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Matthew 23:25-26
The guidance that Jesus gives to the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 23:25-26 is the guidance that is the sum of the ministry of Jesus. He explains the issue to the scribes and Pharisees as, “25Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. 26Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.”
Jesus leaves no doubt in His teachings; He first brings to light that the scribes and Pharisees are not following in the ways in which God had intended for them to lead His people as He refers to them as “hypocrites” and “blind”, which are both proper titles, not name calling. The scribes and Pharisees are, as we have already noted in this Bible study, “hypocrites” as they are the living definition of the word. They are also, “blind” as they cannot see the pathway in which God is leading them. Jesus is not condemning them but bringing to light their faults as to lead to repentance – Jesus is leading the scribes and Pharisees to realize and understand that their ways are not righteous in the eyes of God so that they will have the knowledge to change their, “extortion and self-indulgence” (Matthew 23:25-26, NKJV) to obedience to God by not desiring to change His ways but their ways to reflect God in their lives.
The issue that the scribes and Pharisees had is based in their hearts as it is the heart that holds our true feelings and desires. The heart represents the “inside” of the cup and the outer appearance is the reflection of the heart. God brought the great flood in the time of Noah not because the people appeared to be evil but because their hearts were, “only evil” (Genesis 6:5). When God appointed David to be king, those who were present did not understand why God did not speak through the Prophet Samuel to choose the eldest brother to be king, nor the next, and so on until all the brothers had been passed by except for the youngest who was left to tend the sheep and was not even present because he was considered the least in man’s eyes. But God declared to Samuel in 1 Samuel 16:7, “But the LORD said to Samuel, ‘Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.’” The scribes and Pharisees were caught up in the outward appearance but Jesus was trying to get them to look at the condition of their hearts. We learn in Proverbs 27:19, “As in water face reflects face, So a man’s heart reveals the man.” Jeremiah 17:9 declares, “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?” The LORD spoke through the Prophet Jeremiah saying, “For I will set My eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land; I will build them and not pull them down, and I will plant them and not pluck them up. Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart.” Jesus is how God did this. For those of you who may have trouble connecting the Old Testament to the New Testament, this is a perfect example as Jesus is the fulfillment of Jeremiah 17:9 – God gives His people a new heart through the work that Jesus did on the cross in dying for our sins and then, on that glorious third day, He rose from the grave defeating death (the punishment for sin) once for all (Romans 6:10). The first miracle recorded that Jesus performed in John 2 as He turned water to wine was to show that the healing that He brings is a healing from the inside. This water from the purification vats used by the priest for cleansing of the outside of the body was given by Jesus to take into the inside of the body by drinking, which represented His cleansing of the inside of the body. This water had only been used for pouring over the outside of the body…ever! But Jesus gave this same water, that He changed through the power of God, to become cleansing for the inside…Jesus came to cleanse our hearts! This is the message that He was declaring to the scribes and Pharisees, not to condemn them but to save them from eternal condemnation.
This is a call to stop looking at the superficial outside of your appearance and begin looking at your heart – and be cleansed and purified in Christ Jesus!
This is a call to allow your outer appearance to reflect your true feelings of your heart through turning from a sinful life and begin living a new cleansed heart life in Christ Jesus!
As long as you are breathing; as long as you are living physically on this earth, it is not too late to realize and understand this message – to repent/turn from a sinful life and ask Jesus to forgive you and thank Him for paying the price for your sins so that you may now live and be forgiven through what He has done for you – that your heart may be cleansed from sin and you may begin living the life that God has designed for you today – in Christ!
Dear LORD,
You have made it clear that it is not our outer appearance that is in need of the forgiveness that You offer us in Christ Jesus, but the inner heart of us that is in need of being purified and cleansed – set free from the sinful nature. You have given us the way, the truth, and the life in Your One and only Son Jesus. Please remove the blinders that Satan has put on our eyes so we may see everlasting life and forgiveness in Christ Jesus so that we will open our hearts to a new life as Your children – in Christ! In Jesus name I pray, amen.