Hypocrisy And Darkness

As recorded by Luke in chapter 12, Jesus began to speak to His disciples first of all, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you whisper in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.”

Today, this epistle delves into chapter six of Matthew. There he provides a first-hand report of Jesus speaking and His words cast Christian reflections against the dark shadows of hypocrisy.

Matthew lived many of his adult years as an apostle. He is the author of the first Gospel of the New Testament, written at least twenty years after the death of Jesus Christ. Matthew wrote this Gospel in the Hebrew language and published it in Jerusalem. There is a reason to believe that he stayed there for fifteen years, after which he went as a missionary to the Persians. Legend has it that Mathew died a martyr in Ethiopia by being speared to death in 90 AD.

The Gospel of Matthew is sometimes called a transition connecting the recorded accounts of the Old Testament with the frequent, first-hand evidence presented by the New Testament. The New Testament contains 27 different books written by nine different authors. Every author of the New Testament was Jewish except for Luke. Three of the writers: Matthew, Peter, and John were among the twelve disciples who walked with Christ during his earthly ministry.

Facts documented within the Gospel of Matthew assist us to better understand how Jesus' life and teachings were built on the foundation of the Old Testament which had come hundreds of years before Him. Matthew seems to offer more references and quotations to and from the Old Testament than any other New Testament author.

This does not mean that Matthew is restricting his Gospel to Jews. On the contrary, he is opening the Word and Wisdom of Jesus Christ to the gentiles as well. He records the coming of the non-Jewish Magi (wise men) to worship the infant Jesus, as well as Jesus’ statement that the “field is the world” which is found among the verses of Mathew 13:37-51.

Jesus answered and said to them: “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind, which, when it was full, they drew to shore; and they sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but threw the bad away. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just, and cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”

Jesus said to them, “Have you understood all these things?”

These and other passages show that, although Matthew’s Gospel is directed towards the Jewish people of that era, it has a universal, timeless, mindset message.

Within the lessons from Matthew's chapter 6, we are cautioned against hypocrisy; that we must not be as the hypocrites are, nor do as the hypocrites do. We will be shown the correct way of giving our donations. Verses 5-13 teach us how to pray and what to pray for. The lines of 14-15 show how to forgive in prayer. Matthew provides instruction on fasting. Matthew 6:19-24 says we should not be concerned about storing up worldly treasures, which proves to be an uncomfortable sin of many Christians. Matthew 6:25-34 relates how we are not to worry or even concern ourselves with mundane worldly matters.