Sweet Baby Jesus, Phylacteries and Other Hypocritical Things
Matthew 23:9-10
"Do not call anyone on earth your father, because you have one Father, who is in heaven. You are not to be called instructors either, because you have one Instructor, the Messiah."
The Jews, the Pharisees, and the Scribes felt that they were justified because they had The Law of Moses. Some teachers (Rabbi) sitting in their places of honor, the so called "chair of Moses" enjoyed a certain level of privilege and respect by virtue of their profession and because of their accoutrements. Not because they were doing The Law but just because they had it. And just in case you didn't know they had it they wore it on their outfits. One particular item is the Phylactery which is a small leather box that contains Hebrew texts written on vellum paper, which they wore during the morning prayers. Think of it like a Rosary of sorts, or other more familiar spiritual decorations people wear in church.
And Jesus said of these men...
Matthew 23:5
"They do everything to be seen by others: They enlarge their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels."
So imagine this situation, these rabbis want to express how religious they are so they carry these massive ridiculously sized Phylacteries that are supposed to represent just how amazingly righteous they are. They literally bind this box on their arms and foreheads. And for some these boxes are getting bigger and bigger. Lots of impressions and likes. And their tassels adorn their shawls with many knots that express how holy they've been. And they pray in the "upper places", elevated so everyone can see them praying and being very spiritual.
But Jesus wants us to realize that they do this all for show, not living the word they are not doers of the word. They may carry large boxes of the word around their shoulders, but all they're really doing is loading up everybody else with a bunch of dogma that they have to carry around.
Matthew 23:4
"They tie up heavy loads that are hard to carry and put them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves aren’t willing to lift a finger to move them."
All the works they do are done to be seen doing it. It's like Hollywood and all their many award shows.
Do you remember what Jesus said about this sort of thing back in chapter six during the Sermon on the Mount?
Matthew 6:1
"Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven."
When you pray, fast, give offerings and other acts of service, do it for an audience of One. These hypocrites were doing a religious sham. They were practicing external righteousness. They do it to draw attention to themselves.
Jesus wants us to be cautious about what things we do in order to be seen doing it.
Do you like people to know how deeply spiritual you are?
Are some of the things you do geared towards trying to impress people with your faith expressions?
Jesus tells us that it is better to take a lower profile.
Matthew 23:12
"Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted."
Drop the titles. Avoid the elevation of one over another. Do not be like these religious men. Don't follow their example. If you're going to be spiritual, do it humbly. Do it in private. Give your prayers, oaths, and offerings in the name of heaven, not to give honor to the world of temples and churches.
Matthew 23:22
"And the one who takes an oath by heaven takes an oath by God’s throne and by him who sits on it."
And who is that? Who is The One who sits on the throne?
You know the answer.
Say his name.
Call upon him.
He alone is your righteousness. He is your justice. He is your sanctification. He is the One who hears your prayers and confessions. He is the One who sees your fasts and knows about what you're doing in His name. And he does not want you doing what the hypocrites do.
Sweet baby Jesus blows off some steam...
The Eight Woes: Matthew 23:13-33
1. They make long winded prayers just for show trying to pretense and foster themselves as super-spiritual, while they shut out the widows and the poor and hinder people from entering the kingdom.
2. They will move heaven and earth to make one new convert according to their own plan and schemes and thereby cause the whole congregation to become servants of their devilry.
3. They would make oaths and doctrines according to the things they hold dear. They put their trust in their many church idols and other various expressions of faith. Their politics. Their ideology. Their philosophy. The social justice causes and campaigns. And they believed that their religious systems were superior to all others.
4. They grew herb gardens to offer as tithes. They were careful to measure out EXACTLY 10% of these herbs as an offering. I mean they were extremely careful to get it measured just right. But then they would completely ignore the Law of God in many other ways. You see, again it's just for show, it costs them nothing but a little time and some herbs. But the weightier things of God, like justice, mercy, love? Not so careful.
5. They were greedy, they took to themselves whatever they wanted but strained out gnats as if they were nitpicky about spiritual things. They weren't concerned about justice and mercy, but God forbid they don't get their religion just right.
6. They were careful to examine the righteousness of others, their outward appearances, but never themselves. The were full of greed and self-indulgent behavior. And Jesus emphasized that it's what's within that counts in heaven. Clean up the inside and what's outside will follow.
7. They practiced perfect beautiful religion, but they were spiritually dead. They tried very hard to appear righteous before others. But they failed to be godly before the one who knows the hearts of men.
8. They build lofty temples, cathedrals, tombs, and statues. They decorate themselves with the art of the dead. And therefore, they condemn themselves for they have made idols of the prophets, and the saints.
Jesus hates this hypocrisy; he really does hate it a lot. I think it's one of those things that people really don't appreciate enough. In fact, they ignore his "woe" statements for the most part. This isn't the sweet baby Jesus they love and venerate.
Matthew 23:33
"Snakes! Brood of vipers! How can you escape being condemned to hell?"
And it's not that Jesus is intolerant or being unkind, he's just doesn't want the people to get caught up in the fake love of religious dogma. He wants true worship, in Spirit and in truth.
Matthew 23:37
"Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her. How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!"
This is a hard lesson to take. A hard pill to swallow, but too many are doing too many dogmatic things and forgetting to love God more than these things.
Listen up churches and temples!
Sweet baby Jesus leaves it at this...
Matthew 23:39
"For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord’!"