"Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted." (Matt 23:12)And with that Jesus launches into perhaps the most scathing verbal assaults of His entire earthly ministry. The attack is well known (Matt 23:12-39). It is aimed at the scribes and Pharisees, the religious leaders of His day. And it isn't "warm and cuddly."
He makes generous use of the "Woe to you" formula, a Hebrew pronouncement of a curse. It is a pronouncement of grief, to be sure, but the Hebrew curse had a particular reason in mind for this distress. A blessing was to have God's face turned toward you; the curse was to have Him turn from you. Thus, "The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face to shine upon you." That's the blessing. The curse Jesus pronounced, then, was "You will encounter great grief due to the wrath of God and His turning away from you." No small woe.
His primary complaint was their hypocrisy. They required of others what they weren't willing to give of themselves. "You weigh men down with burdens hard to bear, while you yourselves will not even touch the burdens with one of your fingers." (Luke 11:46). They were careful of the small things while ignoring "the weightier provisions of the law" (Matt 23:23). They cleaned the outside of the cup but left the inside evil. He called them "white-washed tombs". I'm pretty sure it wasn't intended as a compliment. I'm pretty sure it didn't make them feel all warm and fuzzy.
There is a segment of Christendom ... let's call it the "Liberal Christians" ... that use this as "proof" that Jesus's prime concern was--His harshest words were used to convey--that religious people should not overburden ... the less religious. Or whatever you wish to term them. "Don't give them rules; give them love!"
Well, sure, anyone who reads the Bible knows that Christians owe their neighbors love, and that "neighbor" does not merely refer to that annoying couple next door. But is it true that Jesus protested rules? I do think that would be a hard argument to sustain. Jesus said, "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments." (John 14:15). Indeed, Jesus transgressed the liberal arguments by saying, "He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father's who sent Me." (John 14:24). "Wait, Jesus, are you saying that those who don't keep Your words don't love You? Are you saying that those who don't obey aren't saved?" Not something that Jesus should even hint at in the liberal mind. Jesus said, "Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." (Matt 5:19). Now, let's see, how does that add up? Is Jesus "least in the kingdom of heaven" or "great"? If "great", that means that He keeps and teaches the commandments, not nullifies them. So, it would appear that Jesus believed in biblical rules.
What did He protest, then? What was the error of the Pharisees? It was not too close attention to the laws, but too little. It was grabbing at the little parts while ignoring the big. It was not in teaching others to obey the law, but in refusing to do so themselves. Here, let's try a modern parallel. They weren't condemned for rightly recognizing homosexual behavior as a sin, but in only recognizing it as a sin in others. They weren't wrong for rightly tithing, but for failing to clean the inside of the cup. It wasn't that they went too far; they didn't go far enough. They pursued their own little interpretations the the law--"Now, 'do no work on the Sabbath' means you can't walk more than 300 paces"--rather than teaching and obeying the law.
Which are you? Are you standing against the claim that the Bible dictates right living, or are you of the opinion that it has much to say about what is right and wrong? Are you nullifying the law, or are you aiming at teaching and obeying it? Are you opposed to rules, or do you love Christ enough to obey them? Are you pointing fingers at others who fail, refusing to recognize your own sin, or do you start with, "Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner"? It wasn't the proper recognition of what God says is right and true that was the Pharisees' problem. It was the improper application, primarily to themselves. And that brought a curse from Christ, a curse you don't want to share. Nullifying God's law by hypocrisy or by willfully ignoring it is a serious problem in God's eyes. It is arrogance against the most High. I'm sure you won't like the response from Christ.
2 comments:
Small rabbit trail. Would you say that anyone that discards the little rules and teaches others to as well, are they not saved our are they saved but will not be highly esteemed in heaven? The text you quoted seems to indicate that as long as the big picture is kept, missing the little things will rank you down in the hierarchy of heaven, but you still get to go.
It is rabbit season, so look out.
First, as you surely know, in Christianity keeping or not keeping the rules, big or small, does not determine "saved". Jesus indicated that a failure to love Him would result in a failure to obey. John said that those born of God lack the capacity to make a practice of sinning (1 John 3:9). So there are these concerns for people haven't sufficient love for Christ to bother keeping His commandments.
Second, no one has arrived (except Christ, of course), so no one keeps the little rules ... or the big ones perfectly. The question is whether or not they want to keep the big or little commandments of Christ.
Indications are that heavenly status (rewards) is conferred based on godly living. I suppose, then, that my answer to your rabbit trail question would be "not highly esteemed" ... keeping in mind all the stipulations I just prefaced this with.
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