March through Matthew with Jesus

Matthew 23

During Lent in March we continue reading through the Gospel of Matthew, one chapter a day--28 chapters--with points to ponder, background information and personal application. Pray God strengthens our faith on this spiritual journey in His Holy Word.

Some Points to Ponder as we read Matthew 23:

1. In Mathew 23 Jesus pronounces 7 “Woes” and harshly confronts and condemns the stubborn unbelief and hypocrisy of the Pharisee and scribes. 7 times Jesus makes a stinging statement similar to this: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!”

2. Jesus says the “scribes and Pharisees” DO sit in the seat of Moses, and they should be respected insofar as they hold up God’s Word, but Jesus warns they have adopted many false teachings and often practice improper human piety not in harmony with God’s Word. They added human traditions and extra burdens on the people not in harmony with Scripture. As descendants of the Reformation, we remember: We depart from God’s Truth whenever we add to, subtract from, or modify God’s Word in any way.

3. In Matthew 22:3b Jesus says: “For they preach, but do not practice.” This is the likely origin of the familiar saying: “Practice what we preach.”

4. The religious leaders were often more concerned with prestige and status and external factors and outward appearances than they were about serving in humility and focusing on more important spiritual matters of faith. For example, while it may have been proper for them to give 10% (tithe) their herbs harvest as an offering to God, Jesus says they: “…have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness.” This appears to be a reference to Micah 6:8,            

He has told you, O man, what is good;

    and what does the Lord require of you

but to do justice, and to love kindness,

    and to walk humbly with your God?

5. Much of the material in Matthew 23 can be understood better by remembering what Jesus says to us in Matthew 15: 17 Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? 18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. 20 These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”

It is ultimately NOT external factors or human traditions or things like food or ceremonial washings or touching a tomb that make a person spiritually unclean. It is our sinful heart that makes us unclean before God, and it is the blood of Jesus shed at Calvary’s cross and our baptism in Christ that washes away and cleanses our unclean hearts of all sin and hypocrisy.

6. The Lutheran Study Bible provides summary comments about Matthew 23:1-36,

Jesus criticizes the Pharisees’ hypocrisy. Of all the charges that will be laid against God’s people on Judgment Day, none is more damning than the accusation that they despised God’s Word. Even Jesus’ most acrimonious denunciations are motivated by His sincere desire that people turn from sin and death and receive the gift of eternal life.

+Prayer+ Lord Jesus, thank You for loving us enough to warn us when we stray from Your Word. Keep us steadfast in Your truth. Amen.           (Lutheran Study Bible, p.1635)

APPLICATION: Ponder: If someone labeled me a hypocrite, how would I react? Would I be defensive? Would I deny it? Or…Would I admit it? Jesus points out that all human beings ARE sinners and hypocrites. Of what hypocrisy do I need to repent?

We now read Matthew 23…    

Matthew 23 (ESV)

Seven Woes to the Scribes and Pharisees

23 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 2 “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat, 3 so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. 4 They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. 5 They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, 6 and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues 7 and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others. 8 But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. 9 And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. 10 Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. 11 The greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. 15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.

16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ 17 You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? 18 And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’ 19 You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20 So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. 21 And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it. 22 And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it.

23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. 24 You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!

25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.

27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. 28 So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, 30 saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 31 Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. 33 You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? 34 Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, 35 so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. 36 Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

Lament over Jerusalem

37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! 38 See, your house is left to you desolate. 39 For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

+Prayer+ Dear Jesus, I claim to think and believe You are most important in my life, but I often do NOT live as if You are my highest priority and first love. Forgive me for my many failures and hypocrisy of thought, word, and deed. Thank You for Your undeserved mercy, complete forgiveness, and unconditional love for me, Jesus. Amen.

Pastor Scott Schmieding

Senior Pastor

Immanuel Lutheran Church and School

115 S. Sixth Street

Saint Charles, MO 63301

636.946.2656