Matthew 23:16-22

Matthew 23:16-22

“Woe to you, blind guides who say, ‘Whoever should make an oath in the temple, it is nothing.  But whoever should make an oath in the gold of the temple, he is obligated.’  Unwise* and blind ones!  For what is greater, the gold or the temple that makes the gold holy?  And you say, ‘Whoever should make an oath in the altar, it is nothing.  But whoever should make an oath in the gift upon it, he is obligated.’  Blind ones!  For what is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift holy?  Therefore whoever makes an oath in the altar makes an oath in it and in everything upon it.  And whoever makes an oath in the temple makes an oath in it and in the one who dwells in it.  And whoever makes an oath in heaven makes an oath in the throne of God and in the one seated upon it.”

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

Reading Jesus’ quote of the religious leaders makes my skin crawl.  I truly cannot believe that a genuinely religious person could ever think that the temple is less holy than the gold of the temple!  However, since Jesus is quoting them, we know that this was an actual teaching of the day.  What this does is show us the perspective of the religious leaders who were teaching according to this.  Clearly their focus was on money.  Clearly their focus was on that which was supporting their livelihood.  They had a vested interest in teaching people to value the money of the temple because as the money in the temple grew, so did the livelihood of the religious elite.  Personally, I think this is just a sick and disgusting teaching showing the absolute perversion of mankind – so called spiritual leaders, even!  No wonder Jesus keeps calling them pretenders.

Are you ever taught to value money over other things that truly matter – like the presence of God?  Where does this teaching come from?  Why do you think so much of our world focuses on money?  Why do you think the focus on money often gets worse the more you have?

Second Thought:

In keeping with the idea of comparing each of these woes to a beatitude from the Sermon on the Mount, contrast this teaching of the religious elite with the beatitude that encourages us to hunger and thirst for righteousness.  Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness shall be satisfied.  Genuine followers of God will long for that which leads to righteousness.  We will long for God and His ways and not the things of this world.

What is it for which the religious elite of Jesus’ day hunger and thirst?  How long do you believe that they were satisfied by that which they hungered and thirsted?  For what do you hunger and thirst?  From where does true satisfaction come?

Third Thought:

What we really have here is an issue with prioritization.  The religious elite were interested in the gold because of what it could do for them here and now.  But Jesus’ point in this woe is that we should prioritize that which makes the gold holy higher than the gold itself.  After all, if something has enough power to make even gold holy, then doesn’t it have greater power than the gold itself?  Of course there is power and livelihood in money.  But the truth is that there is far more power and an incomparable livelihood in God.  God should be our priority.  The religious elite are aptly named “blind guides” by Jesus.

What is your priority?  Do you ever put the blessings of God higher in your life than God Himself?  In what way is this a completely natural human reaction – albeit an incorrect one?

Passage for Tomorrow: Matthew 23:23-26

*Note:  The Greek root word for “unwise” in this passage is moros (μωρός) or moron (μωρόν).  Obviously this is where we get the word moron in the English language.  I had a great struggle not translating Matthew 23:17 as “moronic and blind ones!”  However, in the end I think unwise fits better than moronic because of its more universal application.  But Jesus truly does call the religious elite morons!