Life or death

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

LIFE OR DEATH

Matt 23:33-36

33 "You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? 34 Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. 35 And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 I tell you the truth, all this will come upon this generation.

NIV

We find a wide variety of opinions regarding this comment of Jesus calling the teachers of the law and Pharisees snakes, or brood of vipers. In the Greek we have two concepts which carry the whole of the meaning. First the Greek word for snake implies that which is cunning and crafty in its pursuit of prey. This would also carry the meaning of an artful malicious person, especially Satan. The brood of vipers in the Greek means a generation of adders or poisonous snakes. The early scholars, before actual scientific research on the birth of snakes believed baby snakes ate their way of the womb of their parent. This is not the method of those species of snakes that give live birth while others are egg layers. The idea was that which gives life must surrender its life in doing so. This certainly applies to Jesus. He is the giver of life. He was there in the beginning when he decided to create man in his own image. He was there when he breathed the very breath of life into man. Yet for man to survive, to be reborn a new create, Jesus must die. However false it is about the snake’s birth habits, all this is the conveyance of this passage. They were all about killing he who gives them life. Their forefathers killed the prophets who were pointing them to Jesus. They are going to kill Jesus who came to give them life. But Jesus is warning them because of their self-righteousness, their indignant attitude toward the truth, they will be guilty of all the righteous blood that has been shed on the earth. There is historic accounts of a man named Zechariah, not the famous one, who was in fact killed exactly as Jesus states. With all this information, is there any way to personalize this in our day and age? What truth for our lives can we learn? It would seem Jesus sent many messengers to the people, his Apostles and they were all killed except for John. Today we have many forms of messengers, the most important is the very word of God. However we also have inspired people who are able to give insight into many of what might be considered difficult passages to understand. We always have something to learn about our relationship with God. Is it possible that when we think we have arrived at the truth and are dogmatic in our beliefs, we are in some sense like those brood of vipers? Do we kill the truth in that sense? Do we shut off ourselves from seeing a truth that might conflict with our beliefs? This is what the Pharisees were doing. They killed anything that conflicted with their beliefs. They spread their venomous poison into others, killing them spiritually as well. We need to first make sure we do not spread untruths, leading people astray. We also need to make sure we are not bitten by some false teacher with their venomous poisonous doctrines. There is but one truth but so many opinions of that truth. The Pharisees had theirs, the Sadducees had theirs, the teachers of the law had theirs and all of them missed the absolute truth. This happens today in the form of denominational squabbles over, in some cases minor points, or in some major concepts. What are we to believe? Just look at the two major views we are so divided in. The view John Calvin took and the view which John Wesley took. How can we be much different than those Jesus was speaking to? They were so set in their self-proclaimed right thinking they could not see the truth if it bit them. Yet they were giving birth to more of the same kind of thinking. A broad of vipers. We have to do better than they did, but how do we do that? It is evident we need the guidance of the Spirit. Are those others not being guided by the Spirit? Certainly the false teachers are missing his inspiration. But what about all the various denominations with various views? Which is right and which is not? There are some basic truths but still a wide array of views exist, such as regards to being born again, the gifts of the Spirit, works and faith, just to name a few. We need to be open to the Spirit, but closed to the brood of vipers. The Spirit brings us life, the vipers brings us death. Who would not choose life?