Justice, mercy, faithfulness

Justice, mercy, faithfulness

Scripture:

“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. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

“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. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.

“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. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. 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.’ So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Go ahead, then, and complete what your ancestors started!

“You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. 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. Truly I tell you, all this will come on this generation.

“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. Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

Matthew 23:23-39

Observation:

Woe! Woe! Woe! Woe! Four more times the Lord lambasts the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law, bringing their complete woes to the number of perfection, seven.

In the fourth woe, the Pharisees are condemned for neglecting the more important parts of the law – justice, mercy and faithfulness. Although they gave their tithes faithfully, they did not practice the more important things God requires. Justice speaks of fairness, but the Pharisees were showing favoritism to the rich and disdaining the poor. Mercy speaks of compassion for those in need, but the Pharisees even mercilessly exploited the weak. Faithfulness speaks about doing what is right consistently, always seeking to do the right thing from God’s point of view. The Pharisees had their eyes clouded by materiality and pride so that they acted out of self-interest rather than a sense of always trying to do the right thing.

In the fifth woe, the Pharisees were likened to having a cup or dish very well cleaned on the outside but having all sort of filth within, a very vivid picture of what it means to be a hypocrite. Greed and self-indulgence were explicitly named here, typical characteristics most of us would easily be guilty of.

In the sixth woe, the Pharisees were compared to whitewashed tombs, looking beautiful on the outside but dead on the inside. Hypocrisy and wickedness were specially named here, and the way the Pharisees plotted to kill Jesus showed how evil their hearts were indeed.

Finally, in the last woe, the Pharisees are chided for pretending to be righteous themselves by decorating the graves of the righteous and boasting how they would not have participated in shedding the blood of the prophets if they had been alive then, The Lord exposes them by declaring how their very statement proves that they are indeed the ancestors of the murderers of old.

In a closing statement, the Lord then prophesies how God longed to gather the children of Israel together like a hen gathering her but chicks. Jerusalem herself was destined to be left desolate.

Application:

From the woes to the Pharisees, we can learn several important points regarding what God values and what He detests.

Again, the key point here is how we must beware of hypocrisy in our lives, when what we do does not correspond to what we tell or show others. Also, do we value and practice justice, mercy and faithfulness in our lives? Or are we self-indulgent and greedy for our own pleasures and desires.

Remember the imagery of the hen and her chicks. Our God loves us like a mother loves her children. Though we are wayward and stray away from the right path, our God is ever ready to take us back and restore us when we turn back to Him. It is His nature to forgive, to love, to welcome back and restore. Still, he will not force us to do what we do not want and as such, we must be careful to keep our hearts and ears soft to His Word and guidance lest we fall to a point that we can no longer find a way of return.

Prayer:

We praise You and worship You O Lord, for Your great and precious love to us. Help us O Lord and sustain us that we might be saved. Forgive our hypocrisy, for we are all hypocrites in one way or another. There is always selfishness and self-indulgence in our hearts. Forgive our sins O Lord, but change us by Your Spirit.

Strengthen Your qualities O Lord deep in our hearts, of justice and mercy and faithfulness. Let us be compassionate as You are compassionate, just as You are just. Let us seek and desire to be faithful just as You, Lord are faithful! Help us walk in Your ways. May Your name be praised forever O Lord. In Jesus name, Amen.