Matthew 23:1-12: “Jesus Begins To Openly And Broadly Condemn
The Pharisees And Scribes”
by
1.
INTRO:
1.1.
In chapter 22, we saw that having entered into
Jerusalem for this the last week of His life, and after His cleansing of the
temple of those who were buying and selling inside of it, Jesus stayed in the
temple teaching His disciples and the multitudes of people who came to Him
1.1.1.
We saw also that the Pharisees and Saducees, and even
some Herodians, put Him to several tests in order that they might be able to
catch Him by His answers and find a reason to bring charges against Him before
the Romans whereby He could be crucified, or where they could cause the common
people to rise up and stone Him to death
1.2.
In this next section of the gospel of Matthew, we see
that Jesus now begins to openly and broadly condemn the Pharisees and Scribes,
the spiritual leaders of
1.2.1.
Later in this chapter we will see that Jesus
pronounces 7 or 8 woes upon the religious leaders of Israel
2.
VS 23:1-3 -
“23:1 Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, 2 saying,
“The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; 3
therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to
their deeds; for they say things, and do not do them.” - Jesus now begins to openly and broadly
condemn the religious leaders before the multitude and His disciples
2.1.
The religious leaders in
2.2.
In chapter 22 we saw that Jesus was put to several tests by the Pharisees
and Saducees and that in each test, Jesus foiled the plot since nothing had
taken Him by surprise as He knew what was coming before it occurred, and with
each test Jesus actually ended up putting the religious leaders themselves to
the test.
2.3.
In chapter 23, we see that Jesus begins to openly rebuke the religious
leaders in
2.4.
In beginning this open rebuke of the Pharisees and Scribes, Jesus tells
the multitude and His disciples that these men are the appointed leaders in
Jerusalem, and that as such they are seated in the seat of Moses, however not
having been called and placed by God in that seat, Jesus says that they have
‘seated themselves’ in that seat.
2.4.1.
Jesus is saying then that the religious leaders in
2.5.
Although these religious leaders have seated themselves in the seat of
Moses, Jesus tells the multitude and His disciples that since they are to have
respect for the authorities that God has placed over their lives, they are to
‘do and observe’ the things that these men tell them to do.
2.5.1.
This remark by Jesus sheds light then upon how men and women are supposed
to react to those who are over them in authority, even when those over them in
authority are not doing the things before God that they are supposed to be
doing. For instance:
2.5.1.1.All of us as Christians are
to submit to the governmental authorities that are placed over our lives (see
Romans 13), even when those governmental authorities are not being led by and
obedient to the Lord and His purposes, again, that is as long as to do so would
not cause us to break one of God’s commandments.
2.5.1.2.Christian women are called
to submit to their husbands as unto the Lord, and their submission is not to be
based upon whether or not they agree with what their husbands are telling them
that they ought to be doing, that is, as long as to submit to their husband
would not cause them to break one of God’s commandments.
2.6.
Jesus rebuke of the Pharisees and Scribes is that He tells the multitude
and His disciples that though they are to do and observe the things that these leaders
tell them to do, that they are not to ‘do’ the things that these men do.
2.6.1.
In the gospels, we see Jesus often rebuking the Pharisees and Scribes for
being hypocrites because they would say one thing and do another, for their
deeds did not match what they would say.
A couple examples from the gospels of the Pharisees’ blatant hypocrisy
are:
2.6.1.1.We saw in Matt. 12:40, that Jesus condemned the
Pharisees for ‘devouring widows houses’ and yet for appearance sake offering
long prayers so that people would think that instead of robbing their savings
or taking their possessions that they were helping out these poor unfortunate
widows.
2.6.1.2.We saw in Matt. 15 that the
Pharisees would subvert God’s commandment to honor their father and mother by
declaring that all of their possessions were ‘corban’, or given up to God, and
then when their parents became elderly and needy they would not help them out
as they told their parents that they couldn’t give to them of their money
because they had made a dedication of it to God.
2.6.2.
When I was growing up, one of the things that my parents used to
sometimes tell me when issues of conduct came up, say such as whether I should
smoke cigarettes or not, was, ‘Don’t do as I do but do as I say’, and, what we
see in the New Testament is that these Pharisees and Scribes would lay heavy
burdens of law and legislation upon others shoulders, however they themselves
would openly disobey many of God’s commands.
2.7.
We Christians would do well to be people who are committed to having our
‘walk match our talk’, for we can only have a witness to the world that our
lives have indeed been changed by the Lord when we are being not only hearers
of God’s Word but doers also of it.
3.
VS 23:4 - “4 “And
they tie up heavy loads, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves
are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger.”” - Jesus denounces the Pharisees for laying
heavy loads on people that they themselves are even willing to carry
3.1.
This type of thing mentioned by Jesus here is so typical of legalists, for
they actually tend to hold others to a much higher standard of conduct than
they hold themselves. They tend to
excuse their own actions by excuses about unfortunate and overwhelming
circumstances, etc., and yet condemn others accepting no excuse for not
performing optimally.
3.2.
The Pharisees taught that men ought to have the utmost holiness before
God, and they even did this to the extent that they added hundreds of
regulations to God’s Laws, and yet they themselves consistently broke many of
the ‘weightier’ matters of the Law.
3.2.1.
Jesus will give examples of this later in the chapter.
4.
VS 23:5 - “5 “But
they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their
phylacteries, and lengthen the tassels of their garments.”” - Jesus condemns the motives of the Pharisees
for the ‘good works’ that they did
4.1.
Jesus said that ‘all’ of the deeds that the Pharisees did, they did in
order to be ‘noticed by men’.
4.1.1.
Worldly people’s motives haven’t changed since Jesus’ day, for many
people today do good deeds with the same motives as these Pharisees did their
good deeds:
4.1.1.1.Many people today will give
big checks to charitable organizations if they are promised that they will have
a wing of the building named after them.
4.1.1.2.Few people give sizeable
charitable donations without being guaranteed some kind of recognition for
their gift.
4.2.
Phylacteries were little boxes which contained some of the scriptures in
them. In the Law, Deut. 6:6-9, God’s people were told to
bind the scriptures to the foreheads and hands, and to place them on their
doorposts, so for the Pharisees to have Phylactrics on their foreheads was
actually a good thing in and of itself, “6 “And these words, which I am
commanding you today, shall be on your heart; 7 and you shall teach them
diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and
when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. 8 “And you
shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your
forehead. 9 “And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on
your gates.””
4.2.1.
What was wrong about what the Pharisees were doing was that they would
make their Phylacteries to be very large in order that people might see them
and think that since these Phylacteries were very large because they contained
more sciptures in them, and more importantly this led to the impression that
the Pharisee would read and think about the scriptures more as a result of
having the larger Phylacteries.
4.3.
In Matt. 6:1, we saw that Jesus taught that if we do any deeds in order to be seen by
men, that we will have no reward from our heavenly Father, “6:1 ”Beware
of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise
you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.””
4.3.1.
In Matt. 6:2-6, Jesus then went on to tell His disciples the correct way in which they
should do their deeds so that they would not lose their reward in heaven, “2 “When
therefore you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites
do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be honored by men. Truly
I say to you, they have their reward in full. 3 “But when you give alms, do not
let your left hand know what your right hand is doing 4 that your alms may be
in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you. 5 “And when you pray, you are not to be as
the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the
street corners, in order to be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their
reward in full. 6 “But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, and when
you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father
who sees in secret will repay you.””
4.4.
Having tassels on the bottom of their garments was a good thing in and of
itself, for in Numbers 15:37-40, the Lord told the Israelites that they were
to sow tassels on the bottoms of their garments in order that those might
remind them that they were to keep all of God’s commandments, “37 The
Lord also spoke to Moses, saying, 38 “Speak to the sons of Israel, and tell
them that they shall make for themselves tassels on the corners of their
garments throughout their generations, and that they shall put on the tassel of
each corner a cord of blue. 39 “And it shall be a tassel for you to look at and
remember all the commandments of the Lord, so as to do them and not follow
after your own heart and your own eyes, after which you played the harlot, 40
in order that you may remember to do all My commandments, and be holy to your
God.”
4.4.1.
I have known Christians who have done similar things to sowing on a
tassel in order to remind them of the commitments that they have made to the
Lord.
4.4.1.1.For instance, I have known
of Christians who have tied a string around one of their fingers to remind them
that they have promised God that they would be faithful in a particular area of
weakness in their life.
4.4.1.2.I know of one musical
evangelist who keeps three marbles in his pockets all of the time: a red one to remind him of the precious blood
of Jesus that was shed for him, a clear one to remind him that he needs to be
transparent with people, and a green one to remind him that he is always to be
growing in his relationship to Christ.
4.4.2.
What was bad about what the Pharisees and Scribes did was that they made
the tassels on all of their garments very large so that other people would see
them and that seeing them they would think that they were so much more
spiritual than they really were.
5.
VS 23:6-7 - “6
“And they love the place of honor at banquets, and the chief seats in the
synagogues, 7 and respectful greetings in the market places, and being called
by men, Rabbi.”” - Jesus condemns
the Pharisees and Scribes for their loving to be honored by men
5.1.
Jesus tells them that the Pharisees and Scribes always loved to be seated
at the ‘place of honor’ at banquets.
5.1.1.
The Pharisees fed off of the honor of men, and their sin was that they
loved the approval of man rather than the approval of God, as Jesus condemns
them for in John 12:43, “43 for
they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God.”
5.2.
Jesus tells them that the Pharisees and Scribes always loved to have the
‘chief seats in the synagogues’.
5.2.1.
These seats would be the best seats, the ones up in front where men could
see them, for they wanted men to see them and to think that they must be the
most spiritually minded men of all time.
5.3.
Jesus tells them that the Pharisees and Scribes loved the ‘respectful
greetings in the market places’.
5.3.1.
In the market place, these men loved to be called by the titles of their
positions which they held in the synagogue, positions such as ‘elder’.
5.3.1.1.In our world, I am always
amazed at the way men who have doctorate degrees always have to have the world
‘doctor’ associated with their name whether it is placed on a marquee, business
card, phone list, coat rack, etc., for this is the same sin of pride that the
Pharisees and Scribes of Jesus’ day had in their lives.
5.4.
Jesus tells them that the Pharisees and Saducees also loved to be called,
‘teacher’ (rabbi in the Hebrew), which indicated their spiritual office in the
synagogue.
5.4.1.
It is good to aspire to be a teacher in God’s kingdom, however it should
never be the case that a person insists on being called by any certain title that
pertains to the offices that he holds.
5.4.2.
I have visited churches where I felt that the pastor had the attitude
that he had to always be addressed as, ‘pastor so-and-so’, for his own name
would not suffice.
6.
VS 23:8-10 - “8
“But do not be called Rabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all
brothers. 9 “And do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your
Father, He who is in heaven. 10 “And do not be called leaders; for One is your
Leader, that is, Christ.”” - Jesus
tells His disciples and the multitude that they should not try to have people
call them by titles of respect
6.1.
Jesus tells them that they should not require that people call them by
titles that command respect, for this is a prideful thing to do, and instead
the disciple of Christ should humble Himself in order that God might lift him
up.
6.1.1.
As Spurgeon once said, In God’s Kingdom, “…the way up is the way down,
and the way down is the way up!”
6.1.2.
We Christians should venerate and lift up Jesus to the world, not
ourselves, for promoting ourselves is always going to be wrong to do.
6.2.
The word ‘Rabbi’ meant ‘teacher’, and in
6.3.
Jesus tells His disciples and the multitude that they were not to require
that people call them, ‘Father’.
6.3.1.
It is odd to me that in spite of Jesus’ teaching here, there are still
some Christian denominations that call their pastors, ‘Father’.
6.3.1.1.A friend of mine who is an
Episcopal priest was telling me one day that he was trying to teach his Bible
study group one night that the scripture taught them that they were not to call
him, ‘Father’, and he told me that everytime that he told one of them this that
they would respond, ‘Yes, Father!’ Old habits
are hard to break, I guess.
6.3.2.
Jesus tells the people that the reason that they are not to call their
leaders, ‘Father’, is that they have a heavenly Father, and it is important
that they approach Him alone as their Father.
6.3.2.1.There are some churches in the
world that have a ‘shepherding’ type of mentality in the ministry, and they
force all of their congregation to be accountable to certain leaders, and the
people are instructed not to make any decisions without consulting the leaders
they are accountable to. This type of
model for ministry is very destructive since people need to learn to look to
God and His leading, and leadership that is too paternal leads people away from
allowing the Holy Spirit to lead them.
6.3.2.1.1.I learned that you cannot
enforce accountability even if you want to do it, because if people want to
hide things and pull the wool over your eyes, you really can’t stop them. Accountability is a good thing, however
people need to seek it out themselves because only then can it really work to their
benefit.
6.3.2.1.2.Submission to leadership is
an important thing in the church, but a church that is over-paternalistic just
creates a big legalistic mess and many people end up being hurt as a result of
it.
6.4.
Jesus says that they are not to require that people even call them,
‘leader’, as a respectful title.
6.4.1.
Jesus says that the reason that they are not to do that is because only
God is supposed to be our leader.
6.5.
I believe that the issue here is that ‘demanding’ or ‘expecting’ that
people should call you by some respectful title comes about as a result of
sinful pride, and therefore should not be done.
6.5.1.
Sometimes in the church someone will say to me, ‘Should I call you
‘pastor’?’, and I always tell them that they can call me whatever they feel
comfortable calling me. Some people
always feel that they should call their pastor by the title of ‘pastor’, and it
is fine if they call me that, however if they call me by my name that is fine
also. In fact, as long as they don’t
call me late for dinner, I don’t mind!
6.6.
This whole teaching by Jesus in these verses reminds me of one man, whom
I sometimes mention in my teaching. Jim
was a man who befriended me in the first church that I attended after coming to
Christ. I was 19 when we first met. I was a hippie kid who had just recently
found Jesus and gotten off of the drugs, but I still had a thousand rough edges
in my personality, and still had my hair long.
Jim was the dean of the junior college where I attended, and he was
married and had four beautiful daughters all around my age. I soon became almost one of their family, as
I would go and hang out at their house every day. I loved talking with Jim for several reasons. I loved the fellowship which I was starved
for at that time, and Jim always brought up very interesting things during our
talks. I just enjoyed talking with him,
and it occurred to me one day that Jim always made me feel that my ideas were
important when we talked. Jim taught me
much about Christ over that year or so before I eventually felt called to go
into the ministry and packed up and moved off to
7.
VS 23:11-12 -
“11 “But the greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 “And whoever
exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.””
- Jesus reminds His disciples that they
are to be humble servant-leaders
7.1.
As I mentioned above, the point in Jesus teaching His disciples that they
were not to require or expect that people address them using respectful titles
was that they were to avoid being puffed up with pride and exalting themselves.
7.2.
God always exalts the humble, and He also always humbles those who exalt
themselves, therefore we do well if we always take the low road instead of the
high road.