Matthew 23 - March 23^rd

Jesus here presents a series of woes to the scribes and Pharisees, who were the religious leaders of his day. These woes all serve to warn these religious leaders of the impending judgment and sorrow that will come upon them because of their hypocrisy and shallow religion. The Pharisees are a perfect example of those who live by an empty religion. They are perfectly pleased to put on an appearance of godliness; however, they have no spiritual life. Their godliness is nothing more than a pretense, and this is exactly why Jesus says that they are like whitewashed tombs. What does this mean? Tombs were often whitewashed to appear more attractive and stand out; think of a beautiful marble gravestone or an intricate Egyptian sarcophagus; it looks wonderful on the outside, but open it up, and there is nothing but death and decay. This is what the scribes and Pharisees are like, beautifully clothed and seemingly righteous, but in reality, they are spiritually dead.

Unfortunately, this is what many people are like. They appear wonderfully righteous on the exterior, and they seem to have been born again and possess true spiritual life, but in reality, they are spiritually dead. They are the tares among the wheat, and their works do not come from a love for God, but from a desire to attain a righteousness of their own. I do not only speak about leaders of false religions, such as the Pope; who wear wonderful vestments and speak eloquent words but fail to have God, but also about those who dwell amongst the true Church.

The Pharisees will strain a gnat yet swallow a camel. What does this mean? The gnat was the smallest of all unclean animals and the camel was the largest. I read in my study bible that many Phariseess would strain their beverages through a fine cloth so that they could make sure they would not accidentally swallow a gnat that fell into it. The picture is this, they would scrupulously hold to their traditions and to the outward observance of the Law, yet at the same time, they would neglect weightier matters of the Law such as justice, mercy, and faithfulness. They would do all in their power to avoid accidentally committing the smallest of transgressions, yet had no problem committing large transgressions. They would meticulously hold to extrabiblical traditions such as washing hands before eating to keep anything unclean from entering their mouths, yet had no problem with having unclean things come out of their mouths. They would refuse to show sympathy and compassion, and mercy to someone whom Jesus healed on the Sabbath because they considered it unlawful. Ultimately, in the final analysis, they were those who failed to see the rationale behind the Law in the first place. They would outwardly observe the Law of God yet seek to crucify God himself. Their hypocrisy was rank.

They were just like their ancestors who crucified the prophets of old. The Pharisees held the prophets in high esteem and say, ‘if we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets’; when in reality, they are just like their fathers in seeking to kill Christ. The apple truly has not fallen far from the tree. Their sin is even worse, though, because while their fathers shed the blood of the prophets, they will shed the blood of the ultimate prophet, Jesus Christ! They loved their religion more than they loved God. 

They loved their religion because they loved themselves, and their religion was a perfect way of glorifying themselves. They did not love God, and they truly did not even love the Law of God as David did. Rather, they loved to use the Law as a platform to stand on and loved to add their traditions to it to burden the people and elevate themselves. They hated Jesus because they were jealous of him because their counterfeit righteousness couldn’t compete with his genuine righteousness. They hated Jesus because he was more popular than they were, he was smarter than they were, he was purer than they were, and because he was greater than they were. Like cups, they sought to clean the outside but could do nothing of the filth within. They didn’t care about true righteousness because they only needed an appearance of it to get what they wanted, and what was that? Glory. They loved to be called rabbi, and they loved to sit in places of honor. They did not seek to bring glory to God but to themselves. But the true children of God do not seek glory for themselves but for God. Man is always after one thing, to glorify themselves, and they will seek many different avenues to do so; for the Pharisees, it was religion. 

Brothers and sisters, let us not be unaware. There are many who love to preach and teach, and serve, not because they love God but because they want to bring attention and honor to themselves. There are many who have a superficial religion and are more concerned about the glory that comes from men rather than the glory that comes from God. Superficial religion will not save anyone, and all the glory of man will burn to ashes on that final Day. The only thing that will save a man is the grace of God that comes through faith in the spilled blood of Jesus Christ! And a true religion is one that works out of a love for God and a love for others, and not one that works out of love for self. Let us continually examine our hearts and motives, lest these woes come upon ourselves.