So like me

Reflections are everywhere - in crystal blue lakes and shining, marble surfaces, in the glass of towering skyscrapers and the concave lenses of ever-present cameras. They capture my thinking and mesmerize me, enticing me to look again because there's more in the picture!

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.

Jesus' words here speak to me deep in my heart.  My tendency to judge others' actions while seeing my own actions without judgment cuts me.  That tendency should have been overridden years ago. All humans are hypocritical in one way or another.  So, who really can cast the first stone?  And Jesus is right.  The judgment I project on others is really just a sign of the rottenness I hide.  My judgment of others boomerangs to judgment on myself, creating a cycle.  The cycle forms a chain, one round link inside another round link, inside another round link, chaining me to acting, pleasing words, and poor translations of God's principles for my life.  But, I hear Jesus' words and realize I need to stop the rattle of those chains because there's a better life, an authentic life.

[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.]

Repudiation

Morsels of food are delicious because of the little things, the subtle seasonings, the dash of salt, the sprinkle of garlic, the garnish of parsley, the touch of glaze, or the hint of lemon.  Ahhhh - so delicious!

The end of the day - and what a long, disappointing day (!) - leaving Jerusalem for the last time after a deliberately planned trap ending as a sparring match of questions and answers with the scholars of the Talmud, some followers of their teachings, and a group that didn't believe in life after death.

Matthew 23

vs.37

Ἰερουσαλὴμ Ἰερουσαλήμ, ἡ ἀποκτείνουσα τοὺς προφήτας καὶ λιθοβολοῦσα τοὺς ἀπεσταλμένους πρὸς αὐτήν, ποσάκις ἠθέλησα ἐπισυναγαγεῖν τὰ τέκνα σου, ὃν τρόπον ὄρνις ἐπισυνάγει τὰ νοσσία αὐτῆς ὑπὸ τὰς πτέρυγας, καὶ οὐκ ἠθελήσατε

(Jerusalem, Jerusalem - killing prophets and stoning others sent to you. How many times did I want to bring you together like a hen brings her little chicks around her under her wings... But you were not willing.)

The whole story could have been different.  Jesus had worked hard to make his public teaching one of joy and hope, forgiveness and acceptance, healing and second chances, a story that would have ended with a more complete understanding of God and what he wanted for people.

vs.38

ἰδοὺ ἀφίεται ὑμῖν ὁ οἶκος ὑμῶν ἔρημος

(Just look at your house!  It has been left empty.)

He found his people in disarray.  He found them in groups and sects.  He found them in social classes.  He found them in conflict against Rome and in conflict among themselves.  He found them in disbelief of his message about who God was and what he wanted.

vs.39

λέγω γὰρ ὑμῖν, οὐ μή με ἴδητε ἀπ’ ἄρτι ἕως ἂν εἴπητε εὐλογημένος ὁ ἐρχόμενος ἐν ὀνόματι κυρίου

(So rest assured that you will not see me from this moment until you have declared, "Praise the one coming in the name of the Lord!")

He had tried!  But his father had made it clear to him that his time on Earth was over.  It had been an especially long and trying day.  So, he in turn told those listening to him that he wouldn't see them again in this city until he was treated as the Messiah entering Jerusalem, which, unknown to them, would only be a little over a week later.  When he returned, the events would be ordered, the countdown set.  There would be no more opportunities for the hen to gather her chicks to listen to Jesus talk about his father or his wishes for his people.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

The beginning of the same day, a week and a half before his final entry into Jerusalem led on a donkey in a procession of palm leaves to shouts of "Hosanna in the highest - Praise the one coming in the name of the Lord."

Knowing the time of the end heightened Jesus' urgency to explain EXACTLY what stood in the way of people seeing God for who he was and Jesus for who he was.  Jesus was incredulous that the very people who were supposed to represent God to the world wouldn't believe the one whom God had sent to them so that they could return to being a people who could actually represent him.

Who was it that couldn't accept that he was the Messiah, the one representing God' light in a dark world?  Who was it that couldn't accept that he was God in flesh accepting them as they were and encouraging them to be better about doing hateful things to each other?  Who was it that would blatantly oppose teachings about acceptance, healings of restoration, and beautiful acts of catching God's favor?

That's the unbelievable part of this story.  They were the people well versed in what God's covenant meant to his people.  They were referred to as scholars of the Talmud and as Pharisees, a group of people that committed themselves to following the teachings of these scholars of the Talmud to the letter.  God's ways had been codified in their eyes.  It wasn't a loose covenant of love and acceptance.   It was an unbending list of commands that needed to be followed meticulously in order to curry favor with the Almighty Lord of Hosts.  Anything short of that curried the Almighty's anger.  The covenants made with Abraham and Moses and the traditions of the people, the insights of former, esteemed rabbis, were all written down.  By the time of Jesus, Jews had divided into several groups trying to deal with the long history of God's covenant with them, but the most influential group in Jerusalem was the one saying that being a Jew was a matter of black and white, a system of actions to be performed.  The group believing this austere regimen of behavior in following the Talmud called themselves Pharisees.

Messiah by Ghenadie Sontu

When his father had made it clear to him that his time on Earth was over, Jesus left the outlying regions of Judaism and went to its heart, Jerusalem.  He knew he would encounter these scholars and this rigid group of people.  They had followed his movements in Galilee and surrounding areas, so they had encountered Jesus and his teachings before.  He also knew that they were the largest party of the controlling power groups in Jerusalem.

He was down to just a week and a half on Earth.  He had to expose the true nature of these Pharisees and scholars.  He had to speak about just what what kind of people they truly were.  His father had wanted them to change, but they wouldn't do it.  Now, the countdown was set, so he had to highlight emphatically what a fictitious religion Judaism had become compared to what his father had wanted.  So, after the major sparring match that had been planned to thwart all of his teachings (Matthew 22), Jesus took the opportunity to recount the ways in which the scholars and their followers were so UNrepresentative of his father.

Matthew 23

Verse 4

δεσμεύουσιν δὲ φορτία βαρέα [καὶ δυσβάστακτα] καὶ ἐπιτιθέασιν ἐπὶ τοὺς ὤμους τῶν ἀνθρώπων, αὐτοὶ δὲ τῷ δακτύλῳ αὐτῶν οὐ θέλουσιν κινῆσαι αὐτά

(They make burdens and place them on people's shoulders to carry, but they are not willing to help shoulder the load.)

Verse 5

πάντα δὲ τὰ ἔργα αὐτῶν ποιοῦσιν πρὸς τὸ θεαθῆναι τοῖς ἀνθρώποις· πλατύνουσιν γὰρ τὰ φυλακτήρια αὐτῶν καὶ μεγαλύνουσιν τὰ κράσπεδα

(All of their actions are done to be seen by others.  They make their scripture straps thicker and exaggerate the fringe on the bottom of their garments.)

Verse 13

Οὐαὶ δὲ ὑμῖν, γραμματεῖς καὶ Φαρισαῖοι ὑποκριταί, ὅτι κλείετε τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν ἔμπροσθεν τῶν ἀνθρώπων· ὑμεῖς γὰρ οὐκ εἰσέρχεσθε οὐδὲ τοὺς εἰσερχομένους ἀφίετε εἰσελθεῖν

(Scholars of the Talmud and Pharisees, actors, you make me cringe because people see you close off the realm of the heavens.  You yourselves don't enter, and you keep them from entering.)

Verse 15

Οὐαὶ ὑμῖν, γραμματεῖς καὶ Φαρισαῖοι ὑποκριταί, ὅτι περιάγετε τὴν θάλασσαν καὶ τὴν ξηρὰν ποιῆσαι ἕνα προσήλυτον, καὶ ὅταν γένηται ποιεῖτε αὐτὸν υἱὸν γεέννης διπλότερον ὑμῶν

(Scholars of the Talmud and Pharisees, actors, you make me cringe because you go all over the most desertous regions around to convert one person, and when you do, you make him twice as much a child of Hinnom Valley's despicable fires of desecration as you are yourselves.)

Verse 23

Οὐαὶ ὑμῖν, γραμματεῖς καὶ Φαρισαῖοι ὑποκριταί, ὅτι ἀποδεκατοῦτε τὸ ἡδύοσμον καὶ τὸ ἄνηθον καὶ τὸ κύμινον καὶ ἀφήκατε τὰ βαρύτερα τοῦ νόμου, τὴν κρίσιν καὶ τὸ ἔλεος καὶ τὴν πίστιν· ταῦτα [δὲ] ἔδει ποιῆσαι κἀκεῖνα μὴ ἀφιέναι

(Scholars of the Talmud and Pharisees, actors, you make me cringe because you exact a tenth of mint to spread on your synagogue floors for a good aroma, a tenth of dill to mix in as medicine to make you feel better, and a tenth of cummin to give your mouths a refreshing smell.  Yet, you have relaxed the matters of the covenant that really matter - justice and mercy and good faith.  It should be a matter of course to do the former without relaxing the latter.)

Verse 24

ὁδηγοὶ τυφλοί, οἱ διϋλίζοντες τὸν κώνωπα, τὴν δὲ κάμηλον καταπίνοντες

(Blind guides, straining out a wine gnat that is unclean just to gulp down an unclean camel!)

Strong, strong words!  And Jesus elaborated on these points more than what is quoted here.  He was greatly empassioned about the fallacies of these scholars, their followers, and the other groups that didn't know the covenant of God nor his power!!

He said all of this, and he was down to the end of his time.  He left Jerusalem...

The morsel with all the kick and sting in it for future generations to notice and avoid are the words ὑποκριταί (actors) and ὁδηγοὶ τυφλοί (blind guides). It was a shame because there was not another chance.  Jerusalem would not see him again, he said, until he came a week later as king, messiah, and son of God to be crucified, which fulfilled Psalm 118.26.  And then, he woke up.  All was fulfilled, and not another chance existed.

There are still those groups today that want a performance-based, black and white, duty-filled, obligation-driven, you're-in-and-they're-out kind of religion.  They are easy to spot because their language contains few words of acceptance, forgiveness, healing, or restoring brokenness, and their actions are perfunctory rather than the beautiful, courageous acts of grace representing Jesus and his father.  They want to achieve being flawless with their own paltry deeds offered to God.  In reality, there is only one way to be flawless.

Jesus' strongest and sharpest words, his most emphatic warnings, as he faced the time for his departure to his father, were for his followers not to become actors and blind guides.  Then he left us.

This hits home because my own footsteps have walked down Pharisaical paths of acting and blindly guiding.  I still know people I left on those paths.  My prayer is to echo the words of Jesus when he taught the Twelve to pray: "Don't make us stand trial for our evil, but rescue us from it!" (Matthew 6.13)



[The Greek text used is the Nestle-Aland 28th edition.]
[Songs used are Set Me Free by Casting Crowns and Flawless by Mercy Me.]
[Introductory photograph from www.fotosearch.com, artwork, The Messiah, by Ghenadie Sontu retrieved from
http://www.ghenadiesontu.com/figurative/messiah]

[Translations from Greek are my own.]