Day 309 (Matthew 23, Luke 20-21) - Year 4
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Hey, Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for The Bible Recap. Today, Jesus covers a lot of ground with the Pharisees that may seem familiar. It's possible that Matthew has collected all Jesus' sayings to the Pharisees and put them all in one convenient filing cabinet labeled Chapter 23, but it's also possible that Jesus is just giving them a big once-and-for-all summary of everything he's been communicating to them over the past few years.

His words to them are full of woe. Seven woes, to be exact. They are, number one, woe to those who don't enter the kingdom and who, by their lies, prevent others from entering too. Number two, woe to those who make converts to false religions, taking them from one lie to another. Number three, woe to the blind guides who value the symbol over the source and the creation over the creator. Number four, woe to those who neglect the weightier things, who tithe religiously while oppressing others.

5. Woe to those who try to look righteous while they're greedy and selfish. 6. Woe to those who work hard to seem perfect on the outside when they're full of sin and death. 7. Woe to those who repeat the sins of their fathers, killing the prophets. There are a few things worth pointing out in these woes. First, I think it's interesting that in verse 3, Jesus tells the crowds to follow the commands of the scribes and the Pharisees, but not their actions.

He doesn't wholesale condemn their practices, they're teaching the Hebrew scriptures after all, so as long as they interpret the books of Moses accurately, the people should obey what they say.

The foundational problem with the Pharisees is that their hearts are off. And because of that, they're adding a lot of stuff to God's laws to try to prove themselves. So Jesus doesn't throw the baby out with the bathwater. He knows that obedience to the truth is a good thing, even if the truth is preached by hypocrites. Second, in verse 5, Jesus says they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long. Until a few years ago, I would have had no idea what this meant because it's not part of our culture.

A phylactery is a small leather box that some people strap to their forehead and their left arm as a way of literally applying the command from Deuteronomy 11.18 where God tells the Israelites, You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. So they take scripture, put it in a little leather box, and bind the box to their forehead and their left arm. And the fringe is a reference to the four tasseled ends of a prayer shawl.

In Numbers 15, God commands the Israelites to wear this as a reminder to them that they belong to Yahweh. Jesus definitely isn't condemning the act of wearing a prayer shawl. In fact, we know that he wore one himself because that's what scripture is referencing in Matthew 9 20 when it says the sick woman touched the fringe of his garment. What he's condemning is the motivation of using these things to show off.

He says the Pharisees make their phylacteries wider and their fringes longer to be seen by others instead of God's original intent, which was to remember that they belong to him. They've taken something that's about him and made it about themselves. By the way, if you want to see what a phylactery and fringe look like, come to Israel with me. They're everywhere in Jerusalem. Or I suppose you could just look at the pictures we've linked in the show notes. Whatever. Third, in

In verse 9, when Jesus says, Call no man on earth your father, do you think he's saying we shouldn't call our dad father? So is it okay if we call him dad instead? Is that a loophole? And we can't have instructors or teachers either? That sounds crazy. What Jesus is communicating here has very little to do with language, actually. It has more to do with perspective and intent. This whole section is about the sins of the Pharisees, right? So what are their sins associated with these titles?

They aspire to them in order to feel awesome about themselves, to be showy, to be in power. So by telling people not to seek out those people, Jesus is actually directing them away from not only feeding the pride of the Pharisees, but also becoming like them.

Fourth, in the final woe, Jesus points to the fact that the Pharisees are like their ancestors, killing the prophets. Jesus references Abel and Zechariah, and that's probably because Abel was the first person murdered in the Old Testament, and lots of scholars say it's possible Zechariah was the last. So Jesus seems to be encapsulating all the Old Testament murders in this woe, knowing full well that he's next in line. In Luke...

We encounter some things we covered yesterday and some things we'll cover tomorrow. However, there's one thing from yesterday's reading that I want to touch on in today's account. Luke 20, 36 says that God's kids will become equal to angels when they die. The original word here means like angels. The text isn't saying we'll become angels. They're a totally different created being. And unlike humans, they're not made in the image of God.

What this verse is saying is that we'll become like them in the sense that we won't be able to die after the resurrection. We'll be immortal like the angels. As far as equality with angels goes, we don't want equality with them. 1 Corinthians 6.3 says that we will judge the angels someday. I know people love to say things at funerals like, I guess God needed another angel. But actually, that's a downgrade if you think about it. Humans are God's image bearers.

and angels are God's interdimensional messengers who serve him primarily and his kids secondarily.

Here's something else important to note. In 21, 10-19, where Jesus is warning his disciples about wars and persecution, he's talking to them about actual wars they'll encounter soon. He says they'll be brought before kings and rulers. He's talking about Judea and Jerusalem specifically. These instructions are very specific to them and their timeline. There are certainly aspects of this that apply to all of us as we wait for his return, but a lot of this is directed toward their specific life timeline.

People are certainly still martyred all the time around the world, but this warning was for a specific people at a specific time. There's still truth we can carry with us from this passage, though. For instance, in verse 16, he says, "'Some of you they will put to death.'" But then verse 18 says, "'Not a hair on your head will perish.'" How is this possible? They die, but their hair survives? No, he's pointing to eternal life. That's how they can die but not perish."

And verse 19 says endurance is what marks the believer. Not endurance as in survival, but endurance as in the faith, despite our trials. If we read this and think that it's up to us to maintain our perseverance, this sounds really challenging, especially not knowing what specific trials lie ahead.

But remember that he's already told us that no one can snatch us out of his hand. Remember that he promises to finish what he started in us. Perseverance is his doing, not ours. We display and demonstrate the preserving he does.

Verse 34 also really caught my eye. It says, I had to look up what dissipation meant in this context. It's basically another word for drunkenness. So he's repeating himself here, which tells us this is important.

The word means drunkenness specifically, but it also means too much of anything in general. So Jesus is telling them to live intentionally. Don't get caught up in too much of anything, least of all alcohol, or it will weigh our hearts down. And don't let our attentions and affections fall on fleeting things, the cares of this life, because the things that matter are eternal.

This is similar to something we've heard him say a few other times. The good and the bad both have a way of taking our eyes off of him. He doesn't want us to get mired in fears or distractions. And that actually connects to my God shot for today. In 21.9, Jesus says, When you hear of wars and tumults, do not be terrified, for these things must first take place, but the end will not be at once.

He says not to be terrified of these things. He knows it sounds scary, but he also knows how it ends. So he's the only person who can say this with any kind of authority. He doesn't say things won't be scary or hard. He just promises that we don't go through those things alone and that on the other side of it, we will live with him internally. Whatever darkness comes our way is no threat to his light. He's where the joy is.

Christmas is just around the corner. In fact, I know some of you already have your tree up, and there's no shame in that. There's room for all of us here. But whether your tree is up by Labor Day, or if you don't even bother to hang a wreath, we can all agree that Christmas is about the joy of God the Son coming to earth.

And if we've learned anything in our reading plan, it's that he's where the joy is. So we want to give you a few ways to carry what we've learned here into your Christmas decor, if you have it, and maybe even spread the joy to some others as well. We've just stocked our store with some very classy Christmas ornaments. They're shatterproof, so even your cat can't ruin them. Hopefully. Hopefully.

We'd also love to be your Christmas card this year. So we've got He's Where the Joy Is Christmas cards for you in packs of 10. You can check it all out at thebiblerecap.com, then click on the store link. And maybe by next year, we'll have gotten around to doing that accurate nativity you've all requested.

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