Something Smells

Matthew 23: 13 – 33

Whew, something smells

13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. 14 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore, you will receive greater condemnation. 15 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves. 16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.’ 17 Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold? 18 And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.’ 19 Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift? 20 Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it. 21 He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells in it. 22 And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it. 23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. 24 Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! 25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also. 27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. 29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, 30 and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’ 31 “Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt. 33 Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?

As you can see from today’s topic we have a stinky lesson in store for you. You will see the connection as we review this portion of scripture.

In composing this study my mind drifted off to a funny television program with the Jerry Seinfeld series entitled The Smelly Car.

After dinner, Jerry gets his car ack from the valet. He and Elaine get in the car and are overwhelmed at the intense odor in it. They both realize that they had noticed that the valet had really bad B.O. (Body odor).

Jerry is appalled at the smell in his car and thinks that it is the restaurant’s valet who parked his car as the reason for the stink. He goes through a car wash and takes other measures but no matter what he does, he can’t get rid of the smell.

Worst of all, the smell has attached itself to him and to Elaine who rode in the car with him. Now others are starting to make comments on their personal hygiene.

Jerry even tries to sell it but after the car dealer took a whiff, he refused to buy it. As a last-ditch effort Jerry brings his car near a gang of hoodlums. After getting out of his car he tosses the keys inside his car, as they look on. The program ends when one of the car thieves gets in Jerry’s car and you see he facial response to the smell.

We will see that our Lord Is going to let the religious leaders be aware that they smell. They think by the way they act that they smell wonderful to the people but, they stink.

We will witness an amazing comparison our Lord uses in letting these religious phonies know of their condition in a variety of points. In one verse He compares their tithing of herbs to honorable attributes. We will see that His reference to these herbs are important because they have properties that deal with digestive problems which as you know give off offensive odors.