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. [14] [b]
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.
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 dwells 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.
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.
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.’[c]”
My GPS has two parts. It has the map with a clear, colorful and precise display of all the roads and streets in my vicinity.
And...it has the nice lady with the annoying voice.
Most of the time I turn off the voice. It's obtrusive and disruptive when I'm trying to listen to the radio. And after all...I can read a map!
Recently Mali and I were going to a big Home Show in Denver. I programmed the GPS because our destination was in an unfamiliar part of town. As we got to the junction of I-70 and I-25 there was such a jumble of exits and turns that I couldn't watch the map and watch the road at the same time.
I turned on the voice. The voice allowed me to focus on the exits and signs without stress...turning when I was prompted. When the two worked together the results were far better.
However, I noticed that in the real conjested interchanges with several exits my Norwegian brain's ability to process the voice lagged just enough so I had to occasionally glance at the map to confirm the commands.
The map is God's law...precise and objective. The voice is the Holy Spirit... interpreting the map.
And...it has the nice lady with the annoying voice.
Most of the time I turn off the voice. It's obtrusive and disruptive when I'm trying to listen to the radio. And after all...I can read a map!
Recently Mali and I were going to a big Home Show in Denver. I programmed the GPS because our destination was in an unfamiliar part of town. As we got to the junction of I-70 and I-25 there was such a jumble of exits and turns that I couldn't watch the map and watch the road at the same time.
I turned on the voice. The voice allowed me to focus on the exits and signs without stress...turning when I was prompted. When the two worked together the results were far better.
However, I noticed that in the real conjested interchanges with several exits my Norwegian brain's ability to process the voice lagged just enough so I had to occasionally glance at the map to confirm the commands.
The map is God's law...precise and objective. The voice is the Holy Spirit... interpreting the map.
(hold on to that thought)
Jesus sounds angry…26 verses of Jesus screaming (figuratively, I suppose) at the Pharisees. This has to be important. I suggest you read the entire passage; we need to in order to fully absorb the importance of what Jesus is telling us.
There’s a lot here…what sticks out to me? I’d say we can capture Christ’s intent in this verse: “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”.
It's human nature…when given a choice…to pick one or the other. The Pharisees chose the “letter of the Law” and nobody did it better. And…we’ve been choosing sides ever since. The two sides rarely get along.
So, when the voice of the Spirit gets annoying we turn it off. When the law gets to restrictive we ignore it.We gravitate toward one or the other but Jesus tells us we should do both.
Why?
Sometimes...particularly when obeying God...the choice is “both…and” rather than “either…or”. In fact, I’d say they are two sides of the same coin. We really can’t do one without the other. We think we can…but we can’t
It’s fair to infer, from this passage and others, that God’s default preference is that we follow the "spirit of the law". We see this frequently with the Old Testament offerings when God simply says “quit doing it…I don’t like your attitude!” (Lee’s translation). You see, it's possible to obey the law and have absolutely no idea what it means.
But then, as we grow accustomed to followoing the spirit of the law we begin to turn attention away from the letter of the law...it's just so restrictive, and certainly not adequate to evaluate the purity of our hearts. As a result we no longer observe many of our traditional Christian rules…we’ve moved on to a higher spiritual plane. And…we love our new found freedom in Christ.
But then, as we grow accustomed to followoing the spirit of the law we begin to turn attention away from the letter of the law...it's just so restrictive, and certainly not adequate to evaluate the purity of our hearts. As a result we no longer observe many of our traditional Christian rules…we’ve moved on to a higher spiritual plane. And…we love our new found freedom in Christ.
But…that’s not the end of it. Jesus never permits us to follow the spirit of the law at the expense of the letter of the law.
I think it's like the GPS. We need the map (Letter) and the voice (Spirit) together. There are times when our human brains are not able to comprehend the voice of the Holy Spirit in real time. We lag a bit. And during that brief moment we have a choice: either we look at the map for confirmation or we risk missing the turn God intended for us.
But sometimes we still turn off the voice. I recall telling Mali I didn't need any directions to find Lakefield...just before I missed the exit.
Live boldly out there today…
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