Without question, Jesus saved his most scathing words for the Pharisees of his day. Interestingly, we never read of Jesus condemning what we might call garden-variety sinners. He was straight with them. He told them the truth.
In fact, we see him showing compassion when he encountered them. When he saw Zacchaeus, a man who was dishonest and had taken advantage of others, Jesus didn't condemn him. In fact, he invited himself over to Zacchaeus' home for a meal.
When a woman who was caught in the very act of adultery was brought before the Lord, rather than condemning her, he turned her condemners away, saying, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first" (John 8:7 NKJV).
Jesus' harshest words were reserved for the religious hypocrites of the day. In Matthew 23 we find a collection of woes that Jesus gave to the Pharisees and their followers. It is because they did not love the Lord their God with all of their heart, soul and mind. Rather, they were going through the motions without real passion. Their problem was their hearts were corrupt, and their lives were not right before God.
Jesus knew what was really going on. He knew their hearts weren't right before God. He knew they were phonies. And at the moment they appeared the most righteous, they really were the most wicked.
The sin of hypocrisy, which is pretending to be something you really are not, is especially offensive to God. It is interesting to consider what the word hypocrite means. It comes from a Greek word that means to wear a mask, just as the actors in Greek theatre would hold masks in front of their faces to represent the characters they were playing.
Jesus was saying to the Pharisees, "Beware of hiding behind a mask of hypocrisy or appearing to be something you are not."
The Pharisees were hypocritical because they did not practice what they preached. Jesus said, "Whatever [the Pharisees] tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do. For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves, will not move them with one of their fingers" (Matthew 23:3–4 NKJV).
They would set very high standards for others to rise to, but they would not lift a finger themselves to help these people. Perhaps they even were glad when others failed to live up to these standards because it would only make them look a little better.
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The Pharisees also were proud. Jesus said of them, "But all their works they do to be seen by men" (verse 5 NKJV). When a Pharisee would stand on a street corner, lift up his hands and pray very loudly, it wasn't because he wanted God to hear him; it was because he wanted people to hear him. He wanted others to say, "That person is so spiritual. Would you look at that?" The Pharisees were drawing attention to themselves.
That is something we need to think about when we pray and when we worship. Sometimes we will do things to draw attention to ourselves unnecessarily. Don't do something that will distract from another person's worship of God and draw attention to you, because then you are beginning to get in the way of worship. What you may call your freedom actually may be a distraction to other people's worship. Check your heart.
The Pharisees also completely missed the point and trivialized what really mattered. Jesus said of them, "Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing, but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it'" (verse 16).
This meant the Pharisees were taking oaths but were getting out of them on a technicality. In other words, they would say something like, "I swear by the temple," but then they would not keep the oath they had sworn because they claimed they didn't swear by the gold that was in the temple.
Jesus was saying, "You have these little technicalities. You have these little release clauses. You're missing the point." It would be like saying, "I know I promised I would do it, but I had my fingers crossed."
Earlier, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, "I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God's throne. ... But let your 'Yes' be Yes and your 'No' No" (Matthew 5:34, 37). In other words, if you tell the truth, you won't have to swear by anyone or anything.
By appearing clean on the outside, the Pharisees were dirty on the inside. Jesus said to them, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also" (Matthew 23:25–26).
Hypocrisy is such a wicked sin. It was the Roman statesman Cicero who said, "Of all villainy there is none more base than that of the hypocrite, who, at the moment he is most false, takes care to appear most virtuous."
The issue here is not that someone isn't walking with God; the issue is when someone acts as though he or she is walking with God when they are not at all. It's better to not say anything rather than to play that little game.
You may have a mask of respectability or even piety and deep spirituality, but in reality, you may be something altogether different behind the façade. It is better to be what you are, even if it isn't what you ought to be, than to pretend to be something else.
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