Matthew 23:1-5: The Pharisee Within

“Therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds,” Jesus in Matthew 23:3

“He knew that the best way to avoid Jesus was to avoid sin.” (author Flannery O’Connor , on her character Hazel Motes in Wise Blood.)

“There are people in every church, no matter what kind of church it is, who struggle with the distinction between law and gospel, who struggle with the driving place of grace in their pursuit of holiness…Legalism lurks in every heart, actually, mine and yours." (Jarod Wilson, www.gospeldrivenchurch.blogspot.com, September 27, 2011)

After repeated encounters in the temple with the scribes and Pharisees as well as other religious elite of Israel, Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples (v. 1).  He harshly warned them about the scribes and Pharisees, the very ones who had challenged Him His entire ministry.  Imagine!  The gatekeepers of God for Israel, setting themselves up against the Lord Himself!

The scribes and Pharisees, Jesus said, have seated themselves in the chair of Moses (v. 2), meaning they spoke with the voice of Moses; they spoke as Moses’ would speak if he were alive on that day.  In ancient times, a teacher sat while the students stood.  The Sermon on the Mount begins with Jesus sitting down (see Matthew 5:1).  “Chair” is a figure of speech used to imply exceptional authority and knowledge, just like today we will say such-and-such professor occupies a certain chair at a particular university.

The scribes and Pharisees have seated themselves (v. 2).  They appointed themselves as the heir of Moses’ chair, not waiting to be ushered to such a place of honor.   And it appears that Jesus affirms them.  “All that they tell you, do and observe,” Jesus says (v. 3).   But Jesus is not affirming the scribes and Pharisees; rather He is affirming the Law of Moses.  Jesus said that He did not come “to abolish the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfill,” (Matthew 5:17).  Jesus also says to the unbelieving Jews in John’s gospel, “If you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me,” (John 5:46).  

Jesus now brings the hammer down.   He warns the crowds and His disciples (v. 1) to not do according to their (the scribes and Pharisees) deeds; for they say things and do not do them (v. 3).  Jesus then gets specific:  “They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger,” (v. 4).  The scribes and Pharisees padded the Law of Moses with an additional layer of rules to make it doubly hard on the average Jew to following the teachings of Moses.   From these extra layers the Pharisees and scribes have exempted themselves while condemning those who fail at keeping them.

Jesus continues: “But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men” (v. 5).  Their heart motivation is not to please God, rather to seek the approval of others.   Jesus gives specific examples of how these hypocrites like to be noticed by men in Matthew 6:1-7.  In that passage, Jesus says in part, “they [hypocrites] love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men.  Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full,” (Matthew 6:5, emphasis added). Hypocrites.  Plain and simple. 

But here is where we must be careful.   For the spirit of the Pharisees exists in all of us.  “All of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God,” Paul reminds us in Romans 3:23.   “All of us like sheep have gone astray,” Isaiah says in Isaiah 53:5.   All of us have sought the approval of others at the expense of God’s approval; all of us have thought at some point our religious efforts make us better than “that other guy.”  The very act of smugly criticizing the Pharisees shows that we are guilty of the very thing by which we criticize the Pharisees!  Compared to the standard of holiness put forth by Almighty God, no one can stand before God on his own.

Yet that is exactly why Christ died for our sins.  He is willing to exchange His holiness for our Pharisee-within. “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him,” (2 Corinthians 5:21).  This truth made 16^th century Reformer Martin Luther sing, “O the sweet exchange, O the inscrutable creation, O the unexpected benefits; that the iniquity of many should be concealed in One Righteous Man, and the righteousness of One should justify the iniquitous!”

Exchange the burden that today’s Pharisees, including the one in you, have put on your shoulders and are unwilling to move a finger to help you.   We all have burdens of hurt, fear, guilt, failure, and the disapproval of others.  We have burdens of self-righteousness, pride, lust, and idolatry.   Exchange those burdens with Jesus.  For He Himself has said, “Come to Me all you who are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you rest.  Take My yoke upon you…For My yoke is easy and My burden is light,” (Matthew 11:30). 

Matthew 22:42-46: David’s Greater Son, turning the conversation back to Himself

“What do you think about the Christ?”  Jesus in Matthew 22:42

"We are dealing with God's thoughts: we are obligated to take the greatest pains to understand them truly and to explain them clearly." (D.A. Carson, classroom lecture, May 2011)

“People say, ‘I believe in God, I believe the Bible is a good book.  And then I believe whatever I want.’”  (George Barna, after surveying American Christians’ religious beliefs in his book Futurecast as reported in USA Today Sept. 13, 2011)

After repeated challenges by the religious leaders, Jesus now metaphorically turns the tables on them.  Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, most likely planning their next salvo, Jesus asked them a question.  “What do you think about the Christ, whose son is He?”  (v. 42).  This is the same question Jesus asked His disciples in Matthew 16:19.    After all, the most important question every man must answer is, “What do you think about the Christ?”  

But Jesus is not so much concerned about other peoples’ opinions as He is turning the conversation back to Himself.   He asks about the Christ, “whose son is He?”   (v. 42).   The Pharisees’ answer is accurate but woefully incomplete: “The son of David” (v. 42).  The Pharisees know that woven throughout the Old Testament is a theme that a descendent of David will reign as Messiah; passages teaching this truth are 2 Samuel 7:16, Psalm 89:3-4, Isaiah 9:7 and Jeremiah 23:5. 

Matthew’s primary intent of his gospel is to show that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah, the son of David.  Therefore he begins his gospel by showing the genealogy from David to Jesus (Matthew 1:6-16).  Yet the Old Testament also teaches the Messiah will be much more than a descendant of David.    It is this truth that Jesus wants to teach the Pharisees.

Therefore, Jesus quotes Psalm 110, the most often quoted Old Testament chapter in the New Testament.  This Psalm was written by David, in the Spirit (v. 43).  (This phrase in the Spirit attests to Jesus’ belief in the inspiration of the Old Testament.)  To the casual reader, Psalm 110 seems discombobulated.   Yet for those who plumb its depths, this Psalm reveals much about the Messiah, which is likely why it is the most frequently quoted Old Testament chapter in Scripture.  

Psalm 110 is only one of three places in the Bible that speaks of Melchizedek, an important figure in understanding Jesus as Messiah, Son of David.  Much of this Psalm will be fulfilled at His Second Coming (Revelation 19:11-21).   Yet Jesus, wanting to challenge the Pharisees’ weak conception of the son of David, argues from the first verse of this Psalm.  

He asks how does David call him ‘Lord,’ saying, “‘The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet’? (v. 43-44).    Jesus then drives home His point, If David then calls Him 'Lord,' how is He his son?" (v. 45).    In Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary, first published 300 years ago, Henry poses His question this way: “If the Christ was to be a mere man, who would not exist till many ages after David’s death, how could his forefather call him Lord?”  

By asking this question, Jesus shows how the Scriptures teach that the son of David will be not limited by time and not be merely a mortal man.  This is the point Jesus makes to the Pharisees in John 8:58, “Before Abraham was born, I am.”  

The Pharisees prided themselves in knowing the Old Testament but were mostly ignorant as to what those Scriptures taught about the Christ.  Hence, no one was able to answer Him a word, nor did anyone dare from that day on to ask Him another question (v. 46).   If we believe Jesus is “whatever I want” as Barna puts it, we make Him a tinker-toy god, adding and subtracting attributes at our own whim.  We rob Him of His glory, commit blatant idolatry, and create an anemic caricature of Christ that is much less than the revealed, risen, conquering Son of David of the Holy Scriptures.

 Matthew Henry continues in his commentary, “It behooves us above all things seriously to inquire, ‘What think we of Christ?’  Is he altogether glorious in our eyes and precious to our hearts?  May Christ be our joy, our confidence, our all.  May we daily be made more like to him, and more devoted to his service.”  Well said 300 years ago and well said today.