Well, It Looks Okay

Well, It Looks Okay

Matthew 23:13-39

I warned you this was coming. Jesus was not nice. In fact, while Jesus was always good, he was often not very nice. That’s a problem for our world today, where niceness seems to be the prime virtue. They want us all to be nice to one another, and being nice means that we are inoffensive. We live and let live. We use all the proper pronouns and affirm everybody’s delusions – and we must be careful not to call them delusions, for each one has his own reality and his own truth.   

I’ve had this discussion many times, especially with people who want to demand of Christians that we be nice, because, they say, Jesus was nice and taught us all to be nice. I think I told you recently about things that people believe are in the Bible but aren’t. I heard a pastor claim that Jesus taught, “All things in moderation.” Nope. He didn’t. This is another one of those not-in-the-Bible claims. Nowhere did Jesus teach that people should be nice. He taught that we should be good, but that’s a whole different thing, because goodness sometimes isn’t very nice. Especially when confronting sin, battling evil. We must never confuse goodness with niceness, and we must never surrender righteousness and truth in the cause of being nice.

I heard someone on social media claim that Jesus washed the prostitute’s feet instead of throwing rocks at her. The person was deeply confused. In fact, there’s been a meme going around that instead of condemning sinners, Jesus washed feet, implying that Jesus spent his ministry washing feet. The only time in all of Scripture that we see Jesus washing anyone’s feet is in the Upper Room at the Last Supper, when he washed the disciple’s feet, as an illustration of the sort of servant ministry they were supposed to have in this upside-down, inside-out kingdom. When he finished he said to them, Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him (Jn 13:14-16). The point was not washing feet, but serving with humility. Instead of striving for power and glory, they were to look for ways to meet the deep needs around them.   

Jesus spent time with tax collectors and sinners, but in every encounter they were the ones who changed. Jesus never changed, never affirmed sin, never affirmed delusions. Instead, he called out sin, and once past sins were forgiven, he commanded them to stop sinning. In one case, he told the man to stop sinning or something worse might happen (Lk 5:14). Was that a threat, or just a warning that sin always has consequences? To the woman caught in adultery, while he protected her and refused to condemn her, he also told her that she must quit sinning (Jn 8:11). It is not nice to call out sin, but it is right if we do it because we want that person to have a better life. We know that sin destroys. That means we cannot afford to simply be nice to sinners. We cannot afford to be nice to the deluded. Goodness, righteousness demands that we invite them away from their sin and delusion and come to Christ.

And now we see that Jesus was really not nice to the Pharisees. By the way, it is this section, among others, that most tells us where Jesus’ loyalties lay. When confronted by the Sadducees, Jesus simply accused them of ignorance. But when confronted by the Pharisees, Jesus actually entered into discussions and explanations. It seems that Jesus may have been of the Pharisee persuasion himself. He wants them to get it right. He came to fulfill the law and for those who’s passion is the law, he wants them to understand it properly. He is dismissive of the Sadducees, but his discussions with the Pharisees have the feel of family disagreements.   

And because he wants them to get it right, Matthew tells us, Jesus confronts them about how wrong they’ve gotten it. He does it with a series of seven curses, or “woes.” “Woe to you” is similar to saying, “you are cursed.” Jesus specifically addresses the Pharisees and the teachers of the law. Because the Pharisees were the “holiness” party of their day, perhaps we need to listen closely in the sad event that they apply to us, as well.  

1. “Woe to you ... you shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.” This is the “dog in the manger” syndrome. In some churches, there is a person - or maybe several - who are “gate-keepers.” They guard the doors to be sure that undesirable folks can’t get in. And they define “undesirable” several ways. Mostly, it’s just people not like us, or people we don’t like. Perhaps it’s our coldness toward “outsiders” or cliquishness - protecting our circle of friends. Or, it may be that we have set up rules that we don’t keep ourselves, but which others must keep if they are to be included.

2. You go miles to make a single convert but then turn him into one just like you. That is, you convert them to yourself, to your group, to your own persuasion. Jesus said, “you make him twice as much a child of hell as you are.” I’m aware of churches that think you’re not going to heaven unless you belong, not just to their denomination, but to their own fellowship. When you move and change churches within the denomination, they want you to be re-baptized to be accepted. The Pharisees weren’t bringing people into the kingdom of God, but into their own sect. The problem with these sorts of groups is that each new convert becomes more radical, and begins to condemn those around him as not being radical enough.

3. You believe that taking oaths by the temple mean nothing, but taking oaths by the gold of the temple are binding. In the sermon on the mount, Jesus warned people against taking oaths at all. But the Pharisees valued money, so it wasn’t the house of God that had meaning, but the money in the treasury. Jesus curses them as “blind guides,” which is an interesting picture. Earlier Jesus had told the disciples to abandon the Pharisees’ teaching: “Leave them; they are blind guides. If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit” (Mt 15:14). That’s why there’s a vision test for a driver’s license. Jesus will have more to say about this in a few moments.   

Then he calls them “blind fools” and asks them a vital question: “which is greater: the gold or the altar that sanctifies the gold?” The thing you hold in your hand is worthless to God. But when it is given to God, when it is placed on the altar, then it becomes holy because it becomes his. When you take an oath on the altar, or on heaven, or “by God”, those oaths are sacred.  

4. Now he curses them because of the way they tithe. Notice, please, that Jesus does not condemn tithing, nor does he deny that we ought to tithe. But he does criticize and condemn the nit-picky way they tithed. And the real problem was that they made a huge issue of tithing while they “neglected the more important matters of the law – justice, mercy and faithfulness.” There are more important matters of concern for us than money, and for Christian leaders, than the tithes. It’s not what you give, or how you give, but who you are and how you live. You cannot buy your way into heaven. Tithing is a good thing, but it won’t buy you salvation. A transformed life, surrendered to God, made holy by him is what matters. And then gratitude and giving flows naturally from that. The people most concerned about tithing are people who are not surrendered fully to Christ. If we   give reluctantly, we are not giving thankfully.   

It’s important to note Jesus’ instruction to the Pharisees on this matter. “You should have practiced the latter (justice, mercy, and faithfulness), without neglecting the former (tithing).” In other words, don’t forget to tithe, but make justice, mercy, and faithfulness your priority, your life-style. Focus on being fair, merciful, and faithful without forgetting to tithe.  

5. You are cursed because you are hypocrites. “You clean the outside of the cup ... but inside they are full of greet and self-indulgence.” We’ve defined hypocrisy before, but just to refresh our memory – “hypocrite” come from a Greek word that means “under a mask.” It originally referred to a person we would call an actor, because in Greek drama, the player adopted a persona by wearing an appropriate mask. So, a hypocrite is someone who pretends to be what he is not in reality. It applies to someone who claims to believe something that they don’t really believe. For example, someone who claims that climate change is man-caused and that carbon is a problem, but flies a private jet to Brazil for a climate conference, is a hypocrite. The Pharisees acted righteous. As we mentioned last time, they wanted to be seen. They wore elaborate robes. This is what Jesus is talking about here. They really looked good, but they were corrupt. And on this curse, Jesus doubled down.

6. “You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and decay.” This is why Jesus had earlier told his followers to do what they say but not to do what they do. They say all the right words, but their behavior betrays them. They wrote rules for others to follow. They put on a show of being holy. And the truth is, the Pharisees weren’t so much admired as they were feared. They were always wagging fingers at people, always filled with should’s and ought to’s. But they made exceptions and excuses for themselves.   

There was a woman I knew some years ago, who claimed to be a Christians, who served on the church board, who was active in church, and even had an “amen” ready during a sermon. One day, she had an altercation with other church members. When I confronted her about it, she said, “Well, what can you expect? I’m just a baby Christian.” She dated her “conversion” from twelve years prior. In twelve years, you’re only a “baby Christian” if something is wrong. And what was wrong was that she was a Pharisee, putting on a show of righteousness when it mattered, but sinful and corrupt inside.  

And 7. “You decorate the graves of the saints, but murder the prophets.” This follows in the same vein as the last two. The hypocrisy of refusing to listen to the prophets, but then when they’re dead (a death you facilitate), put on a show of grief, sending flowers, and so forth. But here’s the thing: we talked some time back about “chronological snobbery,” which says, we know better, or modern is better, or “they should have known.” Here it takes the form of, “Well, if I’d have lived then, I would have ...” (Fill in the blank.) Modern revisionist history is filled with modern condemnations of past figures. We forget about their contributions and focus on what they did wrong – “they should have known better.” “If I’d lived then, I would have fought slavery.” No, you wouldn’t have. “If I’d lived back then, I would have listened to Jeremiah.” Probably not. How do I know that? Because we do the same things today. We reject and condemn people who tell the truth. We want pastors who comfort us rather than challenge us. We want happy sermons that tell us we’re good people, rather than sermons that point out our sin and our failure and call us to repentance. We, like them, are products of our times.   

Jesus points to specific incidents, from the murder of Abel by his jealous brother, to Zechariah, stone to death in the temple courtyard for his denunciations of Judah’s idol worship during the time of King Joash (2 Chr 24:17-22). His dying words were, “May the Lord see this and call you to account” (v. 22). And Jesus asked the Pharisees, “How do you think you are going to escape hell?” Judgment was coming. And Jesus placed them under the curse. They are condemned.  

But suddenly the mood changed from wrath to grief. You see, God is angry over sin. God hates evil. But more than that God hates having to punish sinners and evil-doers. God doesn’t want anyone to go to hell. If God had his way, hell would be empty and the gates shut and barred so that no one could get in. But God gave us free will, which means that we can choose to obey or to disobey. Heaven or hell is our choice, not God’s. Hell is the default destination and the work of Christ is to give us an option, to open heaven’s doors to us and invite us in. We only go to hell by refusing to follow Christ, by refusing to obey God. So, Jesus wept.   

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.” Jesus longed for their salvation, yearned for them to repent and turn to him. But they would not. The windows of heaven are open, but they would not pray to God. The invitation is made, but they refuse. The warnings come but they don’t heed. Don’t be like them. Don’t refuse Christ’s invitation. Turn to him. Trust in him. Follow him. He loves you and longs for fellowship with you. Give yourself to him today.