Woe to the Pharisees

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup, so that the outside of it may also become clean.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of the bones of the dead and every kind of impurity. In the same way, on the outside you seem righteous to people, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. Matthew 23:23-28 (CSB)

Jesus sure hasn’t learned the art of how to be a polite guest. He rolls into down, and lays it down. Anyone would likely be furious with someone like him, he’s an agitator. Remember, he’s been in town maybe a day or two, and he’s talking about how bad the locals are. They loved to be called by special titles like Father, they love to be honored in the streets, and have special seats at the front of the synagogue. Worse, they loved to make it difficult to participate, keeping people on the outside. They loved to load burdens on others, and expectations, and rules, but didn’t do them themselves. All this from the same Chapter in Matthew’s Gospel. 

Jesus is livid. Angry. He didn’t come to listen, or practice yoga with this lot. He didn’t preach tolerance for differing views, or that we’re all one under the sun. He came to condemn: 

Snakes! Brood of vipers! How can you escape being condemned to hell? (v33) 

He says something similar elsewhere: 

Don’t assume that I came to bring peace on the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. Matthew 10 :34 (CSB) 

Or this:

I came to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already set ablaze! Luke 12:49 (CSB)

There are many others. The nice contemporary version of Jesus is super tolerant, and abiding. A great listener, and loved the opinions of others. It’s a nice vision, it’s just not a scriptural one. The problem with wrong ideas is they hurt people. Really hurt them.What good parent tolerates terrible ideas and practices that hurt their children, or lead them astray? 

It’s why he says this, 

“But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to fall away—it would be better for him if a heavy millstone were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the depths of the sea. Matthew 18:6 (CSB)

And this: 

For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or one stroke of a letter will pass away from the law until all things are accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commands and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:18-20 (CSB)

The law was good, and was established to keep people from hurting each other, and to keep them separate from surrounding cultures. Obviously we’re not good at practicing it, but it doesn’t make it bad. Being brutal to people who fail, or pretending on the outside we’re good, while on the inside we’re rotten makes us hypocrites. Using the law to raise ourselves up while pushing others down fails the primary purpose of it, which was to lead us to love each other and God with everything that we have. Jesus is mad because it’s like the Pharisees love the rules for their benefit, and to burden others, but have forgetting what the point of them is all about!

Jesus will eventually give us the ability to live righteously even beyond the law  (via the Holy Spirit). But the first thing he does is throw aside and challenge those bad ideas which hurt people. This is carried on thematically throughout the New Testament, especially within the Epistles. It’s also why the church (should) continue to care about sound doctrine. Bad doctrines hurt people and should be challenged. But the end of doctrine is never doctrine. It’s not about sitting in special clubs sparring over theological minutia. Rather, doctrine, or truth is merely a compass that points towards the fullness of life in Christ, who leads us to wholeness and life.