Matthew 23:1–39
Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his followers. Jesus said, 2 “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees have the authority to tell you what the law of Moses says. 3 So you should obey and follow whatever they tell you. But their lives are not good examples for you to follow. They tell you to do things, but they don’t do the things themselves. 4 They make strict rules and try to force people to obey them. But they themselves will not try to follow any of those rules.
5 “The reason they do good things is so other people will see them. They make the boxes of Scriptures that they wear bigger and bigger. And they make their special prayer clothes very long so that people will notice them. 6 Those Pharisees and teachers of the law love to have the most important seats at the feasts. And they love to have the most important seats in the synagogues. 7 They love people to show respect to them in the marketplaces. And they love to have people call them ‘Teacher.’
8 “But you must not be called ‘Teacher.’ You are all brothers and sisters together. You have only one Teacher. 9 And don’t call any person on earth ‘Father.’ You have one Father. He is in heaven. 10 And you should not be called ‘Master.’ You have only one Master, the Christ. 11 He who serves you as a servant is the greatest among you. 12 Whoever makes himself great will be made humble. Whoever makes himself humble will be made great.
13 “How terrible for you, teachers of the law and Pharisees! You are hypocrites! You close the door for people to enter the kingdom of heaven. You yourselves don’t enter, and you stop others who are trying to enter. 14 [How terrible for you, teachers of the law and Pharisees. You are hypocrites. You take away widows’ houses, and you make long prayers so that people can see you. So you will have a worse punishment.]
15 “How terrible for you, teachers of the law and Pharisees! You are hypocrites! You travel across land and sea to find one person who will follow your ways. When you find that person, you make him more fit for hell than you are.
16 “How terrible for you, teachers of the law and Pharisees! You guide the people, but you are blind. You say, ‘If anyone swears by the Temple when he makes a promise, that means nothing. But if anyone swears by the gold that is in the Temple, then he must keep that promise.’ 17 You are blind fools! Which is greater: the gold or the Temple? The Temple makes that gold holy. 18 And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar when he makes a promise, that means nothing. But if he swears by the gift on the altar, then he must keep his promise.’ 19 You are blind! Which is greater: the gift or the altar? The altar makes the gift holy. 20 The person who swears by the altar is really using the altar and also everything on the altar. 21 And the person who uses the Temple to make a promise is really using the Temple and also everything in the Temple. 22 The person who uses heaven to make a promise is also using God’s throne and the One who sits on that throne.
23 “How terrible for you, teachers of the law and Pharisees! You are hypocrites! You give to God one-tenth of everything you earn—even your mint, dill, and cummin. But you don’t obey the really important teachings of the law—being fair, showing mercy, and being loyal. These are the things you should do, as well as those other things. 24 You guide the people, but you are blind! You are like a person who picks a fly out of his drink and then swallows a camel!
25 “How terrible for you, teachers of the law and Pharisees! You are hypocrites! You wash the outside of your cups and dishes. But inside they are full of things that you got by cheating others and pleasing only yourselves. 26 Pharisees, you are blind! First make the inside of the cup clean and good. Then the outside of the cup can be truly clean.
27 “How terrible for you, teachers of the law and Pharisees. You are hypocrites! You are like tombs that are painted white. Outside, those tombs look fine. But inside, they are full of the bones of dead people, and all kinds of unclean things are there. 28 It is the same with you. People look at you and think you are good. But on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and evil.
29 “How terrible for you, teachers of the law and Pharisees! You are hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets. You show honor to the graves of people who lived good lives. 30 And you say, ‘If we had lived during the time of our fathers, we would not have helped them kill the prophets.’ 31 But you give proof that you are children of those people who murdered the prophets. 32 And you will complete the sin that your fathers started!
33 “You are snakes! A family of poisonous snakes! You will not escape God. You will all be judged guilty and be sent to hell! 34 So I tell you this: I am sending to you prophets and wise men and teachers. You will kill some of these people. You will nail some of them to crosses. You will beat some of them in your synagogues. You will chase them from town to town. 35 So you will be guilty for the death of all the good people who have been killed on earth. You will be guilty for the murder of that good man Abel. And you will be guilty for the murder of Zechariah son of Berakiah. He was murdered when he was between the Temple and the altar. 36 I tell you the truth. All of these things will happen to you people who are living now.
Jesus Feels Sorry for Jerusalem
37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem! You kill the prophets and kill with stones those men God sent to you. Many times I wanted to help your people! I wanted to gather them together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. But you did not let me. 38 Now your home will be left completely empty. 39 I tell you, you will not see me again until that time when you will say, ‘God bless the One who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
Jesus warned those who listened to him against false religion. It seemed to be correct. But it did not bring honor to God.
Matthew now recorded some of Jesus’ final teaching. (This is in chapters 23–25.) First, he spoke to the crowds (verse 23). Then he spoke to the disciples (verses 24–25). Some people may know that they are going to die. They will choose their words carefully. Jesus knew that he would die soon. So, his talks here were important. In this chapter, Jesus condemned the religious leaders. But he had a final appeal to the crowds too (verse 1).
In the first century, there were many religious systems. But Jesus was not speaking about false religion in this passage. He spoke about something that was more dangerous than that. It was to give the wrong meanings to true religion. That was what Jesus condemned.
There was the religion of the teachers and of the Pharisees. It was often wrong. But some very sincere people tried to obey it. The many rules and regulations were often stupid. Only very religious people could have accepted them. The religion of the teachers and of the Pharisees seemed to be very spiritual. It seemed to be about the right things. Its disciples were very eager to be right. They were eager to do what was right too. So, the Old Testament was the most important thing for them.
But there was a danger in all this. The religious teachers and the Pharisees had started right. Then they completely changed the true religion. It was hard to tell what was true and what was false. This is what Jesus talked about in the rest of the chapter.
Jesus suggested that this sort of religion was like a heavy load. It became just two long lists. There was a list called ‘Things that you must do’. There was another list called ‘Things that you must not do’. But this religion offered nothing that would make the load lighter. (Compare 11:28–30.) The teachers forced heavy loads on other people. But they found ways to avoid the load themselves.
There are people who have a religion like this. But these people have a wrong idea about the life that pleases God. (Read verses 5–11.) They want power and honor. They want people to respect and admire them. But Jesus gave a contrast. He spoke about the attitude of a real believer. A real believer is a servant of the Father in heaven. He or she is a servant of the Messiah. (Read verses 9–10.) There should always be a humble attitude in every action.
Very bad trouble will come (verses 13–39)
In these verses, Jesus pointed out some wrong attitudes. He was speaking about the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees. It was their wrong attitudes to God’s word. They were giving wrong meanings to true religion. This was what Jesus taught. In this way, they avoided God’s word. (Read verses 16–22.)
An oath (a strong promise) had a purpose. It should mean that people could trust the words that followed. The teachers explained God’s word. But they did it in a way that made it easy to tell lies!
At the time of Jesus, there was an important subject. It was about an oath (strong promise). Jews often discussed when you must do what you had promised. But Jesus spoke about the important matter immediately. He reminded those who listened about the purpose of God’s laws. His laws in the OT were there to protect the truth. But the religious leaders did not seem to care about this. They invented ways to make oaths that had no meaning.
Then Jesus spoke about the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees. Their ideas about what was important were all wrong. They obeyed all the rules of the OT. But they forgot the principles of the rules. These principles explained the rules. (Read verses 23–24.)
True religion affects the whole person. (Read verses 25–28.) Jesus gave two examples of this fact. First, he mentioned how careful the religious leaders were. They obeyed all the rules about ceremonies. They washed in special ways. They did this to make themselves ‘clean’. But Jesus described what this was like. It was as if they had washed the outside of cups and dishes. But inside they were full of dirt. Jesus said that the religious leaders were like this. They obeyed all the rules. But they did not care about the need to be morally good. Jesus’ point is clear. There must be a change of attitudes. Otherwise, there can be no real change in a life.
The next example is in verses 27–28. It is similar to the first one. The Jews buried dead people in special graves. They made the grave by cutting into the rocks. A large round stone would often cover the entrance. These graves could be anywhere. Religious people might touch them by mistake. This would make these people ‘dirty’. So, people would paint the graves white. This could make them look attractive on the outside. But, inside the grave there were bones of dead people. Jesus said that the religion of the false teachers might look attractive. But it did not deal with the bad attitudes of men and women.
People whose religion had false ideas refused to listen to the truth. Jesus said that the religious leaders were like this. These leaders were proud. In the past, Jews had behaved very badly. The religious leaders said that they would never have behaved like them. They were sure about this. In the past, Jews had acted against God’s prophets. The leaders thought that they would never behave like that. But, Jesus and his disciples were speaking God’s word to these leaders. And their reactions were exactly the same. Jesus made this clear to the religious leaders.
Jesus had some difficult things to say. But he did not say them in an unkind way. His great desire was that the people would accept him. So, he called those who were listening to him. He called them to come to him. But he warned them too. If they refused, there would be judgment for them. (Read verses 37–39.)
Questions
1. Other people can make religious demands on us. We can demand things from ourselves too. These damands can be things that Jesus does not ask from us. Why does this happen? Is it because of our consciences? Or is it because of what people might say? How can we escape from a false guilty feeling?
2. Christians must declare the full message of the gospel (the Good News about Jesus). It is Good News. But it includes the fact of judgment. God must judge people who refuse to accept Jesus. How can we declare these truths in a gentle way? Should we ever speak like Jesus spoke in this passage?
3. Non-Christians think that
religion is dull. They feel that it is not important in their lives. They also
think that it is hard and unkind. The Bible would show them that their ideas
are wrong. How can people who are in the church help them? How can they show
them what true religion is like?