Sermon: Wittenberg Academy – Nov 5, 2024

5 Nov 2024

Text: Matt 23:1-12

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

The scribes and the Pharisees were the social elites of the day.  They were not the rulers of the government (though they were represented in the Jewish council).  They were not the priests of the temple (though they were considered to be the religious experts).  Their real power was in the way ordinary people looked up to them, and trusted them.  Their opinions became public opinions, as they held sway over all those who admired them – much like our celebrity class today.

But their motivation wasn’t the truth.  Their motivation wasn’t to submit to God’s Word.  Their motivation was to maintain their status and the status quo, “to be seen by others,” as our Lord observes.  They did so by interpreting the Scriptures in such a way as to affirm themselves.  They made themselves immune from any criticism, and instead, applied the Law to everyone except themselves.  Their manmade religious system was based on laws and regulations of their own making, “heavy burdens, hard to bear,” as our Lord said, and they would “lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves [were] not willing to move them with their finger.”

They routinely distorted Scripture.  One ridiculous example is how they treat Moses telling the people to figuratively place the Word of God “as frontlets between your eyes” (Deut 6:8).  Instead of interpreting this to be a matter of the primacy of God’s Word in the heart and mind, they insisted, as a matter of law, on wearing literal little boxes, called “phylacteries,” tied to their heads with little scrolls inside as proof of their righteousness.  They had similar rules and regulations with “fringes” on their garments.  And, of course, they had all the best seats at banquets reserved for themselves.  They lived for being called by various titles and being bowed and scraped to. 

They lived for the respect of others – respect that was not returned.  Their religion became a distorted and legalistic parody of what God called them to be, and to do, as children of Israel, as the people of the Covenant, as the custodians of the Word of God.  And this self-obsession led them to be blinded to the reality that the God they claimed to worship was standing right in front of them, speaking to them even more intimately than He spoke to Moses, and was the fulfillment of all the Scriptures they claimed were guiding their lives.

Once people saw how phony the Pharisees were, they could not unsee it.

Their problem, according to Jesus, is their lack of humility – in other words, their pride.  Jesus corrects them, largely to no avail – although two of the Pharisees, who secretly followed Jesus, will act courageously and publicly at His crucifixion (John 19:38-39).  But in spite of the hardness of heart of the scribes and Pharisees, our Lord continues to proclaim the Law to them, to show how they misinterpret Scripture, and to use them as warning to all of us of how not to be.  For “the greatest among you shall be your servant.  Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.