It was near Caesarea Philippi that Jesus tested the waters with the question of who he was (Matthew 16.13-20). Peter reacted as Jesus had hoped, so he knew that Peter was representative of those who had followed his teachings. His time of teaching and healing was to the point he could leave. From then on, Jesus pressed to go to Jerusalem. He had to be face to face with the Jewish leaders, the scholars and groups of Jews who were regarded as the keepers of the Law by the rest of the Jewish nation, to get them to give him due consideration. Several days later, his meeting and conversation with Moses and Elijah again spurred him to turn his attention to Jerusalem (Matthew 17.1-13). The stage had been set.
The Twelve followed Jesus into Jerusalem, not realizing that the end was imminent for him. Matthew presented the public conversation between Jesus and those who represented the only true God on the Earth. It was clear from the time Jesus entered Jerusalem that the Jewish establishment wasn't going to give him due consideration. The hours were disappearing. Jesus was on his collision course with crucifixion. He knew he had only a moment in time to point out what was happening on Earth here in the heart of the Jewish nation. He had distinctly different impressions of the Jewish leaders than they did of themselves. His portrayal of them in Matthew 23 was a clear, unmitigated peeling back the layers of behavior the Jewish leaders had hidden behind for hundreds of years. He wanted the people to know that they were being misled, misguided, and mistaught. Jesus began by saying not to imitate the scholars and Pharisaical leaders, and then he exposed their layers one comparison at a time. His last comparison is recorded in verses 27 and 28.
Verse 27
Οὐαὶ ὑμῖν, γραμματεῖς καὶ Φαρισαῖοι ὑποκριταί, ὅτι παρομοιάζετε τάφοις κεκονιαμένοις, οἵτινες ἔξωθεν μὲν φαίνονται ὡραῖοι, ἔσωθεν δὲ γέμουσιν ὀστέων νεκρῶν καὶ πάσης ἀκαθαρσίας
(Oh-h-h you actors and interpreters - scholars of the Talmud and Pharisees - how disgusting! You are like tombs that have been whitewashed on the outside, making it clear that dead men's bones and all that is unclean lie behind the rock.)
A tradition had grown up over a couple hundred years with whitewashing tombs. The stone to the cave of the tomb was painted white as a sign to all that the cave was a tomb so that people could be warned that this was an unclean place. The comparison was obvious to Jesus. The scholars and Pharisees had painted themselves white with all of their demands on those who were giving their best to follow the law. But everyone could see through their pious facades to the lifeless motions behind.
Jesus was adamant. The people supposed to be representing God weren't. Not even a little. They should have been understanding of the human condition. But no. They didn't have the desire to accept those who had gone on long journeys with their inheritances, hit bottom in pig sties, and returned to the one who loved them. They should have helped each other stand against lures that pulled them from the straight and narrow. But no. They didn't have the commitment to those succumbing to temptation to stoop and write in the sand to stave off accusers. They should have turned a listening ear to those who had had life throw them curves. But no. They didn't have the compassion for their fellow Jews who had been beat up by life, passing by, instead, with turned heads, leaving someone that they disapproved of to show kindness.
They ignored completely incidents like men getting together to bring a lame friend to Jesus for healing. And when they found it impossible to get their friend in front of Jesus because of the crowds, they jostled him to the roof, sawed a hole in it, tied ropes to the four corners of his crudely fashioned mat frame, and lowered him to Jesus' feet. They failed to stand with reckless abandon in the presence of the Almighty, calling out his name, acknowledging that he was all around them in the many and monumental acts of acceptance, kindness, compassion, patience, and mercy of Jesus. Even dead children and adults were raised to life as they watched. How could they not look to the skies, then fall to their knees with the name of Yahweh on their lips?!!
Jesus often used puns and he did so here, too, with a metaphor. The words φαίνονται ὡραῖοι, translated "making it clear," has a remote meaning on occasion of "making it beautiful." Whitewashing was a way to dress up the tombs, making them as attractive as possible, distracting onlookers from knowing the uncleanness inside. Such were the leaders of the Jewish nation.
Verse 28
οὕτως καὶ ὑμεῖς ἔξωθεν μὲν φαίνεσθε τοῖς ἀνθρώποις δίκαιοι, ἔσωθεν δέ ἐστε μεστοὶ ὑποκρίσεως καὶ ἀνομίας
(This is so like you. Outwardly you want it to be clear that you are doing all the right things, but inwardly you are actually acting a part, delivering a good speech, and bending rules.)
On the surface, these piercing words against the scholars and Pharisees seem uncharacteristic of Jesus' acceptance of others and his willingness to give people second chances. On the other hand, the timing of his words make them particularly astute. In about 48 hours, he would sit around a table to observe the Passover meal, take bread and wine, pass them to each of his Twelve, and announce to them a new covenant that he wanted to make with them. Very noticeably, Jesus wanted to make this new covenant a time to remember him, his ways, and his teachings - teachings distinctly different from the Jerusalem crowd's "acting, interpreting, and bending rules." He was replacing the Jewish established leaders as God's representatives on Earth. He, the Son of Man, the Messiah, the Son of God was offering life and a genuine way of following God to those who would remember him till he came again. The inner and outward values would be the same genuine article, not arbitrary or merely oratorical.
Something I cannot ignore powerfully draws my attention to these two sayings. Jesus used the word ὑποκριταί to refer to the leaders in Jerusalem. The word was used in a couple of ways. First, it was used to mean an actor in a play. Second, it was used of an orator delivering his promises or of an interpreter of what was being said. Used in Jesus' context, the terms showed how poor an interpreter the leaders had become and how memorized their lines were. They were lame actors, languid interpreters. The second, saying uses a different form of the noun, ὑποκρίσεως, meaning the part of an actor, the delivery of the speech, or the manner in which something was translated. The meanings applied not to the people themselves, but to their actions. All the Jewish leaders had to do was to look back on their actions... and there were many because their lives were full of them. On top of that, Jesus framed both sayings in a μὲν ... δὲ sentence structure. This structure is perfect for showing absolute contrasts in meaning. The first statement shows one reality, the second an opposite but equally true reality. It was one of the Greek ways of showing a particularly poignant paradox. The leaders themselves could not miss the starkness of how Jesus was portraying them. Over the next two days they would not rest until they had captured him in the dead of night, accused him of blasphemy against God, and delivered him to the Roman governor who would execute him by morning.
[Introductory photo of reflection retrieved from http://penniur.upenn.edu/publications, taken by Jason Mirachina]
[The first song is At Your Name by Phil Wickham. The last song is Chain Breaker by Zach Williams]
[The Greek text used is the Nestle Aland 28th edition]
[Translations from Greek are my own.]
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