Matthew 23: Jesus denounced the Scribes and Pharisees, but they are still present today, albeit under different names. Who were they, and why were they wrong?
… “For they preach, but they do not practice”
Jesus made very clear in Matthew that he had no use for the Scribes and the Pharisees — and he had good reason. They represented everything that God did not.
In fact, both of them were more interested in making their own rules and laws and not following those of God.
The reality is that this ties in very nicely with what we discussed last week about hypocrisy.
So, what did he say in Chapter 23?
Chapter 23: 1-5
1 a Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples,
2 * saying, “The scribes and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses.
3 Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example. For they preach but they do not practice.
4 b They tie up heavy burdens* [hard to carry] and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them.
5* c All their works are performed to be seen. They widen their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels.
In reality, he again was preaching about hypocrisy of people. The scribes and Pharisees particularly disgusted him because of their duplicity.
Who were they?
The Pharisees
The Pharisees were powerful and influential, and they stressed personal piety — though they did not practice it,
The Pharisees were an influential religious sect within Judaism in the time of Christ and the early church. They were known for their emphasis on personal piety (the word Pharisee comes from a Hebrew word meaning “separated”), their acceptance of oral tradition in addition to the written Law, and their teaching that all Jews should observe all 600-plus laws in the Torah, including the rituals concerning ceremonial purification.
The Pharisees were mostly middle-class businessmen and leaders of the synagogues. Though they were a minority in the Sanhedrin and held a minority number of positions as priests, they seemed to control the decision-making of the Sanhedrin because they had popular support among the people.
In fact, the words of Jesus in Matthew 23 reveal one of his greatest emphases in the Sermon on the Mount: Humility, something that the Pharisees lacked,
6 * d They love places of honor at banquets, seats of honor in synagogues,
7 greetings in marketplaces, and the salutation ‘Rabbi.’
8 * As for you, do not be called ‘Rabbi.’ You have but one teacher, and you are all brothers.
9 Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in heaven.
10 Do not be called ‘Master’; you have but one master, the Messiah.
11e The greatest among you must be your servant.
12f Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
13* g “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You lock the kingdom of heaven* before human beings. You do not enter yourselves, nor do you allow entrance to those trying to enter.
The words about exalting himself referred to both the scribes and the Pharisees. However, their major problem is that they lack humility.
What is humility?
I like the explanation that is given in this devotion,
Humility is a virtue that enables us to be real. It enables us to cut through any false persona we may have and simply be who we are. It enables us to be comfortable with our good qualities as well as our failures. Humility is nothing other than being honest and true about our lives and being comfortable with that person …
Humility is sincerity and genuineness. And when people see this quality in us they are impressed. Not so much in a worldly way but in an authentic human way. They will not look at us and be envious, rather, they will look at us and see the true qualities we have and enjoy them, admire them and want to imitate them. Humility enables the real you to shine through. And, believe it or not, the real you is someone who others want to meet and get to know.
This is what both the Pharisees and scribes lacked.
What was the problem with the Pharisees?
The Pharisees did some good things, but they did not want to accept the word of God as the be-all and end-all. They wanted to use their own interpretations of traditions, not the word of God exclusively,
The Pharisees accepted the written Word as inspired by God. At the time of Christ’s earthly ministry, this would have been what we now call the Old Testament. Unfortunately, the Pharisees gave equal authority to oral tradition, saying the traditions went all the way back to Moses.
Evolving over the centuries, the Pharisaic traditions had the effect of adding to God’s Word, which is forbidden (Deuteronomy 4:2). The Gospels abound with examples of the Pharisees treating their traditions as equal to God’s Word (Matthew 9:14; 15:1–9; 23:5; 23:16, 23; Luke 11:42).
Jesus applied the condemnation of Isaiah 29:13 to the Pharisees, saying, “Their teachings are merely human rules” (Mark 7:7).
The Pharisees taught the following doctrines:
1. God controls all things, but decisions made by individuals also affect life’s course.
2. There will be a resurrection of the dead (Acts 23:6).
3. There is an afterlife, with appropriate reward and punishment on an individual basis. The Messiah will set up His kingdom on earth.
4. The spiritual realm, including the existence of angels and demons, is real (Acts 23:8).
Many of the Pharisees’ doctrines put them at odds with the Sadducees; however, the two groups managed to set aside their differences on one occasion—the trial of Jesus Christ. To accomplish the demise of Jesus, the Sadducees and Pharisees united (Mark 14:53; 15:1; John 11:48–50).
So, in essence, the Pharisees wanted to make their own rules and not abide strictly by those of God. That is what led Jesus to denounce them.
Who were the scribes?
Scribes in ancient Israel were learned men whose business was to study the Law, transcribe it, and write commentaries on it. They were also hired on occasions when the need for a written document arose or when an interpretation of a legal point was needed. Ezra, “a teacher well versed in the Law of Moses,” was a scribe (Ezra 7:6).
The scribes took their job of preserving Scripture very seriously; they would copy and recopy the Bible meticulously, even counting letters and spaces to ensure each copy was correct. We can thank the Jewish scribes for preserving the Old Testament portion of our Bibles …
In the New Testament era, scribes were often associated with the sect of the Pharisees, although not all Pharisees were scribes (see Matthew 5:20; 12:38). They were teachers of the people (Mark 1:22) and interpreters of the Law. They were widely respected by the community because of their knowledge, dedication, and outward appearance of Law-keeping.
So, the work of the scribes was very important. They could be considered similar to lawyers today or as academics or writers today who studied the law.
That is very positive. What was their problem?
Scribes favored their traditions over God's words
Their difficulty with Jesus was that they did things that were very similar to that of the Pharisees,
The scribes went beyond interpretation of Scripture, however, and added many man-made traditions to what God had said. They became professionals at spelling out the letter of the Law while ignoring the spirit behind it. Things became so bad that the regulations and traditions the scribes added to the Law were considered more important than the Law itself. This led to many confrontations between Jesus and the Pharisees and scribes.
At the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus shocked His audience by declaring that the righteousness of the scribes was not enough to get anyone to heaven (Matthew 5:20). A large portion of Jesus’ sermon then dealt with what the people had been taught (by the scribes) and what God actually wanted (Matthew 5:21–48). Toward the end of Jesus’ ministry, He thoroughly condemned the scribes for their hypocrisy (Matthew 23). They knew the Law, and they taught it to others, but they did not obey it.
So, the scribes knew the law, but felt that it related to others, but not to them. Again, a classic case of hypocrisy.
Man-made traditions vs. God’s laws
The scribes’ original aim was in earnest—to know and preserve the Law and encourage others to keep it. But things turned horribly wrong when man-made traditions overshadowed God’s Word and a pretense of holiness replaced a life of true godliness. The scribes, whose stated goal was to preserve the Word, actually nullified it by the traditions they handed down (Mark 7:13).
In other words, is this not what the Catholic Church does so often: Worry about its tradition and not the word of God?
For instance, on another blog, I am writing about how Catholics like the late Pope John Paul II believe that only those who follow the Catholic Church can enter heaven.
That is nonsense. As the beatitudes say, anyone who follows the word of God can achieve eternal peace or happiness. A church has nothing to do with it.
In short, man created the Catholic Church. God created the laws that we are supposed to follow, and he sent Jesus down to earth to help us understand what he is asking of all of us.
Conclusion
What I see today are a slew of scribes and Pharisees who preach that they follow God’s law and the words of Jesus Christ, but as Jesus said,
For they preach but they do not practice.
What God is asking us to do is this,
The lesson every Christian can learn from the hypocrisy of the scribes is that God wants more than outward acts of righteousness. He wants an inward change of heart that is constantly yielding in love and obedience to Christ.
We must all change our hearts, and we do not need a church or religion to accomplish that. We can do that through talking to God and trying to incorporate his words, such as those of Matthew 23, into our own lives.
There are many Christian leaders whose goals are only those of power and wealth and domination, not humility. That is the pitfall that all of us must avoid.
That is what I have learned from this lesson.
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