Jesus Diss Track

Jesus establishes his credentials as the Lord of David, the Messiah to come, and so much more than the human conqueror they were expecting. Then he unleashes judgment on the Pharisees. They keep folks out of the Kingdom. They major on the minors and miss the most important thing. And they are righteous on the outside only. How much of this is true of the church today… and of us in particular?

Creative but Wrong

Hardest class I ever took: Honors Calculus. We covered all of Calculus 1 and 2… and you had to prove every formula or theorem from the fundamental axioms of math (like 1 != 2, or basic properties of numbers).

The teacher LOVED my proofs. She would frequently show them off to the class and walk through them. They were so creative, she said. Very imaginative, she said.

But she was so very good at the sideways, ironic complement that let you know something else was coming.

Very creative, but Completely Wrong!!! And then tear it apart in front of everyone.

So I thought that would be fun today. Not in Calculus, but in life. Let’s have folks come up and we can judge their character, come up with all the hilarious ways they are living their life wrong.

Now if that sounds terrifying, you are absolutely right. But this was a thing that Jesus did. Not to sinners, not to his disciples, but to people who had the gaul to be teachers and leaders, who put themselves on display as “Great”.

He took the time to “evaluate their performance” in front of the class.

Jesus: Lord of David

We are going to skip this next bit and not give it the attention it deserves. Not because we are really skipping it, we are just saving it for later. Jesus turns a question on the Pharisees now, uses a Psalm 110:1 of David where David says “The Lord (YHWH) says to my Lord (Adonai) “Sit at my right hand…” as evidence that the Messiah will be someone that even David calls Lord. Not just a human king or warrior, but divine Son of God. And it’s his last mic drop moment here.

But then he shifts gears entirely. He has had some words of judgment for the Pharisees before this, but if there are any religious leaders close to where Jesus is at, it is these Pharisees. These are serious religious folks, deeply rooted in the Scriptures, passionate about the Bible, incredibly serious about obedience to God’s law.

And now Jesus is going to spend a whole chapter ripping them apart with VICIOUS rhetoric.

Matthew 23:1–3 ESV

1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 2 “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, 3 so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice.

We skip that part. “do and observe whatever they tell you.” They have so much right, but so much of it in world only. But they “sit on Moses’ seat.” That is borrowing the authority of Moses, they speak the Scriptures and they speak for the Scriptures.

They say the right things. But…

Matthew 23:4–5 ESV

4 They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. 5 They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long,

Phylacteries -

Cyclopædia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature, Vols. I–X—A–Z Phylactery

a small square box, made either of parchment or black calf-skin, in which are enclosed slips of parchment or vellum with

Fringes - 4 tassels on their cloak, but these ones are long. Some say they had tassels 20 feet long! Just kidding. They are supposed to be 3 finger breadths, but they would double or triple that length.

Matthew 23:6–7 ESV

6 and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues 7 and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others.

So opposite the greatness in the Kingdom:

Matthew 23:8–10 ESV

8 But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. 9 And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. 10 Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ.

Does that mean we never call anyone “teacher” or “father” again? How does that work? It is worth noting that folks are referred to as rabbit and father and teachers in the rest of the New Testament, so Jesus isn’t forbidding these words used literally…

But if it is about seeking honor and prestige? Absolutely. If someone is insisting on their title, whether it is Pastor or Elder or Father or Doctor or any other thing in the Body… that is what Jesus is talking about.

For in the Kingdom:

Matthew 23:11–12 ESV

11 The greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

Then Jesus is going to open up a world of woe on the Pharisees. I call this the Jesus diss track.

For all the reasons, building upon what he has already taught them. We are going to hit the highlights, not every verse, but most of them.

Lin Manuel Miranda could throw a rap battle on this.

I should have Sam come up and beat box as I read this. Jesus has some sick burns in here.

Woe #1: Shutting the Kingdom

Matthew 23:13 ESV

13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.

Oof, can you imagine showing up in heaven and learning that there are folks going to hell because you shut the door to the Kingdom in their face? Oof.

Matthew 23:15 ESV

15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.

Woe #2: Blind Guides and Fools

Then he picks up on his famous earlier statement about the Pharisees from Matt 15:14, the blind leading the blind.

They don’t see what is really important. This is evidenced in their oaths, what they think is most sacred to swear by.

Matthew 23:19 ESV

19 You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred?

Over and over again, they miss the most important thing. They prioritize the visible outward thing, and miss the heart, miss the love, miss the mercy. and that’s the next woe:

Woe #3: Tithing over Mercy

Matthew 23:23–24 ESV

23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. 24 You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!

What a beautiful visual. Oooh, here I go, let me pick that gnat out of there. Wouldn’t want to eat something gross. And SWALLOW a camel.

So obsessed, tunnel vision, on this one little bitty issue, missing the BIG things.

And because of that:

Woe #4: Clean on the Outside Only

Matthew 23:25 ESV

25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.

I had a sipper at work once, just water, with a straw. I was always filling it with water, so what could go wrong? It looked great on the outside. But one day I went to drink and the water wouldn’t come.

I sucked harder and with a burst the water came up, along with the huge clot of algae that had grown at the bottom and blocked the straw.

Wash your cups folks.

The “cleanliness” of the outside is impressing everyone… but God sees the algae growing on the inside.

And his next woe puts it memorably:

Woe #5: Whitewashed tombs

Matthew 23:27–28 ESV

27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

Worse than mold or algae in a glass. A whitewashed tomb. Maybe the brightest thing around, painted white and beautiful on the outside, but straight up dead and dark and rotting on the inside.

Woe #6: Prophet Killers

They claim to honor and love the prophets… but what happens when a real prophet actually shows up?

Matthew 23:34 ESV

34 Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town,

Modern Pharisees

Now it is easy to laugh at the Pharisees, because we are separated by a couple millennia, we have the benefit of seeing what they did not see, and we can laugh at their ignorance, their blindness, all those things.

And early next year, I think we will go back through these woes to learn lessons for disciplers. Teachers. Rabbis. This is a room full of people called and commanded to hear the Word and proclaim it, to teach everything that Jesus commanded, and to make disciples. And there are lessons here for teachers. These are pits that every teacher can fall into, traps for the soul. We can learn from them.

That is coming.

But we are going to talk about the church.

It is easy to find examples of “these people” out in the church. Maybe someone on TV you’ve seen, or someone you have read about. Or a vague generalization like “the Catholic Church” or the “American Evangelical Church” or “Megachurches.” SUPER easy to dunk on people who aren’t in the room.

Let’s do something harder. Let’s assume Jesus is in the room, and he is talking to people in the room. He is talking to me, and he is talking to you. To the Pharisee in you.

So these are questions to sit with. Questions to reflect on. I encourage you to write them down, take a picture, and see if the Holy Spirit talks to you… if maybe Jesus is talking to you.

Do I practice what I preach? Do I say the right thing but do another? I know a whole lot more “right answers” than “right actions.” There’s that expression “easier said than done.” That’s almost always true. This is true of me, and all too convicting.

Do I seek the attention? Do I enjoy the respect I get for certain roles, certain platforms? Now, this is not true of everyone, but it is true of me. The enjoyment of respect is not wrong.

Do I virtue signal? Do I do good to be seen by others? Do I laud my good deeds in public. Maybe in subtle ways. The old humble brag.

Do I put up barriers to the Kingdom? Here’s a really hard one. Do I ever make it more difficult for someone to enter the Kingdom? Here’s my temptation, there’s a whole lot of things that I want someone to “get right” and they can be good things. Get rid of sin, it is hurting you, get healthy, get free of addiction, surrender your identity, sexual, gender, all of it, surrender it all to Jesus.

It is “yes to Jesus” before and above all. Sinners don’t have to get cleaned up and fixed before they come to Jesus, that’s backwards. Your friends don’t need your moral advice and counsel first, they need Jesus first.

How easy to heap burdens upon others.

And this beautiful image: do I strain out a gnat and swallow a camel? Do I major on the minors? There are “big sins” in my book that Scripture doesn’t spend a whole lot of time on. There are church traditions that can become the “whole thing.” For example, attending a gathering for an hour Saturday morning at 11am… or Sunday morning at 11am. That’s a gnat. Sabbath is bigger than that, Christian life with God is WAY bigger than that, it’s all of life for all of life. How often do I miss the big thing because I am focused on sweating the small stuff.

Jesus rebukes the Pharisee in me.

But here’s the beautiful thing.

I made a big deal last week of when this was happening, and I want us to hold that at the front of our minds as we walk through these final chapters of Matthew. This is Jesus’ last week, it is Tuesday, and I think Thursday is Crucifixion day. And in his final days, he takes two chapters to wrestle with the Pharisees, a whole chapter here to illustrate, poignantly, powerful imagery, the disease at the heart of the Pharisees.

Why?

Because He loves them. Because He wants them to live. They may be whitewashed tombs, but Jesus will demonstrate his power over the grave.

They may be good on the outside only, but Jesus can make them good and clean inside and out forever.

They may be condemning others, but Jesus is throwing wide the gates of heaven.

They may major on the minors, but Jesus is making new Creation who WILL Love God with all their heart, soul and mind, and WILL love others as themselves.

Jesus loves even the Pharisee in me. And the hypocritical, proud, blind Pharisee in you too.

My Calculus teacher loved me. She was awesome, still one of my favorite teachers. She had that gift of saying the hard thing, even an embarrassing thing in front of others, but all to teach and improve and level us all up… and I learned SO much from her. By far the best math class I ever had.

Her rebuke, her correction, was because she cared. And she probably picked on me knowing that I would find it hilarious and helpful rather than crushing and hurtful.

And because He loves us, He teaches us, and transforms us, and empowers us to be something better. To walk in humility AND righteousness.

Hebrews 12:5–6 ESV

5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”

Hebrews 12:11 ESV

11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

And as the worship team comes up, the next generation to lead us in worship, let me continue the words of Heb 12.

Hebrews 12:12–14 ESV

12 Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. 14 Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

It isn’t about shame, we come to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, a better word than the blood of guilt.

He makes us new and leads us into glory.

He challenges us, convict us, because He loves us.

Hebrews 12:28–29 ESV

28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire.