Pray:
Father, this is my greatest desire: that I may be found as a friend of God.
Read:
Matthew 23:1-12
Reflect:
Are you consistently practicing what you preach?
At times, Jesus is extraordinarily provocative. Preaching in a culture where religious leaders are powerful and important, he is never afraid to be publicly critical of the establishment. When we find him here in the later stages of his own ministry, he is every inch the revolutionary leader, his sermons evocative of a political rally.
Jesus' main critique of the Pharisees here isn't over lapses of morality; it's about their overriding hypocrisy. They preach one thing but practice another. Notice that Jesus doesn't therefore tell the crowds to ignore their teachers; he isn't calling for religious anarchy. Far from it: they "sit in Moses' seat," he says (2), and should be heard. Rather, he is warning against the hypocrisy the Pharisees displayed.
Jesus finds hypocrisy offensive, and so do we. Many of us lack grace for modern religious leaders exposed for similar crimes. The antidote to hypocrisy is humility. In verse 11, Jesus repeats the "first-shall-be-last" theme that permeates his teachings. Christian maturity isn't about looking increasingly righteous, but growing in submissiveness. Jesus opposed the Pharisees, as they'd only mastered the former.
Apply:
Look for an opportunity today to put the needs and priorities of someone else before your own.
Pray:
Precious Lord, fill me with Your Holy Spirit until I am so full of You that my life reflects Jesus.
