I first looked at this passage
I thought I would do each woe separately but decided to go ahead and put all
the scripture down because it all ties together so closely. I then went back and highlighted parts of
verses that stood out to me. This is
what I found:
Many times I have heard people say
that they don’t go to church because of all the hypocrites. This has always bothered me because the
churches should be full of people who are saved by grace, that means they have
sinned. But, in these passages Jesus is
saying the same thing and the hypocrites He is speaking of are the leaders.
1.
Jesus confirms there are hypocrites in the
church and indeed they turn people away from the Lord. We each need to examine ourselves and make
sure we are not living a double life.
God knows our hearts, He knows our motives, and He knows our ways. If by chance you are one of those who have
turned away because of what leaders have done, I urge you to not give up on God
because leaders have led you astray or acted inappropriately. Those leaders are not Christ. Follow Christ, get into the Word, pray, and
find a group of dedicated Christians who love the Lord. Don’t be one of those who don’t enter because
of the actions of others. Our faith is
our faith, we believe because God has allowed us to. Each of us needs to have a pure heart because
of Him not because of men.
2.
Money is not our God, if it is, it
is a false god. We should neither
worship it nor depend on it to get us to heaven. Although we should give graciously as God has
called us to not overlook justice, mercy, and faithfulness. We need to remember that it is only by the
grace of God that we have what we have, we need to remember that it is through
Jesus Christ our Lord that mercy is given to us. Our Father in Heaven is the one who is our
judge and will judge rightly, not us.
Justice comes through Him and Him alone.
It is through His faithfulness that we can be found faithful.
3.
We all know what we look like on the
outside but none of us can see the inside of others except God. I have to think of this every time I look at
a poor almost dilapidated house. On the
outside it looks horrible, something that needs to be condemned but I have been
on the inside of some of those houses and the inside is simply beautiful. They are clean and everything is in its
place. Each time I see this, it reminds
me that sometimes there are those who we think may not have much, they don’t
have money to give to the church, they always seem to be in need, yet on the
inside, if we take the time to get to know them, they love the Lord more than
most, they have a heart for Him but no one will take the time to find out who
they are. I have also been in some
houses that look beautiful on the outside but when you walk it they are not
well kept. There are people in this
world who are like this. On the outside
they look like they have it all together but on the inside their life is
cluttered and unclean. God knows where
each of us are and if we would only take some time to invest in people we would
know a little more about what is on the inside as well.
4.
I have said in the past that I
couldn’t understand why the Israelites acted the way they did because God was
right there with them leading them all the way.
Yet He is right there with me leading me all the way too and sometimes I
question Him just as they did. Sometimes
God sends prophets into our midst and we send them on their way because we
really don’t want to hear what they have to say. We may not stone them but we might as well
have because we disregard what they are telling us. We need to also be cautious of false
prophets, those who claim to be of God but merely are looking out for their own
interest and not the interest of others.
Yet when the word of God is proclaimed, like we read yesterday, we need
to listen and do as they say not as they do.
5.
Lastly, God wants to gather us up
and protect us like the mother hen yet He gives us the choice. He let’s go of those He loves dearly in order
for us to recognize His greatness. Are
you running to Him or away from Him? Are
you asking for His mercy, His grace, His forgiveness?
As you
seek Him may you find that He is there to supply all your needs. Never mind those hypocrites, don’t look at
them as a measure of God’s love. Look
towards God, run in His direction.
Humans will let you down but God will lift you up.
Seeking Him
with all my heart,
Sheila
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