Matthew 23:25-36

Matthew 23:13-36 (continued) Jesus denounces the scribes and the Pharisees for their hypocrisy

Part 2

Verses 25-26

The Pharisees were very conscious of the ritual or ceremonial purity of their cups and dishes.  This was not a concern about cleanliness as we mean it; it was a concern about whether their cookware and dinnerware were “clean” as a matter of ritual purity.  The Old Testament and the traditions preserved and developed by the scribes identified many ways that a person or object could become unclean.  Some were extrapolated directly from the Law.  For example: A utensil was unclean if it came in contact with pork.  A man was unclean if he touched a dead body or a Gentile.  A woman was unclean during her menstrual period.  If you came in contact with anyone or anything that was considered “unclean,” you could become unclean too.  The Pharisees were very focused on avoiding anything unclean and drew upon the detailed and nuanced teachings of the scribes, who developed intricate rules for what was and was not unclean.

What does Jesus accuse the scribes and Pharisees of, in verses 25-26?

How does Jesus describe the “inside” things that he says they are neglecting to pay attention to?  What are the actual words he uses in verse 25 to describe the “inside”?

Jesus uses 2 terms.  The first word can mean plunder or robbery or greed.  The second word means self-indulgence in the sense of lacking self-restraint, which could be applied to drinking, sexual conduct, or other matters.

With these words, Jesus is clearly not talking about cups and plates – cups can’t be accused of greed or self-indulgence.  What do you think Jesus is really saying here?

When Jesus tells them to clean the inside of the cup, what do you think he means (not cups and plates, but what)?

How might people “clean” this “inside” aspect of their lives?

Jesus calls the Pharisees “blind” in verse 26.  How might that be an appropriate description of their behavior?

How might this metaphor of the “outside” and “inside” apply to our churches today?  What are the things on the “inside” that we might be ignoring while we focus on things on the “outside”?

Here is an example of failing to focus on what is unclean on the inside: The Catholic Church, and other denominations to a lesser extent, for decades ignored scandalous sexual predation by clergy in its parishes.  Local parishes sometimes develop an excessive focus on external things that are less important.  For example, I have seen church members get stuck in constant carping over the choice of altar furnishings and music.  I spent weeks at one church trying to address the enormous unrest that arose when the pastor decreed that church groups would henceforth have to pay to use the parish hall for their meetings, a move that took everyone’s focus off of the purpose of the parish’s ministries.

What are the “outside” matters that you personally might be giving too much attention to, and what might be the “inside” matters that you are ignoring that need to be cleaned up?

Verses 27-28

In verses 27-28, what does Jesus say about the scribes and Pharisees?

This accusation uses an actual practice that was useful as a metaphor.  In Jesus’s time, there were not strict laws about where dead bodies could be buried.  Tombs could be encountered anywhere, and if you came into contact with something dead, you would be considered “unclean.”  Tombs were painted white to mark them clearly so that people would not accidentally stumble into them.  The “whitewashing” of tombs was a practical attempt to help people practice their religion.  Jesus uses the idea of a whitewashed exterior covering a corrupt interior as a metaphor for what is going on in people’s spiritual lives.

Jesus uses a metaphor of a tomb that is painted white on the outside but is rotting on the inside.  In verse 28, how does he describe what is happening on the inside of the scribes and Pharisees?

How might a person be “beautiful” on the outside but full of hypocrisy and evil on the inside?

What are some ways that we show to the world a public exterior that might not match the less godly things going on inside us?

A question to consider in the silence of your own heart: What is an area of inward unrighteousness that you could work on so that your inner reality would better match the exterior ways you present yourself?

Verses 29-36

In verses 29-30, what does Jesus say their attitude was toward the murder of prophets of the past?

According to Jesus, what will they do to the prophets and wise people of their own time?

As Matthew writes this, several decades later, who do you think he has in mind?  Who are the kinds of people that were scourged, hunted from town to town, killed, and crucified?

Matthew is thinking about the Christians who have been persecuted in the early years of the Church.

In verse 35, Jesus uses an “A to Z” formulation to summarize the breadth of the murders in the Old Testament, from Abel to Zechariah.  Abel is in Genesis.  For Zechariah, there are two possibilities.  A Zechariah was murdered in 2 Chronicles 24, which was the last book in the Hebrew Bible because they put the books of history after the books of the prophets in their scriptures, but he was the son of Jehoida (2 Chron. 24:20), not the son of Berechiah.  Alternatively, Zechariah the prophet is described in Zechariah 1:1 as the son of Berechiah, and his book is the second-to-last book of the prophets.  The Bible does not describe him as having been murdered, but later rabbinic tradition said that he was murdered in the Temple ((Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, Matthew 25:35 fn., p. 49).

Jesus’s point is that from beginning to end, the Jewish scriptures tell of people who claim to be following God killing other people who are following God.  Jesus accuses the scribes and Pharisees of following in that long line of rejecting people who are actually following God.

In vv. 34-36, what does Jesus say is coming in the years ahead?

Who are the people that will experience this suffering?

Christians.  Matthew, written perhaps 50 years after Jesus spoke these words, can see how Jesus’s prophecy came true as Christians were mistreated by Jewish leaders in the decades after Jesus’s resurrection.

Given Jesus’s repeated and frank warning that Christians will suffer persecution, does it make sense that some Christian leaders in our day preach that Christians should expect prosperity and a good life?  Explain.

Take a step back and consider this:

We live in a time where people curate themselves, posting a carefully crafted image of themselves online in social media.  A person may be clean and beautiful on the outside, yet evil and violent on the inside, and we would never know it from their social media accounts.

Most Christians use social media, and there is nothing wrong with telling others about the good things going on in our lives.

But does that lure us into embracing the world’s priorities, which say that the exterior is what really matters?  How important is the interior, really?

How can we stay engaged with others via social media yet avoid falling into the trap of focusing primarily on our exterior image?

What can we do to keep our focus on becoming like Jesus on the inside and letting that guide what we do on the outside?

And, perhaps not on social media but in more intimate settings, is there a place for letting people know what is really going on inside of us, on the inside?

Consider the song “Inside” by John Fischer (audio, lyrics):  “Come see / Everything that lies inside of me / ’Cause amidst the mess I’ve made of me / You might see the Lord.”