Matthew 23:13-24

Matthew 23:13-24

Woe is an expression of utter grief and ruin beyond return. It is a term that Jesus will use several times in Matthew, chapter 23. Jesus apparently never read, “How to Win friends and influence people”. There is so much of the slick, flattery salesmanship in the church today, just as there was in ancient times. Jesus had none of it. There is also in the church today a raging combination of the world and sin. But Jesus’s sharpest rebuke was for the most religious people. We need to take note that while the specific issues may be different, the bent and the twisted heart issue may be shared.

The rigidness of the Pharisee’s strict, rule keeping did two things. First, it kept them from authentic relationship with God. Second, they kept others from that kind of relationship with God as well. When Christians today are more known for our condemnation of vice and sin than for the Grace we offer the world turns a deaf ear. Such an attitude may also reflect the heart that believes it has been justified by its works and has earned salvation.

Rule keepers beget rule keepers. There is nothing wrong with efforts to make converts, but when rule keepers (ancient or modern) do that, their converts will try to be even more legalistic. The result is that they will be even more estranged from God. Jesus in calling them “sons of hell” was not pejorative; it was a statement of fact.

Next Jesus addresses the rule keeper’s tendency to look for loopholes. Having created an external legalistic system they can never keep, all rule keepers look for an exception that will allow them to skirt around their own rules not to mention God‘s law. This is the beginning of their hypocrisy. Justification of the rule keeper is only possible if they can find a loophole or an exception.

Jesus addresses the root of the hypocrisy by explaining it using the example of tithing. The outward expression of tithing, righteous in and of itself, was a poor substitute for a heart given to God. Very likely Micah 6:8 was in the mind of Jesus. Jesus is warning us about focusing on the measurables so that we miss or perhaps even choose to ignore the more important heart issues.

"Lord, help me to be holy, not just in my actions but also in my heart and motivations. AMEN"