Matthew 23
v.3
So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.
Where true authority comes from - uprightly walking the path before your hearers.
v.4
They tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
v.9
And do not call anyone on earth ‘father’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven.
The Jewish teachers affected those titles because they supposed that a teacher formed the man or gave him real life. They sought, therefore, to be called “father,” as if they were the source of truth rather than God…Roman Catholics call their priests “father,” and the Pope is the “holy father.” Abbots take their title from the Aramaic word abba, which means “father.” This is clearly unbiblical. The priest as “father” is problematic. In the case of “holy father,” there is no doubt this title is unbiblical. #GotQuestions
v.10
Nor are you to be called ‘teacher,’ for you have one Teacher, the Christ.
The Korean church.
v.11-12
The greatest among you will be your servant. 12For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
v.13
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.
The woes are for teachers of the law. Not the zealots of the time wreaking civil havoc in the name of religious advancement. The teachers are the target of Jesus’ sober message. How much more today do teachers of the Bible hinder others to enter the kingdom of God! Lord, you judgements are severe for teachers. Lord, help me.
v.16-17
“Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.” 17You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred?
Jews were no longer allowed to pronounce the sacred name of God in this period. By swearing lesser oaths, some people hoped to avoid the consequences of swearing by God’s name if they could not keep their vow or if their oath turned out to be mistaken. As people swore or vowed by things related to God instead of by God himself, more and more things became substitutes for the divine name and thus became roundabout ways of seeming to swear by God while hoping to buffer the consequences.
v.23
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.
v.24
You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.
Jesus’ saying is a wordplay, for the terms for a camel (gamla) and a gnat (qalma) sound very similar in Aramaic, which was Jesus’ mother tongue.
v.25
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.
v.27
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beatiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean.