Matthew 23, 22/08/2010
Jesus was to address the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law at the Temple. This occurred during the week preceding the crucifixion of Jesus. Jesus mentions seven woes,
The Pharisees were a legalistic and separatistic group who strictly, but often hypocritically, kept the Law of Moses and the unwritten “tradition of the elders.” (NIV Bible study notes, Matthew 3:7).
The Teachers of the Law were Jewish Scholars of the day, professionally trained in the development, teaching, and application of OT law. Their authority was strictly and traditional. (NIV Bible study notes Matthew 2:4).
Matthew DVD; Matthew 23
Sermon: Johanan the Rabbi
The words he spoke, those words, I listened for a while; those words had caught my attention for I am Pharisee, and a Rabbi my name is Rabbi Johanan, you can call me Teacher or Rabbi, I like both.
It was easy to hear those words he spoke for a start, then they struck me and fell to the ground, I didn’t want to hear them, but then like the teeth of a dog then they started to bite, to bite deep into my flesh, into my heart.
What was this Jesus was saying, this young Rabbi with his rabble of students, and misfit women followers?
He was not completely wrong; we do sit in Moses place! We revere the law God gave us through Moses, we respect the law, but was he right, had we made the law a burden, had we taken the law and made it a weight to carry? He sees it as the way to freedom, the way to a relationship with God and a way to bring freedom to all? This Jesus did, why was this Jesus so concerned about people’s freedom?
The Lord God, we know he wants our obedience and we are proud of the way we obey, but this Jesus, he has also said that in his opinion he believes that God wants all men to be free from burdens, to act out of love for God, rather than duty to God. It’s like he believes that God is more interested in the attitude of the person than their position or authority!
Of course what we do we do for men to see! We want to be noticed, what is wrong with wide phylacteries? These leather boxes are important, strapped to our wrists and foreheads, the wider to container the more obvious the law is, we love the law. The tassels of our garments should they not stand out for these remind us of the commandments, they are part of our religion. I heard a strange thing about this Jesus and his garment, a thing that shocked me; an account about a woman who approached him, unknown to him she touched his garment and was healed of years of bleeding and the shame that went with it. How is it that his plain garments possess such power, the power to heal?
What was it he meant by his statement, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted?” Who is he that he can say such things, whose authority is it he speaks with?
His words; seven times he cried out to us “woe to you” calling us hypocrites and blind guides!
It was like he pitied us for what we were; these words of “woe” carried a tone of pitying sorrow in his voice! There he was calling us counterfeits for this is what a hypocrite is. He called ‘us’ religious counterfeits and blind guides, how dare he?
I have my sight, I see things and I see things as I want to see them, but there is something about this man that is frightening, something so real, something that is hard to find in men, like he sees beyond himself, beyond this world. A little like the prophets of old, real and visionary. Awake to something beyond himself, beyond normal understanding.
He challenged us, about shutting the Kingdom of Heaven in men’s faces, was this because we have rejected his teaching and tell others to do the same?
Why does he think his teaching is more important than ours? He’s about freedom, about relationship, a person’s attitude and character about challenge and change of heart; I’ve heard him talk about doing as the Father wants. He has made some bold claims.
His parables are about the Kingdom of God, about living in relationship with God, not just obeying, but loving God, God the Father.
For him to say we make our disciples twice as much as sons of hell as we are, what can he mean? We seek to bring people to an understanding of what it is to be one of us, to know how we act – what it is to be a Pharisee, to belong to OUR sect! Is it not a good thing to be constrained by our beliefs, by the narrowness of our sect, to be one of us is to be separate; but this Jesus spouts forth “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed!” (John 8:36) He allows all to come to him, the leaper, and the adulteress, rich and poor alike, he is even open to the Samaritan and the Gentile. What kind of a Jew is he? He appears unconstrained by rules; more interested in the attitude of a person’s heart than their position in life.
His words about our swearing by the Gold in the temple, how many times have I gazed upon this wealth, how many times have I sworn by it, to swear by anything greater than the Gold would bring judgement on me if I break my oath!
But here he is saying that even ‘swearing by’ the gift brings me under God’s judgement. I have heard it said that this Jesus says don’t swear an oath but “simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’ and your ‘No’ ‘No’ and that anything beyond this comes from the evil one.” (Matthew 5:37) Just speak the truth?
He was filled with grief as he accused us of neglecting justice, mercy and faithfulness.
And of course we give great effort to our tithing – I bring exactly a tenth of my herb garden with each harvest, I spend a great deal of time ensuring that the weight of each bush I harvest is measured exactly, a gram or two out on my tithe may offend the Lord, I fear that I may cause God offence.
He’s right I do strain out my drinks, and gnats are unclean, by swallowing one I too would be unclean. Swallow a Camel, what? Another unclean animal, something forbidden to eat, how could I swallow something so large; this is foolishness does this man have no understanding of proportion? It’s like he’s implying justice, mercy and faithfulness are as important as the law.
His next attack was so direct; it was like a dog was now gnawing on my bones, for he accused us of cleaning only the outside, he was referring to cups and dishes but we knew, we knew that this was personal, as if he was accusing us of having black hearts, as if he was telling us we were unclean in our thoughts and our deeds. That it was what we were like inside and not our appearance that mattered.
This continued, “Woe to you – you are like whitewashed tombs, clean on the outside but full of dead mans bones and everything unclean – looking OK but inside full of hypocrisy and wickedness” He was saying while we appeared to have our religion right we were unclean, that inside we were rotten and full of sin / unclean.
Why does he have so much concern for us and for all the people he comes into contact with, even sinners and the unclean that don’t deserve the time of day?
What hurt so much was that we know that he is a man of integrity. We had even told him previously “…You aren’t swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth....” (Mark 12:14) He teaches his followers to live the truth and teach the truth.
Then he berated us about the way we respect the prophets of old, he called us vipers, children of the Devil and asked how we would escape being condemned to hell. How could we as proper as we are be condemned at all?
He showed us his disciples that ragged bunch of nobodies and told us that he would sent us prophets, wise men and teachers, that we would flog, kill and crucify. I find it hard to believe that he knows any wise men let alone Prophets and teachers. How is it that any of his followers will make any difference? Our brother Pharisee Saul was sure that none of these men had enough knowledge to teach anybody for they were fishermen, zealots, and the odd tax collector, in reality nobodies! It would take the Spirit of God Himself to turn any of them into anything as useful as a Teacher.
Then he accused us of being murders, does he know what is being spoken of in secret? Has he a feeling? There will be a trial it will all be legal above board an execution, not murder, not murder, all legal, all just and legal. Not murder!
Then he addressed the City, he spoke to the city, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, he then condemned the city, killer, stoner of those sent to you! Then he said he wished to gather the children of the city together, that he had wished to do this often as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. He spoke in such a way it left me thinking of the words of the Prophet Hosea, “When Israel was a child I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.” (Hosea 11:1)
This Jesus it’s like he was speaking in God’s place just like a prophet of old calling the people to live in relationship with God. To live the truth and to teach the truth!
If only he could accept our teaching and see our ways, to be constrained by our rules! But it seems he’s more interested in the attitude of a person’s heart than the position of the person.
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