Key Text: Matthew 23
Additional Texts: Romans 10:3; Matthew 6: 1; James 1: 20; Matthew 5: 22; Matthew 7: 15-16; Revelation 20: 11 – 15; 2 Corinthians 5: 10; John 12: 47 – 48
There are several helpful supporting Scriptures in this entry; if you are unable to read them immediately, you may still grasp the essence of it.
We are sometimes taught, especially as children, that Jesus is always mild. Many depictions of Him display a serene and quiet nativity scene – a quiet sleeping baby, surrounded by angels and His family. Whereas we know that Jesus is indeed gentle, loving, merciful, and patient (these few adjectives barely scratch the surface of describing His awesome character), He does sometimes confront people with bluntness. For the time that He walked the earth before His death, burial and resurrection, Jesus’ interactions with others often revealed that His character is unchanging, but His methods, and tones were varied. As He is a part of the Trinity, He reveals the Father’s heart. In these conversations, Jesus told us how to live. Likewise, through His approach to others, routines and actions, He showed us the Father’s heart and also His desires for how we should live. This exciting series will explore some of these very candid statements from Jesus, as well as the implications of His actions. It will challenge you to think differently about Him and His models of life skills for us, in addition to ultimately exploring some ways in which we might glorify God.
I cannot think about the content for these entries without considering when I first had a conversation about it with a dearly missed family friend and stalwart in the field of education who transitioned to be with the Lord: Maxine. We talked sometimes about (what we named) the ‘feistiness’ (frankness) of Jesus. We observed that in some Scriptures, He often spoke some challenging words. We also mused about how inappropriately forthright He must have seemed to His critics and the religious leaders He confronted, but understood that His aim was to fulfil His purpose, whilst challenging traditional or legalistic practices even if it was uncomfortable. Maxine’s family remains one that is dear to me; naturally, this series is dedicated to them and our mutual friends.
In Matthew 23, Jesus has an audience of His disciples and crowds which followed Him. He takes the opportunity to caution them to do as the religious leaders (teachers of the law and Pharisees) instructed them to, but to avoid imitating their actual behaviour. He exposed their hypocrisy in burdening people with religious traditions or practices which they, ironically did not follow.
In His sermon, Jesus further highlighted His disgust with the religious teachers’ duplicity; their attire had the semblance of moral uprightness, but their character had been unchanged and their hearts unrepentant of sin. They loved lofty titles and proudly treasured the honour attached to them. Through the multiple woe statements, Jesus bluntly condemned their hypocrisy and its results in:
1. Preventing others from accessing the Kingdom;
2. Travelling far and wide to convert others but providing inappropriate instruction which made them just as bad as the false teachers;
3. Erroneous teaching about honouring promises with rituals;
4. Focusing on meticulous tithing, yet neglecting important matters such as: justice, mercy and faithfulness;
5. An outer semblance to morality but inner wickedness;
6. Failure to admit that their forerunners’ practices in the past resulted in the murder of prophets.
In various translations of the key text, there is terminology such as ‘frauds’ and ‘hopeless’ (The Message Bible), ‘blind fools’ (King James’ version), or my favourite ‘fools and blinds’ in the New King James Version. The first time I read this Scripture my eyes popped out a bit, I read it again to ensure that I wasn’t seeing incorrect words and admittedly, I found it slightly amusing: I found it very interesting that Jesus had called the Pharisees blind fools! Tell them Jesus! Though ten chapters earlier, Jesus warns us not to call anyone a fool (Matthew 5: 22), contextually, He referred to unjustifiable rage or resentment. This is not a suggestion that we cannot discern sin or identify it – we are encouraged to do so without condemning others (Matthew 7: 15-23). However, if God/Jesus classifies anyone as a fool, He is within His divine authority to do so with righteous anger, and He is able to condemn sinfulness as He does in the text and as declared elsewhere in the Word (John 12: 47 – 48; Revelation 20: 11 – 15; 2 Timothy 4: 1).
As He taught the people, Jesus overtly challenged hypocrisy, emphasising the importance (in contrast) of a repentant heart which is submissive to God and on the journey of sanctification. Jesus is against us performing external religious rites instead of having a true internal relationship with God (which ultimately manifests externally), and expresses His disgust at ‘blind’ and ‘foolish’ guides whose erroneous teaching (of their misinterpretations of the law written by Moses), both confuse and hinder growth. He was passionate about Jerusalem, but sorrowful that they rejected the prophets sent to help them, as well as Him – the Son of God!
What does this mean for us today? Today, there are still ‘fools and blinds’/‘blind fools’ who pervert Scriptures, emphasise works and appearance, and burden their followers with impossible rules or criteria to be accepted in the Kingdom of God. There are still people who follow erroneous teaching, steeped in meaningless traditions and rules to appear holy. There is still ignorance within the body of Christ about differences grounded in denominational practices, and mere preferences about how we worship. And naturally, Jesus is still disgusted at it!
The body of Christ must be grounded in Biblical principles which are eternal, but must realise that God is eternal, unchanging, but also active. He is not stuck to the Victorian or any other era; He empowered people then to share the gospel, and their work lives on, but that is not the last time He chose and used people for His glory. King James commissioned the publication of the King James Version of the Bible in the early 1600s (Jacobean era), and though this was a huge accomplishment which provides encouragement, direction and growth for Churches and individual Christians, it does not equate to God being a Jacobean God who is stuck in the methods of the Church then: He is God eternally. In fact, many of the ministers of the gospel we celebrate today were rejected in their day – they were too ‘different’ to the traditional views. The same applies today. For example, many believe that if one listens to Christian/worship music (made to glorify God), that is different to their preferred genre, that is unholy. God can be glorified in hymns, modern praise and worship songs, slower songs and those with a more rapid pace. King David danced his clothes off (literally) when the Ark of the Covenant was taken to Jerusalem; he worshipped God and remembered His goodness. It doesn’t seem he was dancing to slow music as castanets, harps, lyres, timbrels, sistrums and cymbals were used in the procession. Music was made to glorify God and must do so without fail to be appropriate for Christians, yet many have been deceived into thinking that any song that’s not a traditional hymn is undignified, worldly, and inspired by the devil. I wonder how shocking heaven will be! Again, music was made to glorify God, and one of the the chief worship leaders was expelled from God’s presence when it tried to usurp Him (Ezekiel 28: 13); of course, with a vendetta against God’s people, it will pervert the very music designed to glorify God, then claim it as its original! The enemy is an impostor and forever seeks to imitate God’s creations and seek acknowledgment for them. Sometimes, instead of handing over what belongs to the Church, perhaps we should vehemently protect what God intended for His glory.
Whether it’s in the form of music ministries, teaching in the pulpit or other forms of service, God is still using people today as He did in the past, even if they don’t fit the traditional views many in the Church hold of ministers of the gospel. To say that God cannot choose and use people today is almost akin to grossly limiting Him to only having power in the past. Preachers wearing trainers/sneakers, gospel singers and preachers in ripped jeans, church attendees wearing jewellery, female Christians wearing shorts or trousers or a preacher with bleached hair: these are not necessarily unholy. These are different from stereotypical attire for church, but are not necessarily displeasing to God. The ladies being judged in traditional churches for wearing sleeveless clothing may simply be at a menopausal state – they might just need to wear cooler clothing! A lady may prefer trousers – as long as they’re modest, that small issue should not be a potential hindrance to her and indeed to others’ faith! We must be modest and separate to the world, but not unnecessarily finicky about our preferences in doing so. When Jesus began His ministry, His methods were resented by the Pharisees and socially unacceptable – different from the misguided interpretations of the law which preceded Him. They audaciously branded Him as a fraud, thinking they were quite justified in doing so. Yet, He is God’s Son who had come to earth to teach the truth!
On the subject of women preaching the gospel and taking positions of leadership in the Church or secular world, the Jesus of the Bible wholeheartedly accepted and used them (Phoebe the deacon in Romans 16: 1 -2 and the Samaritan woman with a sordid past and sullied name in John 4: 1 -42). Some traditional preachers condemn this – but thankfully, Jesus doesn’t! He has a calling for everyone who comes to Him – a variety of gifts in a variety of personalities to glorify one God. Indeed, if you follow the news, there are unfortunately many leaders throughout decades who had the traditional outer appearance, and preferred (masculine) gender who proved to be fraudulent. Equally, there are some who seem more modern who are not sincere. We should not decide credibility, integrity and the validity of one’s calling based solely on appearance,‘signs’ and rituals which may accompany ministry like the ‘blind fools’ that Jesus confronted. We should also remember that the Great Commission was given to all who follow Jesus; God is able to use people in various walks of life to minister to others and chooses who He wants to use. I assure you that there are things God may call us to do, and people He may choose in His sovereignty to use, even if legalistic views and man-made norms are overridden in the process.
God’s character is evident in the Word, and this is what Jesus encourages through this exchange – know the Lord through His Word and a relationship with Him. This will help us to discern ‘blind fools’ and guard ourselves against following their erroneous representations of God. Jesus warned His audience to do what the ‘blind fools’ said – not what they did. Moses’ law (without their additions) was acceptable to Jesus and as He said, He came to fulfil – not abolish the law (Matthew 5: 17 – 18). If the truth in the Word is being taught, follow that. If the life of the teacher is contradictory to the Word, don’t follow that. Simple. Ask anyone, young or old who has been in any period of education, and they are likely to tell you a preference for a teaching style, or a particular teacher. Perhaps all the choices of teachers delivered the same content well, but did so through varied pedagogy. It does not mean they are useless if they’re not liked – it simply means their style may not be preferred by some. Teachers may present content in the best possible manner for the context, yet not be preferred. The same applies in the Church – regardless of the title and level of scholarship (Ephesians 4: 9 – 13), God uses those who are the contrast to ‘blind guides’ – those who have a true revelation of God, and our preferences should not be sources of division.
Jesus’ candidness about teachers of the Word cautions us, regardless of our positions in the Church from the pulpits to the pews (all are not teachers but all are valued), to avoid rituals, the outer appearance of spirituality, burdensome and unproductive rules and focus more on His concerns: justice, mercy and faithfulness. In the text, whether He referred to the insincere as ‘hypocrites’, ‘fools and blinds’, ‘blind men’, ‘blind guides’, ‘whitewashed tombs…full of dead mean’s bones and all uncleanness’, ‘snakes’ or ‘brood of vipers’, Jesus’ admonition was for sincere worship that draws us and others closer to God. He does not want us to perform to seem holy, and encourages us to have servants’ hearts to truly be the greatest instead of craving titles and public recognition.
It is easy to point fingers at others, but with introspection, we will all find ourselves deficient in some ways – those are the areas of hypocrisy where we should focus on evolving. We may not all be teachers of the law or hold prominent positions in the Church, but will all be held accountable for our actions.
True worship is not performed for others to see and approve of us, but is perhaps more honest when there is no audience.
If you feel hypocritical in some way – you are not alone; at some point in our walk with God or journey through life (if you’ve not accepted Jesus as your Saviour yet), we may excel in some areas, but found to be lacking in others others. You tithe, pray, have lofty titles, but gossip frequently. You are patient and tithe, but you ignore the suffering of others who you are able to help. The list is endless. Either way, let’s unite to pray for each other to grow steadily, and commit to studying the Word and living more like Jesus daily, lest we amount to ‘blind fools’ or ‘whitewashed tombs!’ Jesus was not pleased about this condition in the religious leaders and would be displeased if He sees it in us too.
If you’ve been erroneously socialised or taught to seek to earn God’s approval through your appearance and rituals, perhaps read the gospels and get to know Jesus for yourself. He is God’s Son – the embodiment of His character. Jesus has also been grossly misrepresented by people who clearly have no real experience of Him, and who are sometimes influenced by the enemy. If we encounter blind guides, knowing the character of Jesus, we should not condemn them. Their actions may simply be a result of erroneous teaching which they’ve never questioned. This does not suggest they are doomed; God is able to reform them. Alternatively, they could be intentionally perverting the truth. Regardless, the only way to avoid limitations in our faith and relationship with God caused by
blind guidance, is to submit to the Holy Spirit, ask for His help and get to know Him through the Word.
Heresies and meaningless traditions are not the gospel. I’ve mentioned a few general ones, but the list is endless. Get to know Him for yourself through the Word.
Likewise, if you’re struggling to pray because you feel you are too much of a hypocrite, too steeped in traditions which cause you to feel you have no need to change, are too far from God, or simply burdened with daily cares, try talking to Him for a minute or five today. He hears and wants you to understand His truth – not for you to be misguided.
Heartfelt Prayer:
Dear Lord, thank You for revealing more of Yourself to me. You are indeed a lion and a lamb, unafraid to frankly challenge duplicity. Please help me to serve You with sincerity at all times, and eliminate any inconsistencies in my relationship with You and others. I ask these mercies in Your Son’s – Jesus’ name. Amen.’
