Meditation
Jesus the judge

I love this passage of scripture because it shows a side of Jesus that most people try toforget about or avoid studying. The church today displays Jesus as being ultimately kind andloving to everyone all the time. But this passage He clearly lays it out to the Pharisees by rebuking them for their pride. I did a lot of cross referencing to 1 Corinthians when Paul rebukes the prideful church throughout this study.

Throughout Matthew 23 Jesus very clearly sets up instances of warnings against the Phariseesbecause they were living a life that was purely for show. It's the basic definition of being a hypocrite.

While meditating on the first portion of this scripture I kept thinking of this commercial I sawonce where the people in it were doing good things for other people on streets and then announcing into huge mega phones that they had just done a good task such as helping a ladyacross the street or carrying someone's groceries. It was a commercial against tobacco companiesand at the end it said "in 2000 'this tobacco company' gave away 2 million dollars to a charity"and then spent 10 million dollars promoting that they had done so.

Jesus said in Matthew 11:28"Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle, and you willfind rest for your souls. For my yoke fits perfectly, and the burden I give you is light."

I was thinking about why people back in those days would be heavy burdened and it crossedmy mind that it is exactly because of what Jesus is rebuking in Matthew 23. The Pharisees were placing upon the people huge expectations of following the law for their own benefit. They expected people to fail at abiding by the law so they themselves could look good. Paul says inRomans 4:15 "But the law brings punishment on those who try to obey it. (The only way to avoid breaking the law is to have no law to break!). Jesus' burden was light and easy to abideby because it is only through Him that the law is satisfied. Only Jesus can abide by the law. Thatis why He gave us the Holy Spirit.

We can only understand the scriptures when the Holy Spirit is in us learning about Jesus whichpoints to God. Jesus says in John 5:39 "You search the scriptures because you believe they giveyou eternal life. But the scriptures poin to me! Yet you refuse to come to me so that I can giveyou this eternal life. Blessed are the poor in spirit. We need God to know God. We love God because He first loved us and chose us.

Because the Word (Jesus, John 1:1 - In the beginning the Word already existed He was with God,and he was God) did not abide within the Pharisees they did not believe Jesus. Instead, just theopposite. They thought Jesus was the Prince of Demons.

It's a good thing it were not me talking to these Pharisees. Especially if I were required not to sin.I am fully pleased with Jesus' way of rebuking them. These warnings are essential to understandand think about so that we do not fall under the same influence of trying to live for ourselves. Because Jesus said to his disciples in Matthew 16:24 "If any of you wants to be my followers, youmust put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross and follow me. If you try to keep yourlife you will lose it. But if you give your life up for me, you will find true life."
I love the promise Jesus makes in verses 11-12. "The greatest among you must be a servant. Butthose who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humbles themselves will be exalted.Blessed are the humble, meek, gentle and lowly for they shall inherit the earth. Jesus came so low in coming to this earth to die for us. I love to think about the humility behind this. I could pray over this scripture over and over, all day, every day.

Jesus strickly warns those who teach. Somewhere in the bible it says that teachers will be heldto a higher account on judgement day. That is terrifying! It is so easy to make it about myselfwhen really there is nothing I can do apart from him. In verse 12 Jesus makes it very clear theextreme efforts the Pharisees were going to, to uphold themselves. They were undoubtedlyleading believers away from the faith and making them worse than themselves.
Matthew gives an account of the sermon on the mount and in it Jesus spoke of letting your yes's be yes and your no's be no's. I've never quite understand the importance of this until meditation on Matthew 23. The Pharisees were usurping authority that had not been givento them. They were using religion as a way of sealing a deal. I've been thinking about thisa lot lately. It's like when we worry about things. We are technically sinning because we are usurping God's authority to take care of us. We are worried because we think we are not able tohandle a certain issue. When the fact is, we're not. It's not by our authority to.
It's so clear in this entire message that it is not important what we do on the outside but it's theheart behind what we're doing that truely matters. If your heart is being guided by the Holy Spirit you can't go wrong.