Sermon Matthew 23:1-12 False Teachers

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Beaver Dam and Pitts Creek Churches

Sermon Matthew 23:1-12 False Teachers

November 2, 2014

Today we continue our study of the Gospel of Matthew. The setting for today's story is the Jerusalem temple the day after Jesus overturned the tables of money changers. We have heard his conversations with the Jewish leaders. Now we will hear Jesus' teaching to a crowd of people who have assembled to listen to him. He will be talking about the Jewish leaders. We will get to this, but first let's pray.

You have made the day, O God, to be a sign of your light, showering Earth with clarity and gladness. I thank you for this day, asking only that in all that I do and say, your joy in this world will shine through; in Jesus’ name. Amen.”¹

Matthew 23:1-12 1Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2 “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 4 They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. 5 “Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; 6 they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; 7 they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others. 8 “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. 9 And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. 10 Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. 11 The greatest among you will be your servant.12 For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

Jesus has essentially called the Jewish leaders hypocrites for teaching one thing while doing another. The focus of his criticism is on the Pharisees. The Pharisees were one of four Jewish sects in the first century. The other were the Sadducees, the Zealots and the Essenes. To understand what the Pharisees were up to we have to look briefly at the other three.

The main issue facing the Jews in the first century was the Roman Occupation. Each of the sects advocated different ways of dealing with this problem. We don't know anything about the Essenes from the Bible, but we do know that they withdrew from society and hid in caves near the Dead Sea in a place called Qumran. They advocated separatism. They told the Jews to live apart from the Roman occupiers and carry on their faith separately. The Zealots, on the other hand, advocated violence. They argued that only violence and terror would raise the cost of the occupation to the Romans and encourage them to leave. The Sadducees went a different direction. They were the officials at the Temple in Jerusalem and called for cooperation with the Romans as the best policy. So should they be separate, violent or cooperative? Or maybe something else. Let's look at the Pharisees.

The Pharisees had yet another way of dealing with the occupation. They looked into the Old Testament and saw over and over again that the people of God were oppressed because they had failed to obey God's commands. Therefore the people of God should be diligent in obeying God's commands, and then God would deliver them from oppression. The Pharisees identified hundreds of commandments and laws in the Old Testament. And they came up with detailed regulations for how someone could obey the law in first century society. For example someone might ask if building a fire to keep your house warm on the Sabbath was permissible or not. A teacher might reply that you should make the fire before sundown and have plenty of wood so it would burn throughout the day. A whole system of laws and regulations was developed all in an effort to make God happy so He would send a savior who would deliver them from the Romans.

So why would Jesus be angry with Pharisees? I agree with them. I don't think we should separate, use violence or cooperate with evil today. I do think we should obey God and let him deliver us from evil. I guess I would be Pharisee. But Jesus is angry at the Pharisees. So let's take a closer look.

According to Jesus the Pharisees love to wear beautiful clothing. They love sitting in seats of honor at banquets. They love to be noticed on the streets with the title of “teacher”. They love all these things. What's wrong with this? I love these things too. So what's the problem? To understand what Jesus is upset about we have to go back one chapter in Matthew when Jesus said this.

Matthew 22:34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

So the problem is that the Pharisees are not keeping the most important laws. They are to love God with all their hearts, souls and minds, and they are to love their neighbors. But the Pharisees love not God and neighbor, but they love what they wear, where they sit, and how people address them. And so their teaching about God's commands is not out of their love for God and love for their students. This make Jesus angry. Whenever we tell someone that they must repent from their sins we must first be absolutely sure that we are motivated by our love of God and love for that person and not out of love of something else.

Matthew 23 and 24 are a perfect examples of scripture that have been misinterpreted by the church because of our failure to love God and our neighbor. Let me explain. In these chapters Jesus criticizes Jewish leaders. Many Christian pastors, over they centuries, have used this scripture to whip up hated of the Jews. This had led to the death of millions of Jews. In what sense are we loving our Jewish neighbors when we use the Bible to get people to hate them? It make no sense.

So I urge you, whenever you call someone a sinner, to examine your heart and discern if you are acting out of your love of God and if you truly love this sinner.

I recently heard a Presbyterian pastor discuss a controversial matter on the floor of presbytery. He firmly believed that certain activity is a sin. And he was about to call some people in the presbytery sinners. But before he could do this he had to first consider his own heart to determine if he was motivated by love of God and love of neighbor. So he told a story about his own young daughter about to do something dangerous. He stopped her because he loves his daughter very much. He loves the people in presbytery too, and out of this love for them he wants them to turn away from sin.

So I urge you not to be hypocrites. Never call someone a sinner until you first examine your heart and determine that you are motivated by your love of God and love of one another. Let's pray.

Dear Lord, you have blessed us with law to govern our lives. And we want everyone to obey your law. But always remind us that the greatest of all laws is the command to love you and love our neighbors. Help us to always live in this love. Amen.

1Feasting on the Word Worship Companion: Liturgies for Year A, Volume 2 © 2014 Westminster John Knox Press p232.