We
have all been to cemetery, especially during the time of the year when people would
go there to honour their dead relatives. During this time, caretakers who were
paid to take care of the tombs would beautify them. It was aimed at impressing
the relatives who would soon visit the tombs of their dead folks. Most tombs
would be beautified; faded colours of the inscription would be touched up to
give a sense of newness. However, the surface of those beautified tombs would be
quite different from what’s underneath them. It’s nice to behold on the surface
but a woeful sight underneath the surface awaits. The Pharisees, whom Jesus was
addressing, were like a beautiful tomb, looked good on the outside but rotten to
the core in the inside. They were like beautiful tombs, well maintained on the
outside, but deep inside them they were like the remains of the decaying corpses
and filth and dirt.
The core
of Jesus’ accusation against the scribes and Pharisees was their hypocritical
lifestyles. Looking at them from the outside they would appear to be virtuous people
who had strictly and scrupulously observed the law. Externally, those who looked
at them would had thought that they were those whom God would certainly be pleased.
In reality they were extortionists whose moral value were deplorable, and left
much to be desired. They demonstrated a weak-will and were self-indulgent. They
knew the law and would teach them but they themselves had failed to live them. But
we need to bear in mind that there were good Pharisees who would strictly teach
the law and seek to live them out. Two classic examples are Paul the Apostle and
his teacher Gamaliel. Generally, most Pharisees
were in for the political agenda they had adopted. They like the ideas of the
law because it suited their national ambition. But they were found wanting when
it came to the crux of the matter – the spiritual and moral value. In those areas
they had much to make up for. Like them, we too have to make what’s inside of
us congruous with what can be seen on the outside.
The
attack of Jesus on the Pharisees can only be clearly understood when seen in
the larger context of what He came to do. He was on His way to the cross to accomplish
the real covenant renewal that the Pharisees, with all their focus on the law,
could never have accomplished. Here He was about to take upon Himself all the
wickedness of the world and also every wickedness He denounced here and other
passages of the Bible. He was about to bear every wickedness of man and deal
with them once and for all at the cross. Jesus was not just denouncing the evil
of the Pharisees but also those we ourselves have committed, He came to deal with
them once and for all at the cross.
In
verses 29-33, Jesus lumped the scribes, Pharisees and hypocrites together with
their prophets-killing ancestors, who murdered the prophets that came with the
message of God to warn them. What they were about to do was no different from what
their ancestors had done. They were about to deliver the greatest prophet of
all times over to death.
What
lessons do we take way from such a “woeful” message? What we are is more important
that what we say or demonstrate on the outward. It is important that we be consistent.
Let’s not live a life only for show. Let our outward expression of righteousness
be a real reflection of the change that had taken place deep within us. Real
and genuine inner transformation can be quickly detected by the way we live our
life. If the inward change is the main thing Jesus is after; be sure to make
the main thing, the main thing in life.
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