Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!

Christ the Good Shepherd, mosaic, c. 425.  Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, Ravenna

 "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.  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.  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.

"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.'  Fools and blind!  For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold?  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.'  Fools and blind!  For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift?  Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it.  He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells in it.  And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it.

"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.  Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence.  Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also."

- Matthew 23:13-26

Yesterday we read that Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples in the temple at Jerusalem, saying:  "The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat.  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.  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.  But all their works they do to be seen by men.  They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments.  They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, 'Rabbi, Rabbi.'  But you, do not be called 'Rabbi'; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren.  Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven.  And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ.  But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant.  And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

 "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.  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.  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.  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.'  Fools and blind!  For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold?  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.'  Fools and blind!  For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift?  Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it.  He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells in it.  And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it."   My study bible tells us that because the example of a leader can be so influential, leaders who don't love God can hinder others from finding God as well.  Therefore, it says, leaders are held to a higher standard (James 3:1).   Here Jesus begins an eightfold indictment of the scribes and Pharisees.  As my study bible lists these charges, Jesus accuses them of inverting God's values and being mean-spirited, judgmental, greedy, ambitious, absorbed in externals, and blindly self-righteous.  Let us note that each of these charges are punctuated by accusations of hypocrisy, and each of these acts constitute part of that hypocrisy.  My study bible adds that while these charges are directed by Jesus to the leadership of His time, every word applies equally to those in the Church who behave this way.  This would be true of our own time, or of any other time.

"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.  Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence.  Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also."  My study bible (which is The Orthodox Study Bible) calls these warnings especially important to Orthodox Christians.  Indeed, they apply to all normal practices of faith in every denomination.   Specifically for the Orthodox, the Church has maintained the ancient practices of tithing (These you ought to have done), sacred vessels, holy rites (verse 27, which will be part of tomorrow's reading), and following the patristic tradition handed down from the earliest Church.  These practices, and indeed the practices in each denomination, in the words of my study bible, can be expressions of deep faith, lead a person to deeper commitment to God, and safeguard our life in Christ, or they can be observed without ever taking them to heart, and lead to condemnation.  Regarding Jesus' words that they strain out a gnat and swallow a camel, this refers to the practice of the Pharisees to attach strainers to the mouths of decanters, in order to avoid accidentally consuming a ritually unclean substance.  To cleanse the inside of the cup and dish is once again turning our attention to the inner life of the heart and soul,  doing the work of seeking true self-knowledge and taking decisive action necessary to correct abusive behavior (18:8-9), away from hypocrisy.

Jesus condemns the leadership in their hypocrisy, and in the practices used that express that hypocrisy.  If we take a closer look at it, we see that Jesus' grand summary really begins with the overall accusation:  they "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."  In other words, their own practices hinder the members of their flock, the ones in their care, from finding God.  Let us take a look at  today and we'll find  that practices in our own time can have the same effect.  When people are harmed or abused within the Church, what does this do to the individual believer -- especially if that believer is helpless or powerless like a child -- but to seriously harm and put obstacles in the way of their own path to God?  Abuse within His Church is something that Christ addressed early on with the disciples, in chapter 18, soon after the disciples are told about Jesus' forthcoming journey to Jerusalem, and they begin to ask Him who will be the greatest in the kingdom that they imagine will be imminent.  His first act is to prepare them for real leadership by speaking on no uncertain terms about their jobs and responsibilities as those who will presume to any kind of "greatness" in His Church.  His first word is humility, and setting down in front of them the example of a little child as requirement for entering the Kingdom.  But His second warning is the starkest one:  "But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes!"  In other words, the highest job of a religious leader is the care of the souls of all the little ones, and that those souls reach toward God, each one having that precious weight in the sight of God.  Let us consider, then, Jesus' words regarding the leadership.  He specifically names the practices in which they engage and how they are so harmful.  They cover up their harmful greed with long prayers.  They seek out proselytes only to corrupt them even more than they are corrupt themselves.  They fail to recognize the power of God beyond the structures, gifts, and wealth of the temple.  They will tithe even herbs, but neglect the very substances of God's righteousness:  justice and mercy and faith.   They make such ritual of fastidiousness, and yet they overlook gross and overwhelming affronts to God's desire for clean hearts.  They will care so much about ritual purity, but extortion and self-indulgence lie within, and until that is cleaned, nothing of what remains matters.  In some sense, the last verse in today's reading is a re-statement of another teaching of Jesus, that "not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth" . . . for "those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies" and "these are the things which defile" (see Matthew 15:1-20).   We might pay all the attention we can to the externals, put on all the right show to others and make conspicuous actions of faith or purity, but for Christ there is just one real test that matters, and that is the effort to know our hearts and work the real work of faith, to seek to follow the will of God.  In this way, He tells us, we will be family (see 12:49-50).  So in Jesus' words and teachings, we take yet another important step toward understanding real leadership.  It's not simply that we must do our best to lead all toward God, but moreover the way to take on that responsibility is to do our best to live the righteousness He teaches.  That absolutely includes the effort to be aware of and change or discard from ourselves anything that stands in the way doing so.   In this we will not only be good examples, but we will also help others to retain their own faith, and particularly seek -- in the humility required to be really honest with ourselves and before God -- to treat the littlest and meekest with proper care for their own essential journey toward God.  Here, finally, is the true image of the fullness of a human being, what it means to assume the capacities and choices we're given.  It is the requirement for leadership, but also, leadership exists on all levels.  There will be those little ones who suffer from abuse, even in the  Church, even in our families, and our institutions of all kinds, even when we have faith that all of these building blocks of our social fabric are nominally "good."  Let us be the ones who can help to lead all toward God, especially those who are most vulnerable to straying, and even in the times when leadership lets us down.  Like Christ, we are called to the truth He teaches, even in times when we are required to have courage to do so.  In yesterday's reading, we posted an icon of Christ the Good Shepherd.   Here in today's reading we are reminded of the fullness of His care for each of these, and that many are called, but few chosen.