Humbly Pursue Justice, Mercy, and Faith

Matthew 23:1-24

1 Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, 2 saying: "The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. 3 Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do. 4 For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. 5 But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments. 6 They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, 7 greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, 'Rabbi, Rabbi.' 8 But you, do not be called 'Rabbi'; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren. 9 Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. 10 And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ. 11 But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

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 cummin, 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!

Jesus railed against the hypocrisy of the religious leaders who did not humbly pursue justice, mercy, and true faith in representing the kingdom of God and setting the example for others to imitate (1 Peter 5:2-3).  They misused their positions by telling the people to do as it was written, yet not doing those things commanded by the Lord to us all to follow.  It was as if they needed not be bothered to actually have the faith to believe God and the mercy to temper their justice which they harshly meted out to others.  Jesus told the listeners not to imitate the evil, but listen to the good of the scriptures they used to please and follow God in spite of their bad examples (Hebrews 13:7) which they were given.  These hypocrites out enormous loads of guilt by the letter of the law misapplied, then refused to do what they demanded of others to earn their favor as of it was God’s.  All they did was to impress others as they were seen acting with a smiling and smug mask, and not to please God as the word of God was meant to humble them to do to please the Lord and not themselves.  This sin tempts us all today as well, so before we judge these hypocrites, let us look hard into the mirror of God’s word ourselves with humility as our sanctification changes us to conform to Christ in us as 2 Corinthians 3:18 so clearly reminds us.  May we learn not to seek the best positions to put ourselves on display, but portray Christ in our words and deeds as we learn from these mistakes of others.  In sincerely humbling ourselves we find He lifts us up (1 Peter 5:5-6) in due time to display His glory and praise and not our own.  May we never do as these did to shut out others from the gospel kingdom hope by our misleading words and deeds!  We are to set the example to follow Jesus into the kingdom and not make disciples of ourselves as the evil Diotrephes did in 3 John 1:9-10 while keeping out sincere followers of Jesus Christ out of the church.  Guides who truly see with God’s eyes give all the glory to who it is truly due.  Blind guides point to the rules and traditions and not to the One they should serve.  We then ought to do these things but not leave the most important ones undone, that is, serving the Lord with a sincere and consistent heart and mind, not as the two faced who point to and serve themselves.