Matthew 23:16-22 – Let's set our purpose right

Jesus’ strong indictment of the scribes, Pharisees and hypocrites, calling them blind guides because they, during His time, led the people astray. He called them fools and blind men. As we have discovered, they were those that demonstrated hollow piety and misguided the people and set other people on the path of wrong priorities. Unwittingly, what they taught led people to needless details, till they failed to understand the purpose of the law. In all their needless impositions, they had pushed genuine seekers further away from the truth and from God. What Jesus said in this passage brings us to mind Matthew 12:36, warning against the dire consequence of speaking carelessly. They also remind us of what He taught in Matthew 5, concerning making oath and swearing.

Why do people need to swear? Basically it’s because they are aware that people may not fully accept what they have said. To add weight to the statement, they swear by someone or something, to support what they’ve just said was true. Often what begin as words to prop up one’s insecurity, can unwittingly cause the cultivation of a habit of making a speech with needless swearing and oath. When done often enough, it makes a person unaware of the seriousness of speaking needless and careless words. It behooves us to be mindful of what we are saying. As the Lord had said in Matthew 5: 37, “Let your statement be “Yes, yes” or “No, no; anything beyond these is of evil.” Explicitly the Lord had also taught in Matthew 5:34-36, that we “…should not make oath either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is the City of the Great King. Nor shall you make an oath by your head for you cannot make one hair white or black”.

When Jesus said in verses 16-22 about swearing by the Temple, He dealt deeper than just the issue of swearing. As the scribes and Pharisees determined which oath would count and which wouldn’t, they had in fact revealed their attitude toward the Temple. They had set wrong priorities in their evaluation and had placed gold above the Temple, and the gift above the altar. In essence, what Jesus said in these verses, is: they had valued the gift brought into God’s presence more than the very presence of God. They had taken the name of God in vain, and now tried to cover it by argument of what oath had more value and importance.

As we come to God, let’s have our purpose rightly worked out. We come to church to worship Him, to encounter Him and to experience His presence. The music and the program are incidentals to enable that purpose. They are the means and not the end. We don’t come to church for the superb music or the inspiring sermon. We are in church to encounter God, to honor and worship Him and to experience His presence!