Matthew 23:1-7

Matthew 23:1-7

Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and His disciples while saying, “Upon the seat of Moses sat the scribes and the Pharisees.  Therefore, everything – all that they should say to you – do and keep.  But according to their works do not do.  For they speak and they do not do.  And they tie up heavy burdens and set them upon the shoulders of mankind, but they do not desire to move them themselves by a finger.  And they do all their works in order to be seen by mankind.  For they widen their phylacteries and they make big fringes for their garments.  And they love the places of honor in the banquets and the best seats in the synagogue and the greetings in the marketplaces and to be called Rabbi by mankind.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

We’ll start today with an interesting and extremely subtle not in the Greek.  In the first part of Jesus’ speech, while talking about the scribes and Pharisees, Jesus uses a past tense (aorist) verb: sat.  The scribes and Pharisees sat upon the seat of Moses.  Jesus doesn’t use this verb to imply that they no longer sit there.  For if they had been ejected from that seat by God, Jesus would not tell the people to listen to what they say!  Jesus is not saying that the scribes and Pharisees are being removed from power.  Rather, what Jesus is deeply – and incredibly subtly – saying is that the old system is passing away.  The seat of Moses is being replaced.  Through Jesus, there is a new order and a new system.  Jesus did not come to assert the strict and rigid obedience of the Law that was being taught by the religious leaders as the means to salvation.  Jesus came to express God’s grace to us and then invite us to obey the Law as a response to God’s grace.  The current system in the time of Jesus was a system that had begun to teach that one was saved by one’s obedience.  What Jesus is saying is that such a system is wrong and outdated and being replaced with a system that is rooted on grace and a call to obedience out of God’s act of grace to us.  Which, of course, any good Bible scholar will tell you is how it really was in the time of Abraham when the Hebrew faith began anyways.  That’s the thrust of Paul’s writing in Galatians 3.

How are you saved?  Do you respond to your salvation with humble submission to God?

Second Thought:

Then Jesus goes on to lay two scathing criticisms at the feet of the religious leaders.  The first one is that they place heavy burdens on the people around them.  Of course, many people interpret this to mean the strict observance of the Law.  However, I’m not truthfully sure that this is what Jesus means, because Jesus goes on to say that the religious leaders won’t lift a finger to accomplish the heavy burdens.  We know that the Pharisees and the religious leaders were intent on keeping the burdens of the Law.  It could mean that the religious leaders were not interested in helping other people in their observance of the Law.  But honestly what I think is that Jesus is putting out another social critique.  The religious leaders enjoyed a prominent lifestyle with little need of lack.  This system was built upon their position and status in the community.  I believe Jesus is actually making a social commentary about how the religious leaders are living an easy lifestyle of ease and comfort while the rest of the world around them slaves about their day doing hard work.  The religious leaders were about an easy life while ordering other people around.  Jesus criticizes them on this point.

Where do you fit into this picture?  Do you live an easy lifestyle while ordering other people around?  Or are you willing to go into the trenches and work with the people around you?

Third Thought:

The second critique that Jesus lifts up here is a commentary upon the love of recognition.  The religious leaders love the attention.  They love going to the marketplace so they can be seen and other people around them can recognize them.  They love making themselves dress fancy so other people will make comments on how they look.  They love the title of their position of wisdom in the community.  Again, Jesus is criticizing their love of their social order.  Jesus is criticizing their love for their station in life.  They are not living for the sake of their fellow man – as followers of God should be.

What is the focus of your life?  Are you living for your station in life?  Do you ever go out so people can see you?  Do you ever dress for the compliments you’ll receive?  Do you ever long for the high praise of the people around you?  What do these answers illustrate about you?

Passage for Tomorrow: Matthew 23:8-12