In these verses Jesus addressed the scribes, Pharisees
and hypocrites who were opposing His teachings and work. While these groups
were specifically named, yet we know that His strong words were for people who
in His time were leading Israel astray. They were causing the people to be
defocused and look away in other direction from Him, their Messiah, who had
arrived. In fact. Jesus said, they were putting a stumbling block at the
entrance to the Kingdom of God before the people. They themselves had not truly
experienced the Kingdom, and what they did and said were preventing people from
entering in to experience what God in Christ came to give. Jesus told them that
they had made huge effort to try and convert people, and presumably thought
they had set them on the path to God. But when their interest was stirred, they
would make them worse than when they had not started. They became doubly worse than
before their conversion.
We often think of the Lord Jesus as a gentle and loving
teacher and now to see His strong condemnation of those people seems to be a misnomer.
One thing we need to know about our Lord is that while He is gentle and loving,
He cares for people too much to allow them to meander down the wrong path.
Hence a passage like this ought to cause us to reflect carefully, and understand
what the crux of the matter is. His strong words were for those who demonstrate
hollow piety and thus misguide the people and set them on the path of wrong
priorities.
Like it or not we are being observed by people all
the time. We can either put a person on the right path by the things we say and
the way we behave, or we can set people in the wrong direction. Our conduct and
behavior must be congruent with our confession as Christ’s followers. Hence, we
must be careful how we walk, not as fools but as wise. We must seek to understand
what the will of God is. And every day, we must redeem every opportunity because
we are confronted by so many challenges of our time.
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