Hypocrites Not Allowed

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

 HYPOCRITES NOT ALLOWED IN

Matt 23:13

13 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.  

NIV

The first of the seven woes. This deals with being hypocrites. What we see in plainer language of our day is that these teachers of the law and the Pharisees closed off the kingdom of heaven from the average joe on the street. In other words, unless you were someone of special interest or of superior breeding or social or religious standing, the kingdom of heaven was too weighty, too important, and only understood by the teachers of the law and the Pharisees. It was sort of that “Us four and no more” type of thinking. They pretended to be religious and pious, but in fact, they were anything but that. In fact, one of the following woes, Jesus tells them they appear clear on the outside, but at filthy on the inside. Appearances are important to them, but the truth of the gospel holds no meaning to them. The worse part this woe is that they are keeping the gospel message from gaining truth. Their refusal to accept Jesus as the Messiah was pushed onto others. They told them lies. Jesus makes sure they understand that men like them, hypocrites will not enter the kingdom of God. It is so important that we do not become stumbling blocks for others. This does not mean we should avoid the truth, or allow false teaching to go unchecked, but at the same time, we should not cause others to be closed off to the kingdom of heaven. All are welcome at the table of the Lord, and all are welcome to enter the kingdom of heaven through faith in Jesus Christ. We should be careful to live out our faith in front of others. We should be careful to walk as we talk, and not talk the walk but fail to walk the talk. We cannot say we are one thing and be something else. It does not matter what say we believe if we are not believing it and seen living it, nothing matters for the word "hypocrite" stands out more clearly than any other word. Living by faith, means living by faith, and not by sight. We do not live by what is seen, but by what is unseen, and so then we cannot live trusting in anyone or anything other than Jesus, and we are able to invite others to join in the faith.