Most people completely mistake the point of this chapter. While we have loads of very fine spiritual guidance built on these words, most of it misses the more substantive train of thought in the larger context. We have noted already Jesus is working to distance Himself from the typical Talmudic rabbinical teachings of His day. He began this session showing how the Pharisees and Scribes (Mosaic lawyers) were promoting a man-made corruption of God's Word. They really had no idea what it was about. As a result, their brand of spirituality was a bad joke, an obvious hypocrisy. In this chapter, Jesus points out the natural results of such a failed grasp on the Law of Moses: They didn't have a clue how God intended it be taught.
Jewish social and civil leaders of Jesus' day were infamous for harsh demands. Their way of correcting a sinner was with a bitterness utterly foreign to God. Such an arrogant and hateful approach naturally provoked rebellion, even if those corrected dare not show it. The method destroyed the mission. Pharisees sharply picked over the slightest detail of their Talmudic laws -- truly impossible to obey -- and had completely buried the Law of God. It was like trying to remove a splinter from someone else while a wooden post was hanging out of your own flesh. You can't judge if you have no discernment. Committing the teaching of God's Word to such fools was throwing Passover scraps to dogs (viewed by Hebrews of that day as we do jackals today), or tossing jewelry to filthy pigs. They had no idea what good it was.
Teaching the Word of God requires a gentle approach. People who aren't abused are more likely to listen, to be open to the truth. The Word of God is a love offering from above; it cannot be forced on anyone. We rightly condemn abusive parents, who drive away their hungry children with harsh treatment. The Laws of God are also not designed to harm and threaten, but to fill and nourish the hungry soul. The Word of God itself demands you approach people they way you want to be approached. What sort of appeal would catch your attention?
Truth is hard enough without extra human burdens. It is like a narrow, steep path, passing through a small wicket. The whole world is full of those who take the easy way out. It requires no special talent to believe in yourself uncritically, without bothering to humbly examine your life against the Word. If you are not first drawn to it with a desire which drives you through all manner of personal sacrifice, you don't have it. If you don't have it, you can't pass it on. To compensate, the Pharisees and Scribes would spend hours each day creating detailed analyses of their predecessors' detailed analyses. It salved their dead consciences, believing they served a God they really didn't know.
Most prophets of that day were also in it for themselves. It was easy to put on a show, to act a part and draw a crowd. However, if watched over time, especially in private moments, one realized they were fake. It's like checking the fruit on a tree. God's Word is inherently nutritious to the soul. A real prophet lives a changed life first, then prophesies, as John the Baptist did. They welcome a probing eye into their private conduct. Fakes will hide, because their root nature remains that of a weed. Give them time; you'll know prophets by their fruits.
Jesus warned, even among those who followed Him, there would be fakes. They would appear to follow His teaching, would appear to do miracles, and carry His name and teaching everywhere. Do not rely on miracles, for they may come in spite of a man being fake. The way to know a man of God is his obedience to God.
Following Jesus means more than mimicking Him. A shallow performance, even with full sincerity, is still a mere performance. No, it requires hearing His teachings with the heart, letting them guide decisions. People who really get it will be building the Kingdom, and building their own lives at the same time. Life founded on true faith and conviction will withstand any storm. The wash of humanity rushing against it will not move it. People who miss it, who don't really get it, but try to fake it as a mere code of conduct, will have nothing. They'll build a life like a house of mud bricks in the wadi. The first time things get tough, it'll be gone. Worse, they'll be left with a greater confusion and pain than before.
Matthew notes, whether the people really understood or not, what everyone noticed was Jesus was like no other rabbi. His teaching carried its own authority. There was no need to cite other authorities, no need to appeal to various experts. This was a teaching which carried power to change men's souls, even as it changed bodies in the crowded healing sessions. And it was the change of souls which truly turned things upside down.
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Ed Hurst
01 September 2007
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