Gospel of Matthew - Chapter 23
Jesus Accuses the Pharisees 23:1-12
v1 Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples. v2 ‘The men who teach the Law and the Pharisees speak with Moses’ authority’, he said. v3 ‘So you must obey them. Do everything that they tell you to do. But do not follow their example. They do not practice what they teach you. v4 They tie up heavy loads and they put those loads on other people’s shoulders. But they themselves are not willing to use even one of their fingers to help carry the loads. v5 They do everything for other people to see. They write down verses from God’s Word and put them into little boxes. Look at how many of those boxes they wear on their arms and heads! And they want you to admire the very long corners on their prayer coats! v6 They love to sit in the most important places when they are at parties. And they love to sit in the most important seats in the building where they meet to worship God. v7 They are very happy when people greet them with respect in the marketplaces. And they love to hear people call them ‘Teachers.’
v8 But you should not let people call you ‘Teacher.’ You have only one teacher, and you are all brothers and sisters. v9 Also, do not call anyone on earth ‘father’. You have one Father, and he is in heaven. v10 Nobody should call any of you ‘teacher’ because you all have just one teacher. And he is the Christ. v11 The most important person among you will be your servant. v12 If anyone tries to make himself important, God will make him unimportant. And God will give honor to anyone who is humble.
Commentary
Verse 1
Jesus is talking to everyone around him.
Verses 2-3
God had given the Law to Moses long ago. The Jews had to obey God’s laws. The men who taught the Law and the Pharisees were responsible to teach the Law to the people. They taught that people should respect God and respect other people. So all the Jews should obey them. But the Pharisees had hundreds of their own rules to explain God’s Law. They said that people should obey all these rules. But they often avoided their own rules. Jesus did not want people to copy this bad behavior. These teachers tried to appear good, but they wanted honor for themselves rather than for God.
Verse 4
All their rules were like a great load that people had to carry. For example, there were many rules about how to keep God’s Day special. It should have been a day when people rested and were happy. But it became a day when people were anxious about all the rules. So these rules had become a very heavy load. But the Pharisees did not make the smallest effort to help with the load.
Verse 5
The Pharisees liked people to think that they were very holy. They wore little leather boxes that contained tiny paper rolls. They called these little boxes ‘phylacteries’ and they wrote four passages from God’s Word on each little roll. Jews wore one or more on their arms and one on the front of their heads. They reminded people about God’s commands. The Pharisees were very large ‘phylacteries’. They wanted to make people notice them. People could see how well they obeyed God’s laws. The man wore his special coat with corners when he prayed to God. These coats also reminded people about God’s laws. But the Pharisees would make the corners extra long so that people would notice them.
Verse 6
The Pharisees liked people to think that they were important. So they wanted the seats that were next to their hosts at parties. They liked to sit on the seats in front of everybody in the building where they met to worship God. Then they could look at everyone who was there. And everyone would notice who was sitting on the front seats.
Verses 7-10
They liked people to give them the greatest respect. They liked titles that gave them honor. Some translations use the word ‘Rabbi’ which means ‘My teacher’. They even liked people to call them ‘father’. Jesus said that Christians have only one teacher. And that teacher is Christ. Christians have only one father who made them. That Father is God. And with God as their father, Christians are all brothers and sisters.
Verses 11-12
Jesus emphasized that a Christian should serve other people. And he or she should be humble. God gives honor to people who deserve it. Proud people do not really praise God. Instead, they just praise themselves. But God will destroy their pride. He will also know which people are really humble. He will reward them and give them honor.
Jesus Warns the Scribes and Pharisees 23:13-36
v13 ‘How terrible for you men who teach the Law and for you Pharisees! You have double standards! You shut the door to where God rules. You shut it in people’s faces so that they cannot enter. But you do not go in yourselves. People are trying to get in, but you prevent them.
[v14 How terrible for you men who teach the Law and for you Pharisees! You have double standards! You rob widows by taking away their homes. Then you say long prayers in public! Your punishment will be very severe!]
v15 How terrible for you, men who teach the Law and for you Pharisees! You have double standards! You travel to other countries everywhere, even across the sea. You do it to gain one person more who believes like you. Then you make him twice as ready for hell as you are. v16 How terrible for you, blind guides! You teach wrong things! “Someone may refer to the Temple when they make a promise. That means nothing”, you say. “Someone else may refer to the gold in the Temple when they make a promise. Then he must keep his promise”, you say. v17 You are blind and foolish. Perhaps you think that the gold is more important than the Temple. Surely, the Temple is more important because it makes the gold holy. v18 You also teach this. “Someone may refer to the holy table in the Temple when they make a promise. That means nothing. But someone else may refer to the gift that is on the holy table. Then he must keep his promise”, you say.
v19 You blind people! Perhaps you think that the gift is more important than the holy table. Surely, the holy table is greater because it makes the gift holy. v20 Therefore, someone may refer to the holy table when they make a promise. Then they will also make a promise with everything that people offer on that table. v21 And someone may refer to the Temple when they make a promise. They will also promise with God’s name because he lives there. v22 Someone may refer to heaven when they make a promise. They will also make a promise with God’s royal seat there. That person is promising with God’s name because he sits on that seat.
v23 How terrible for you men who teach the Law and for you Pharisees! You have double standards! When you have ten small garden plants like mint, anise, and cummin, you give one to God. But you neglect the more important matters in the Law. You have not been fair to people nor pitied them. You have not been honest with people. You should have practiced the last things without neglecting the first things. v24 You blind guides! You make sure that there is no tiny insect in your drink. But you are ready to swallow a camel!
v25 How terrible for you men who teach the Law and for you Pharisees. You have double standards! You clean the outside of cups and dishes. But inside they contain all that you have obtained wrongly. You are greedy and you only want to satisfy yourselves. v26 Blind Pharisees! First, you must clean the inside of the cups and dishes. Then the outside will be clean as well.
27 How terrible for you men who teach the Law and for you Pharisees. You have double standards! You are like the graves in rock that people paint white. They look beautiful on the outside. But the inside is full of dead people’s bones and other things that are not clean. v28 It is the same with you. You want people to look at you. You always seem to do what is right. But inside you are just pretending to be good. You are full of what is wrong.
v29 How terrible for you men who teach the Law and for you Pharisees. You have double standards! You build magnificent rock graves for God’s special servants from long ago. You also make the graves of good people look more beautiful. v30 “If we had lived long ago, we would not have done bad things like the first people in our families did”, you say. “We would not have helped them to kill God’s special servants”, you say. v31 So you are witnesses against yourselves. You say that you belong to those people’s families. And they killed God’s special servants. v32 So go and finish the wicked things that those people began long ago!
v33 You are like poisonous snakes in a nest! But you expect to escape the punishment in hell! v34 So I am sending more of God’s special servants to you, and wise men and teachers. I know that you will kill some of them. And you will fix some onto crosses so that they die. You will whip other servants in the buildings where you meet to worship God. And you will chase them from one town to another town. v35 You have caused good people’s blood to spill out on the earth. God will call you guilty because of those murders. It started with the blood from Abel, who obeyed God. The murders continued till Zechariah, who was the son of Berekiah. You murdered him between the Temple and the holy table. v36 I am telling you the truth. God will punish the people who are living now for all these murders.’
Commentary
Jesus warned the religious leaders seven times:
1. Verse 13
Most of the men who taught the Law and the Pharisees opposed Jesus. He wanted people to enter where God rules. But these leaders refused to listen to Jesus. Also, they tried to stop other people from listening to him. They did not want anyone else to accept Jesus’ invitation. This was like shutting a door to keep people out, Jesus said. When Jesus healed a blind man, the man’s parents were afraid to answer questions about their son (John 9:20-23). Some people accepted Jesus as the Messiah. But the religious leaders refused to let such people stay in the buildings where they met to worship God (John 9:22).
Verse 14
Verse 14 is not in most old copies of Matthew. It is extra. Perhaps someone copied it from Mark 12:40 and Luke 20:47 long ago. Without verse 14, there are seven times that Jesus warns the Pharisees and scribes. Jesus accused them of having double standards. Many translations use the word ‘hypocrites’ here. This means that they are like actors who are hiding their true character.
2. Verse 15
The Pharisees made every effort to teach foreigners. They wanted them to believe as the Jews believed. But the Pharisees did not really help them to know God. They only tried to make people accept all their rules. They tried to make people follow their example. When someone changes his religion, he is usually very eager to obey the new religion’s rules. So this was the danger for other people who believed the Pharisees. They could become worse than the Pharisees themselves.
3. Verses 16-22
Jesus had already spoken about serious promises (Matthew 5:33-37). There were different kinds of promises. The Pharisees thought that they only had to keep certain promises. They did not have to keep other promises. If they did not promise with the name of the Temple, or the holy table or heaven, then they could break that promise. But Jesus said that everything belongs to God. And it should not be necessary to make promises with the names of holy things at all. Jesus said that they should be honest. They should mean what they said.
4. Verses 23-24
The Levites worked in the Temple. They did not own any land. The other Jews had a duty to provide for the Levites. So from all their grain, oil, and wine, the Jews had to give them one part out of ten. But the Pharisees also gave one out of ten, even from the small plants in their gardens. These tiny plants were their medicines and gave extra flavor to food. Jesus showed that the Pharisees were emphasizing the wrong things. It is far more important to be fair to other people. It is better to help people who need help. It is better to be loyal to God and honest with each other. The Pharisees wanted to avoid everything that they thought was not ‘clean’. So Jesus suggested an impossible word picture. They were careful to take any tiny insect out of their drink. But they were prepared to swallow something as large as a camel! This funny picture showed that the Pharisees were stupid. Some things are important and other things are less important. The Pharisees could not see the difference.
5. Verses 25-26
The Pharisees’ many rules included how to wash dishes. They had to make sure that the outside of a cup or a dish was clean enough for God. It may not have looked dirty. But nothing that their rules considered ‘not clean’ must touch the outside. That touch would make it ‘not clean’. They did not worry much about more important wrong things. When someone cheated, it did not worry them. When someone stole food and drink, it did not worry them. So the Pharisees were like their own cups and dishes. They made sure that they seemed pure on the outside. But they were greedy inside, which it did not show. They wanted to please themselves rather than to please God.
6. Verses 27-28
Jews believed that a person must not touch a dead body. It would make the person ‘not clean’ (Numbers 19:16). In some places, there were graves by the road. Someone might touch a grave by accident. So then they would no longer be ‘clean’. If this happened at Passover time, that person could not be part of the Passover ceremonies. So in the spring, Jews painted the graves white. They looked beautiful, but inside they were full of dead bodies or just bones. Jesus said that the Pharisees were like the white graves. They looked so good on the outside. But deep inside, the Pharisees were as awful as it was inside the graves.
7. Verses 29-32
The Pharisees pretended to give honor to God’s special servants who died long ago. They made their graves look beautiful. Sometimes they even built new rock graves for them. The Pharisees said that they would not have killed God’s servants. But Jesus was bringing God’s message, and they were planning to kill him. He had shown that he knew their thoughts in his story about the wicked farmers (Matthew 21:33-41). All through Jewish history men had killed God’s special servants and refused to listen to their message. The Pharisees were the same.
Verses 33-36
Jesus used words that John the Baptist had also used. He warned the Pharisees about the punishment in hell. God had sent his special servants with messages in the past, and he would send more in the future. But they would all suffer because they were doing God’s work. And Jesus knew that they would fix him on a cross to die as well. The entire Jewish history showed how the Jews had murdered God’s servants.
Jesus said that the people living then would suffer because of the murders in their history. Jesus gave a very serious warning to them. He knew what would happen. The nation had always refused to believe God’s message and soon God would punish them. The Pharisees were among those who opposed Jesus. But Jesus was God’s final message to them.
Jesus Weeps About Jerusalem’s People 23:37-39
v37 ‘Jerusalem, Jerusalem! Your people kill God’s special servants. They throw stones to kill people when God sends them to you. Many times, I have wanted to gather your people together. I have wanted to be like a chicken that gathers her little chickens under her wings. But you would not let me. v38 Look, your Temple will become empty and alone. v39 I am telling you the truth. You will not see me again until you say, “We pray that God will bless the man who comes in the Lord’s name.'”
Commentary
Verse 37
Jesus greatly loved Jerusalem, and he greatly loved his own people, the Jews. Luke says (Luke 19:41-44) that Jesus wept as he came near to the city. He had wanted the people to enter where God rules and become safe. Because he loved them, he wanted to protect them. This was like a chicken that protects her little chickens under her wings. Matthew, Mark, and Luke record only one Passover visit to Jerusalem. This visit happened after Jesus began his public work. Jesus says ‘Many times’, which shows that he had visited Jerusalem many times. And John’s gospel records some of these other visits.
Verse 38
Jesus was giving a last, sad warning to his people. But he knew that they would not listen. And foreigners would destroy God’s house, their Temple.
Verse 39
The crowd shouted, ‘We pray that God will bless the man who comes in the Lord’s name!’ when Jesus rode into Jerusalem (Matthew 21:9). One day Jesus will return. Then the words that welcome him will be sincere.
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