Matthew 23: You Hypocrites!

Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 08 February 2015 

by Captain Michael Ramsay

What is the main criticism that people say about church about Christians? Complete this sentence: I don’t go to church because they are all a bunch of _____________ (Hypocrites).

Some things never change look at Verse 13: ^‘Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!’ Verse 15: ^‘Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!’ Verse 23: ^‘Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!’ Verse 25: ^‘Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!’ Verse 27: ^‘Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!’ Verse 29: ^‘Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!’ Some things never change. So today I thought that we would look at some of the things people in the worshipping community did and do that if possible could very well impede someone’s salvation. Let’s take a look together and see how we can avoid the millennia old charge of hypocrisy.

Reading from Matthew 23:1-4:

23 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: ² “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. ³ So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. ⁴ They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

Here we have one or two groups of people.[1] Verse 2, Jesus mentions the teachers of the Law, the Pharisees. We run across this group of people a lot in the NT. They are primarily Jesus’ rivals in the Gospels and many of them – like the Apostle Paul – later are His followers; do we know who the Pharisees were? What was a Pharisee? A religious group but very loosely determined. They weren’t priests or pastors necessarily. (Scribes would imply a formal education of some sort.)[2] Pharisees (some of whom would be scribes) were ordinary churchgoers who had the same sort of general theological-political outlook.[3] Rather than being a denomination like Baptist or Anglican or Methodist, today they may more be like ‘Conservative Christians’ or the ‘Christian Right’ or south of the line they may even be ‘Tea Party’ supporters. They aren’t a denomination so much as a general type of person holding onto a general set of beliefs.[4] Some of the beliefs a Pharisee might have are they’d see themselves as a holiness movement: good, clean-living people (if they were in our world, they wouldn’t ever drink, smoke or swear). They are evangelistic (which is good) and they believe in the resurrection (which is right). Jesus says as – I believe – a hyperbolic statement of these stereotypical good synagogue/church-going types,[5] Jesus says:

⁵ “Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; ⁶ they love the place of honour at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; ⁷ they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.

⁸ “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. ⁹ And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. ¹⁰ Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. ¹¹ The greatest among you will be your servant.¹² For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

The Pharisees and others today like them, they (and hopefully not we) are the ones who love to be seen helping in church. They want to make sure that someone thanks them for their work.[6] They don’t want to miss being a part of anything that the ‘important people’ do. They wear their best church clothes or - in our context - their neatly pressed uniforms on special occasions – so someone might see them and say, “good for you for being a ‘helper’ to those people;” “good for you for being a ‘servant’ of those people.” “Good for you for being a ‘teacher’, ‘leader’, ‘coordinator’ of those people” Jesus says, in effect, don’t let anyone praise you, calling you ‘helper’; don’t let people puff you up with flimsy praise and don’t do things just to be lauded;[7] when titles and praises are your reason for doing things, that’s a waste because you will be always humbled. Jesus says:

¹³ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! 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.

¹⁵ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.

The Pharisees are evangelists. This is good. In our world today those like them, they would be great at telling you to pray. They would even tell you WHAT to pray for, I think; they would even tell you how to pray for it and they would even tell you which Christian authors you should read, which Christian musicians you should listen to, which politicians you should vote for and which ones you shouldn’t. They would be like so many right-or-other-wing radio shows south of the line, informing us that Christians ONLY act in this one way in everything they do. If we are like this Jesus says we are hypocrites. Even more, Jesus says, Verse 16ff.

¹⁶ “Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.’ ¹⁷ You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? ¹⁸ You also say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gift on the altar is bound by that oath.’ ¹⁹ You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? ²⁰ Therefore, anyone who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. ²¹ And anyone who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwell in it.²² And anyone who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it.

²³ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. ²⁴ You blind guides!  You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

²⁵ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. ²⁶ Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.

²⁷ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. ²⁸ In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

Jesus is saying that the Pharisees and any of us here today to whom these comments apply may be very good at doing all the right church things: watching the right shows, wearing the right clothes, voting for the right people, helping out in church, and even tithing; but Jesus says they don’t do what is really important. Jesus doesn’t care whether you read Max Lucado or watched Joel Olsteen (for two random examples) this week; He doesn’t worry about which radio station, Christian CD or MP3 you are going to play; you’re not going to go to hell because you listen to a Newsboys song – or some other like song. Jesus says we shouldn’t focus on this stuff. Jesus wants us to love Him. Jesus wants us to love God and love our neighbours, engaging in prayer, study, justice, mercy, and faithfulness. When we seek God through this, all acts of righteousness will naturally overflow in our lives but when we spend our time trying to look good or trying to look right about God then it does nothing but drive people away from us, away from church and away from God. Jesus says: Verse 29,ff:

²⁹ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. ³⁰ And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ ³¹ So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. ³² Go ahead, then, and complete what your ancestors started!

³³ “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? ³⁴ Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. ³⁵ And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. ³⁶ Truly I tell you, all this will come on this generation. [Verse 30 again] And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 

They just had Martin Luther King Day south of the line. This year I read a lot of quotes from MLK.[8] In many ways, he really was a great man. I read some of his sermons and speeches. Everyone in the US really loves him and it is interesting. I looked at some of the Facebook pages of people who re-posted his quotes recently. You know MLK was very much a pacifist, right? He didn’t necessarily begin as such but the more resistance he personally received the more he was convinced that we should never bear arms under any circumstance and MLK was rightly determined that the only way to solve the world’s problems was forgiveness, emulating Christ’s in that way. The startling thing as I read more and more about him was the number people who posted his quotes and re-tweeted his comments who are war hawks! The number of war-mongers, the number of vengeance-seekers, the number of hate-peddlers and fear-disseminators, the number of people who support contemporary invasions of foreign countries who then re-tweeted MLK on MLK Day was astounding. I would never have guessed from their other tweets and posts that they would ever support a pastor who was pro-forgiveness and anti-war. MLK was opposed by powerful people in a war-like country and he was violently killed. I have a feeling that those who posted his quotes in one moment and then applauded aggressive military intervention in the next, I have I feeling that they may say that if they were there in MLK’s day they would never have, Verse 30, taken part in the shedding of his blood. To which Jesus responds, in essence, Verse 31-32, “you testify against yourselves [by your politics] that you are the descendants of those who murdered [him]. Go ahead, then, and complete what your ancestors started!”

How many times do we applaud someone for standing up to evil and then turn around and celebrate that very evil that they opposed? How many times do we do and say things that look right while failing to stand up for, say, and do things that really are right?This may be why we in the churches are often called hypocrites.

Let me tell you a story. This is a story of our Christmas Day and Monday Night Dinners. I love these. These are community meals served in Jesus’ Name to everyone regardless of race, creed, religions, wealth, smell, appearance... These meals, I believe are Christian communion when our time and food is dedicated to our Lord and Saviour. Let me explain.

I have seen many soup kitchens in my time. I have seen some good ones, some okay ones, and some other ones. I have seen some meals that alienate, isolate, antagonize, and marginalize the people they aim to help. When you have a meal that is made by ‘good church people’ for ‘those other people’, when you have a meal that is served by ‘good church people’ for ‘those other people’, when you have a meal where the set up is done by ‘good church people’ for ‘those other people’, when you have a meal where the tear down is done by ‘good church people’ for ‘those other people’, then, maybe like Pharisees, like the hypocrites, we are doing our acts of righteous to other people instead of for God with other people…but our meals here are not like that.

Those of you who have been apart of it know that there is no ‘them’ in our gatherings; we are all family. Anyone can help Sylvia make the dinner; anyone can help Ron set up tables; anyone can sit and eat dinner with me or you; anyone and everyone can help tear down the tables and sweep up the floor. We are a community and I don’t know if anyone has ever stood back and looked at the wonderful lively conversations that occur not only across the table but also across socio-economic and other cultural and societal lines. My friends, at our Monday Night Meals there is no designation of Jew or Greek; male is not separated from female, rich people do not eat apart from poor people, people with university degrees aren’t fed before those without high school. We are one in the body of Christ. This is important and this is only one example of many we have right in our little church family of loving God and our neighbour. To those who aren’t blessed with serving Christ in this or like ways, Jesus says, Verses 37-39:

³⁷ “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. ³⁸ Look, your house is left to you desolate. ³⁹ For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

So to those of us who really do love our Lord and really do love our neighbour. For those of us who really do serve our Lord through serving our neighbour in a multitude of way, Jesus promises –like we read in the Sermon on the Mount[9]- that as our hearts are pure so will our actions be – not the other way round (Matthew 6:33). So today I have this encouragement to all of us here. We are going in the right direction. Keep on, keeping on. You are doing well. Keep on serving your brothers and sisters in Jesus’ Name; you are doing well; keep on helping your younger, older, weaker, stronger and other brother or sister in Jesus ‘Name, you are doing well. My friends keep and praying, reading your Bible and keep seeking the Kingdom of Heaven and our Saviour for He promises that as we do we will find Him and then righteousness and all the rest will be added unto us as indeed we proclaim, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

Let us pray.

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[1] The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Matthew/Exposition of Matthew/VI. Opposition and Eschatology: The Triumph of Grace (19:3-26:5)/A. Narrative (19:3-23:39)/8. Opening events of Passion Week (21:1-23:39)/e. Seven woes on the teachers of the law and the Pharisees (23:1-36)/(1) Warming the crowds and the disciples (23:1-12), Book Version: 4.0.2

[2] M. Eugene Boring, Matthew, (NIB 8: Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press, 1995), 430-431

[3] NT Wright, ‘Matthew for Everyone Part 2: Chapters 16-28’ (NT for Everyone: Louisville Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004),, 99

[4] Cf. NT Wright, ‘Matthew for Everyone Part 2: Chapters 16-28’ (NT for Everyone: Louisville Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004), 107.

[5] Cf. R. T. France, Matthew: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 1985 (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries 1), S. 326

[6] Cf. William Hendriksen, Matthew, (NTC: Baker Academic: Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2007), 819.

[7] Cf. William Hendriksen, Matthew, (NTC: Baker Academic: Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2007), 824.

[8] But cf. Douglas R.A. Hare, Matthew (Interpretation: Louisville, Kentucky: John Knox Press, 1993), 270 for a slightly different angle.

[9] Cf. The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Matthew/Exposition of Matthew/VI. Opposition and Eschatology: The Triumph of Grace (19:3-26:5)/A. Narrative (19:3-23:39)/8. Opening events of Passion Week (21:1-23:39)/e. Seven woes on the teachers of the law and the Pharisees (23:1-36)/(1) Warming the crowds and the disciples (23:1-12), Book Version: 4.0.2
* Different coloured text was omitted from preached version of the text.