Matthew 23;1-4 (ESV) – Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on peoples shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. [Most of this chapter is devoted to Jesus denouncing the sinful behavior of the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees. Seven times He announces, “Woe to you…..” Jesus pulls no punches here; laying it on, exposing their sinful actions while all the while purporting to be righteous and holy. This was by far the harshest language Jesus used in His ministry career. Multiple times the Lord assigns terrible names to them: hypocrites (six times!), sons of hell, blind guides (two times), blind fools, blind men, blind Pharisee, snakes, and brood of vipers. If there were any left before this who didn’t want to kill Jesus, surely this pushed them right over the edge. But this was the Lord’s last week in Jerusalem. He was down to His final days, and He needed to show (i.e. expose) exactly who these folks were and what they were like. He knew this would infuriate, embarrass, and enrage them. And the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees had no answer, because every word the Lord said was true. (A parallel to this passage is found in Mark 12:38-40 and Luke 20:45-47. However Matthew’s version is by far the fullest and most detailed account.) Jesus was still teaching in the Temple. This follows right on the heels of the incidents in chapter 22. According to Mark’s gospel, these exchanges had drawn a large crowd who were listening with delight as Jesus perfectly parried the religious leaders’ questions and then challenged them to a question they couldn’t answer. Specifically now Jesus talks to His disciples and the crowds, but by the wording in the rest of the chapter—the multiple uses of ‘you’ referring to the Pharisees—it’s obvious they were standing in the group, keeping an eye on Jesus. He must have looked directly at them as He spoke many of these things. In verse two He’s speaking specifically about the religious leaders. “Moses’ seat—not a literal seat of course, but a figurative reference to a position/seat of authority. As Moses gave the Law to the Israelites and helped them implement it, so the religious leaders down through the years had used that same authority and responsibility as leaders of the people. Notice how Jesus doesn’t badmouth the Law of Moses or the teachings which help the people follow it. He even tells the people to obey ‘them’—i.e. the teachers of the Law, the Pharisees and those who sit in Moses’ seat. The Lord wasn’t against authority or leaders, just bad leaders & shepherds (echoes of Ezekiel). He certainly wasn’t trying to foment rebellion or instigate mass disobedience to these folks. ‘Do everything they tell you’—who could accuse Jesus of anything bad from this? But here was the rub: they don’t practice what they preach. Their lifestyles and actions were not at all in line with the Law of Moses or the teachings they espoused. Metaphorically speaking…the moralistic, Law-derived obligations these teachers of the Law and Pharisees laid on the people were heavy burdens. It’s a picture of these leaders making the people’s lives tough and hard. The leaders dream this stuff up and then load it onto the people. See also Luke 11:46. And it’s the leaders who do the tying. Could Jesus be trying to say that most of what the leaders heap upon the people is stuff of their own doing; overly legalistic and strict interpretations of what the Law of Moses said, and actually far above and beyond what the Law said? That seems to be what He’s saying. And then after these religious leaders have devised this stuff and put it onto the people, the leaders do nothing to help the people out as they strain and falter under the heavy load. Also behind this accusation has to be the idea that their idea of religion turned on obeying rules, when it should have been a relationship with God. Rules had completely trumped relationship for them. We have to be careful we don’t allow anyone or even ourselves to turn our religion into nothing but “Do this; don’t do that.” Obedience follows from love. We will want to obey, not because we ‘have to’ but because ‘we want to do what pleases Him.’ See what Jesus had said about burdens in Matthew 11:30.]
Posted on: Fri, 08 Nov 2013 11:26:02 +0000
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