Hypocrisy. We all have it in our lives. None of us likes it. We like it even less in others. (That which we don’t like about ourselves we hate in others.) I don’t know if admitting being a hypocrite make us less hypocritical, but I do know that when hypocrisy and religious authority come together the result is brokenness in people’s lives.
Jesus finally and fully confronts the scribes and Pharisees with their hypocrisy in Matthew 23. There is part of us (at least, part of me) that reads this and says, “Yes! Go get ‘em Jesus!” These religious leaders have opposed Jesus’ ministry all throughout the Gospel, and now it’s coming to a climax and they’re getting what they deserve. However, to apply Jesus’ words only to the Pharisees would cause us to miss the same opportunity the Pharisees missed: the opportunity to confess where we’ve fallen short of God’s will for us and receive his forgiveness once again.
Jesus pronounces seven “woes” on the scribes and Pharisees for their hypocrisy:
1. For shutting the kingdom of God in people’s faces.
2. For converting people to their ideas instead of to true faith.
3. For foolish rules about what binds a person when they make a promise.
4. For obeying the letter of the law, but not understanding that the law is deeper and directs us to mercy and faithfulness.
5. For having religious form without religious substance.
6. For the pretense of life, but having teachings that lead to death.
7. For violently opposing God’s kingdom messengers, when they themselves claimed to be messengers of the kingdom.
Look over that list. Does any of it resonate in your own life? Spend some time praying about that today, that God would open your eyes and help you to respond appropriately to it.
Jesus moves from pronouncing judgment to a lamenting over these people. This is important. So many times when people recognize their hypocrisy, or sin, they say, “I’ll come back to God when I get my life in order.” The reality is we multiply our hypocrisy when we do that, and we cut ourselves off from the real power to change our lives. Better to be gathered as like a chick under Jesus’ wing, to receive his forgiveness and to experience his love as a hypocrite who knows his hypocrisy, than to keep running away from his call to come back to him.
Father in Heaven, thank you for your Word. Sometimes when I read it the Law convicts me and shows me my sins, let it also comfort me and fill me with the power of the Gospel that I might know your forgiveness. Help me to recognize and overcome my hypocrisy, and when I fall short of that help me cling only to Jesus’ cross and forgiveness so that as I am comforted others will see my only hope is Jesus. Amen.
Jesus finally and fully confronts the scribes and Pharisees with their hypocrisy in Matthew 23. There is part of us (at least, part of me) that reads this and says, “Yes! Go get ‘em Jesus!” These religious leaders have opposed Jesus’ ministry all throughout the Gospel, and now it’s coming to a climax and they’re getting what they deserve. However, to apply Jesus’ words only to the Pharisees would cause us to miss the same opportunity the Pharisees missed: the opportunity to confess where we’ve fallen short of God’s will for us and receive his forgiveness once again.
Jesus pronounces seven “woes” on the scribes and Pharisees for their hypocrisy:
1. For shutting the kingdom of God in people’s faces.
2. For converting people to their ideas instead of to true faith.
3. For foolish rules about what binds a person when they make a promise.
4. For obeying the letter of the law, but not understanding that the law is deeper and directs us to mercy and faithfulness.
5. For having religious form without religious substance.
6. For the pretense of life, but having teachings that lead to death.
7. For violently opposing God’s kingdom messengers, when they themselves claimed to be messengers of the kingdom.
Look over that list. Does any of it resonate in your own life? Spend some time praying about that today, that God would open your eyes and help you to respond appropriately to it.
Jesus moves from pronouncing judgment to a lamenting over these people. This is important. So many times when people recognize their hypocrisy, or sin, they say, “I’ll come back to God when I get my life in order.” The reality is we multiply our hypocrisy when we do that, and we cut ourselves off from the real power to change our lives. Better to be gathered as like a chick under Jesus’ wing, to receive his forgiveness and to experience his love as a hypocrite who knows his hypocrisy, than to keep running away from his call to come back to him.
Father in Heaven, thank you for your Word. Sometimes when I read it the Law convicts me and shows me my sins, let it also comfort me and fill me with the power of the Gospel that I might know your forgiveness. Help me to recognize and overcome my hypocrisy, and when I fall short of that help me cling only to Jesus’ cross and forgiveness so that as I am comforted others will see my only hope is Jesus. Amen.
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