Let’s say that you were raised by non-religious parents in a thoroughly secular home. You have been taught the principles of evolution; you believe that life began with a big bang or something. Saturated with a non-Christian world-view, you have grown up anticipating a vocation in science – just like your dad. But then during college, you began thinking outside the box, re-examining all of the facts of natural science, but without the predigested evolutionary conclusions. All of a sudden, Jehovah flips a switch in your head – a light comes on – and it all becomes obvious that life is not self-generating – there must be a God, a Creator. Everything you have been taught – at home – in public school – in university – has been linked to evolution. Everything – social behavior, economics, geology, history – everything has been perceived through the rose-colored lenses of the evolutionist. But with one stroke, the rudimentary principles of evolution have been stripped away, and you are left in the middle of an ocean of facts, but without a boat, a raft, or even a single plank of wood to stand on. Do you throw away the facts of science because the glue holding those facts together has melted away? Of course not – but you might cast aside the idea of becoming a research biologist or astrophysicist.As Jesus has been strolling around the courtyards of the temple while the Sadducees, Pharisees, and Herodians have been peppering Him with their tricky questions. The common Israelite has witnessed the defeat of a variety of religious opinions – highly liberal and highly conservative. But that observer has been raised in many of these principles. He has been taught to respect – to revere – the scribes and rabbis of the Pharisees. He has been forced to quietly live under the tyranny of religious rules and laws – Saddusaic and Pharasaic. But Christ Jesus has come along and defeated – humiliated – the purveyors of these rules.
Like that evolutionist, the ground upon which these people have stood for generations has been turned into quicksand. In the light of all this, is there any likelihood that the common man of Israelmight turn away from the God of Israel to the secularism of the Romans or the philosophies of the Greeks? Might that former evolutionist and budding scientist, throw up his hands and become a politician or an IRS agent rather than a productive part of society?
Jesus had no patience for the heresies and hypocrisies of the Pharisees, but there is still a God in Heaven. Israel – and the world – still needs to reverence Jehovah and to serve him with all their hears, all their souls and with all their minds. There is still a universal need of regeneration – new hearts – forgiveness of spiritual transgression – sin. So Christ, while continuing to point out the inconsistencies of Israel’s leaders,insists on lifting up truth.
When the Sadducees and Pharisees had withdrawn from the battlefield in utter defeat, Jesus turned to His disciples and to the remaining multitude, giving them a lengthy expose of religious hypocrisy – but in the light of the glorious truth of God.
The Pharisees possessed a POTENTIALLY POWERFUL PRIVILEGE.
“The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat.” Notice that the Lord isn’t talking about the Sadducees or Herodians. They may have been sitting on the seats of the secular legislature – the Sanhedrin. But they didn’t have the same religious influence over Israel that the scribes and Pharisaic rabbis had. He didn’t even refer to thepriesthood, some of which were Pharisees.
“The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat.” This was not in the sense that they were law-givers like Moses. No, these were the people who stood to read the scriptures and then sat to teach and expound them. This was the customary procedure in the synagogue – even Jesus did this. Luke 4:6 – “And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.” Then verse 20 – “And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.”
Here in Matthew 23 Jesus begins by saying, “All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe….” Those things which your religious leaders tell you, those things which agree with Mosesand his chair, do. But of course, all those extra traditions, embellishments and glosses – ignore. And when you see that the way those rabbis and scribes live does not match the character of Moses and the law, skip over those things as well. The Word of God is true, no matter what else is said and whoever might say it.
The scribes and Pharisees had two great and powerful privileges. They had the time and opportunity toimmerse themselves in the Word of the Lord. For whatever reason, they didn’t have to spend their days planting and harvesting; building and selling things. For some of them, they were Levites or Aaronites, whose families were given to the priesthood. In other cases, they came from wealth and had leisure time to pursue an education in the Word of God. What an exquisite blessing it is to be able to spend several hours a day in the study of the Bible. What a blessing there is in owning or having access to agood Christian library, with the opportunity to seek out the wisdom of smarter men than we are. The other day, we had guests at our house when questions about doctrine and church history came up, it was a joy to be able to run up and grab a book off the shelf to illustrate or enhance the discussion.
But while I say that, I can see a potential problem – and it is obvious in the Pharisees. It’s like the old saying about the man with two clocks or two watches. When he has one watch, he knows what time it is. But when he has two, he can’t be sure which watch is giving him the true time. And if he has three or four, he’ll never know for sure what time it is. Or it’s like the early days of my ministry, when I was sure of the pronunciation of all those Old Testament names, but then over the years listening to other men, those pronunciations became more and more difficult. The man who has a Bible and is led of the Holy Spirit, often has a reasonable understanding of what God has for him. But with the multiplication of books, commentaries, internet sermons and heretical friends, the more that man is drawn away from the simple declaration of God. That was the essential problem with the Pharisees, exacerbated by their pride about simply knowing what they thought that they knew. They spent more time in their commentaries about Moses than they did in reading Moses, David and Isaiah. What privileges they held, but how loosely they held them.
A second privilege was that for some reason they had the ear of the nation of Israel. They spoke and people listened; they called themselves “Rabbi,” and people bowed before them. They walked into meetings and dinners and people made them sit in the chief seats. This was not an automatic thing; it had developed over time; it was a part of the Jewish tradition. It still exists today for the man in the long robe or the clerical collar. But obviously from the context of this scripture, it was not deserved by these people. “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat: All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.”
And that brings us to the PERVERSENESS of those people.
“For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.” “Tyranny” is one word which describes these people – they were religious tyrants. Christ doesn’t give us any examples of this – perhaps because His original audience knew what He meant. But in Mark 7 beginning with verse 6, the Lord does deal with this sort of thing. In speaking directly with those Pharisees, “He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. and he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death: But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free. And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother; Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.”
How many of those rabbis demanded the special cleaning of pots and cups? Perhaps all of them. And I wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t verbally teach the specifics of proper dishwashing. But how many of those same “reverends” ever washed a cup themselves? Who knows? They were experts and dictators, holding whips in their hands, but they never felt the sting themselves. That is probably a minor issue, but it was the tip of the iceberg, so to speak.
Moses justly commanded, “Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee” – Exodus 20:12. Deuteronomy 5:16 – “Honour thy father and thy mother, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.” The Hebrew word “kabad” (kaw-bad’)is most commonly translated “honour” and then “glorify.” To “honour” our parents requires love, respect, kindness, helpfulness and even praise. But in the teaching of Pharisees it came to mean – to becomeslaves to one’s parents. They taught their disciples to sacrifice their own good and health to enrich their parents. I am not saying that is necessarily a bad thing in itself, but in the Pharisaic context it became extreme. And yet those same scribes and rabbis devised means by which they didn’t have to obey their own tradition. Theytold their parents that the family property was dedicated to God – “corban.” Therefore they couldn’t possible share it even with their elders, because that would be sin. Yet in the mean time they could use it for themselves, until it was actually given to the Lord. But of course that was rarely if ever done. “For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.”
Another word characterizing these people was “pride.” “But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, and love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.” The Jewish phylacteries were copies of Old Testament scriptures which were bound up and then tied to people’s forearms or even their foreheads. Some good and devout people attached these phylacteries when they went to the synagogue or temple, or whenever they went to prayer. But the Pharisees often taught that the really devout and godly people would wear these things all the time. And it wasn’t just about someone’s relationship with the Lord – no, it was about establishing the correct impression before other men. So it was not uncommon for these phylacteries to become larger and larger – just to be seen of men. This was the opposite to going into one’s closet to pray. This was wearing the biggest phylactery possible and standing on the street corner screaming one’s prayers towards Heaven.
The subject of garment fringes is another illustration of Pharisaic pride. Numbers 15:38 – “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribband of blue: And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the LORD, and do them; and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go a whoring: That ye may remember, and do all my commandments, and be holy unto your God. I am the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the LORD your God.” It’s quite amazing that this isn’t practiced by the Pharisees of the Twenty-first Century – or isn’t it? Instead of the Star of David on armbands, Israel was commanded to have a blue border along the bottom of their robes, around the collar and at the ends of their sleeves. In addition to protecting the garment, it said to the world that these were the people of God. In our society, if the rule was still in effect, most Christians would make theirs to be only a quarter of an inch, so as not to offend their atheistic neighbors. But such was not the case with those proud Pharisees. As Jesus tells us, they loved to make them as broad and bright as possible to be seen by anyone and everyone within a hundred yards. It was a matter of selfish pride – not spiritual or national pride – it was totally self aggrandizement.
A fourth word which describes these people is “hypocrisy,” but since Jesus makes that His theme throughout the rest of this chapter, I’m not going to spend any time on it this morning.
Conclusion:
My point is that Pharisees are alive and well today. Oh, the details of their policies and practice aren’t the same. And they may not be as organized as they were in the days of the Lord Jesus, but they are still here. They may say the right things, but their practice contradicts their policy. They pass heavy responsibilities on to others, but they manage to find an easy way for themselves. And they love to be called “Master,” when they can’t even master their own hearts.
The Pharisee is the religious man, who knows nothing about Christ. He is a church-goer but not aHeaven-goer. He is filled with his own righteousness, but ignorant of the righteousness of God.
Take your eyes off your neighbor, this morning, and lay them upon yourself. How does your heart stand before God today? Is your religion about Christ, or is Jesus Christ the theme and core of your life?Have you been born again, or are you simple another religious person, going through the motions of Christianity? The fact that the Lord spent so much time on the question of the Pharisees indicates that this is a serious subject and one which still needs to be considered today. How does your soul stand before the Lord this morning?