Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!

 

 "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 on 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 the beginning of Jesus' final sermon, which He spoke in the temple in Jerusalem.  This event takes place during what we know as Holy Week, the final week of Jesus' earthly life.   Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, 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 on it.  And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it."  Here Jesus begins an eight-fold indictment of the scribes and Pharisees.  My study Bible comments that He charges them with inverting God's values and with being mean-spirited, judgmental, greedy, ambitious, absorbed in externals, and blindly self-righteous.  It says that while these charges were directed against the Jewish leaders of the day, every word applies equally to those in the Church who behave in this way.  Moreover, it adds that because the example of a leader can be so influential, leaders who do not love God can actually hinder others from finding God as well.  Therefore leaders are held to a higher standard (James 3:1).  Let us note the emphasis on material wealth over the power of the presence of God -- the value of the gold or gift on the altar over the value of that which sanctifies, the presence of God.

 

 "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."  My study Bible (which is the Orthodox Study Bible) comments that the warnings given here (and in the continuation we will find in tomorrow's reading) are especially important to Orthodox Christians.   This is true because the Church has maintained the ancient practices of tithing ("These you ought to have done"); sacred vessels; holy rites; and following the tradition handed down through the patristic period.  Therefore, we note, this is true for not just the Orthodox but many denominations.  These practices, my study Bible comments, 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.  Let us also note the emphasis here once again on the appearance of sanctity over the state of the internal life, and also the lack of value on the "weightier matters of the law" which Jesus names as justice and mercy and faith.  Keep in mind that at that time, money was measured in weight value of precious metal, so Jesus' analogy is to the true weight of the law of God over material values prized by these leaders.

 

"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."   The Pharisees would attach strainers to the mouths of decanters in order to avoid accidentally consuming a ritually unclean substance; hence "strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!"  Note again the emphasis on the appearance of being cleansed, while inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence.

 

Jesus' examples compare values, how people measure things.  They are specific examples of how the religious leaders -- despite their efforts at an outward show to the contrary -- value material wealth more than they value the true measure of all things:  God and God's sanctifying power.  He begins with the scribes, whom He says, "devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers."  The law of God, in which they are supposed to be experts who teach others, specifically makes provisions for the care of widows and orphans, but Jesus emphasizes their hungrily greedy efforts for material wealth.  He points out the great effort they make to "travel land and sea to win one proselyte," but "when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves."  In other words, their example only sets forth the opposite of the intent of God's law given to Moses, and so instead of bringing people closer to God the next generation of religious leaders are worse in their continuation down this path.  Jesus then uses the example of swearing by the gold or the gift on the altar over the altar itself -- evidence of a failure to value that which sits on the altar which actually sanctifies the gift or the gold:  God and all the things of God, God's throne and heaven also.  What is missing from the picture is holiness itself, a valuing of that action and power of sanctification, a blindness to the true substance and reality and action of God.  And, in every generation, as my study Bible emphasizes, we are subject to the same blindness, the same lack of consciousness of the power and holiness of God working in our lives and sanctifying what we do and who we are in the world.  Jesus then goes on to their outward practices of fastidiousness, straining out liquid to avoid a tiny animal that is ritually unclean (a gnat), and the ritually cleansed cup and dish for eating, but they are still those who devour widows' houses, and are full of extortion and self-indulgence."   To first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish is entirely consistent with Jesus' (and also John the Baptist's) of the good tree that bears good fruit, of the branches that need to be pruned in order to keep the tree good and bearing the good fruit (see Matthew 3:10, 7:17-19, 12:33).  We can also understand this as compatible to Christ's analogy of "amputation" of that which would cause sin, especially against the "little ones" in their flocks to the disciples, as they quarreled over who would be greatest in Christ's Kingdom (see Matthew 18:1-9).  Jesus also gives this same analogy to all disciples -- and therefore to all believers -- in the Sermon on the Mount when He speaks about adultery with the image of an eye that gazes with covetousness, a hand that reaches out to trespass where it does not belong (Matthew 5:29-30).  In all ways, Jesus' emphasis on the state of the soul which must first inform outward action still applies to us.  It is still true that we must cleanse the inside to make clean the outside, to make the tree good so that its fruit will be good.  The emphasis on outward appearance leads so easily to hypocrisy, to forgetting that the "first and greatest commandment" Jesus gives is "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind" (see Saturday's reading).   It is this commandment that informs the rest, that teaches us how to love our neighbor as ourselves.  It is in this depth of internal relationship to God that we find how to love, and the rootedness we need to bear good fruit in our outward actions.  The great deal of emphasis placed on outward action through our social media today makes this all the more difficult, placing so much emphasis on appearance over an inner substance, and a depth of love within us as commitment.  For that is how the practice of compassion eludes us.  It is all too easy to judge according to appearance and not with righteous judgment (John 7:34).  Let us do our part by cultivating the "weightier matters" of righteousness Jesus teaches, and avoid the hypocrisy He condemns that is blind to the things of God.