Matthew 23: Jesus Weeps Over the Hypocrisy - The Tears of Jesus as Seen by the Editor of Matthew
Matthew 23: Jesus Weeps Over the Hypocrisy - The Tears of Jesus as Seen by the Editor of Matthew
13 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.
16 "Woe to you, blind guides! You say, 'If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.'
23 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill, and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy, and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.
25 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.
27 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.
29 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous.
30 And you say, 'If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.'
31 So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets.
37 "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.
Jesus expressed his dismay with the privileged class of Jewish society, but in Matthew, he specifically criticizes the behavior of the scribes and Pharisees. He referred to them as blind guides, whitewashed tombs (hypocrites), offspring of vipers, blockers of the kingdom of heaven, lovers of money over God, and those who abandoned justice, mercy, and faithfulness, as well as the descendants of those who killed the prophets. What had Jesus experienced in his life that led him to unleash such a torrent of criticism in one breath? Finally, Jesus laments over Jerusalem, his heart heavy with sorrowful tears. Jesus knew he could not forever turn away from Jerusalem, despite the pain it caused him.
The editor of Matthew collected the barrage of criticisms Jesus launched. As he picked up each one, he was shocked to realize that the righteous Jerusalem Jesus spoke of pointed directly at him. Over time, those reading the text left by the editor also fail to see themselves in the Pharisees Jesus opposed. While the editor always sided with Jesus against the privileged class, he couldn't escape Jesus' criticism of the Pharisees. Listening to Jesus' rebuke of the scribes and Pharisees, the editor eventually heard it as a criticism directed at himself and preserved these criticisms for future generations. However, the modern-day Pharisees, with their 'not me, surely?' attitude, fail to empathize with the editor of Matthew. We read Matthew and join in condemning the Pharisees, yet our own religious practices have inherited their legacy. Is there a church free from Mammon? While claiming to reject Mammon and stand with Jesus, do we not plan projects driven by Mammon under the guise of God? The editor of Matthew summed up such religious practices in one word: hypocrisy!
Jesus weeps, the editor weeps, and the reader weeps. What threads these layers of tears together is a shared sense of empathy, a striking of one's own heart.