"Stop Slamming my door" Virtual Bible Study

Matthew 23:1-12

Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples: “The scribes and the Pharisees are seated in the chair of Moses. Therefore do whatever they tell you, and observe it. But don’t do what they do, because they don’t practice what they teach. They tie up heavy loads that are hard to carry and put them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves aren’t willing to lift a finger to move them. They do everything to be seen by others: They enlarge their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels. They love the place of honor at banquets, the front seats in the synagogues, greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by people.

“But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ because you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers and sisters. Do not call anyone on earth your father, because you have one Father, who is in heaven. You are not to be called instructors either, because you have one Instructor, the Messiah. The greatest among you will be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

“Do what they say and not what they do”-(v.3) Here we see Jesus explain to His followers that while the office/authority should indeed be respected, they should not do what they do. In today’s world that is sadly still the case with many sheperds and teachers. Many people confuse the actions of those that claim to be serving God with what the scriptures actually teach. A proper determination can only be acquired by the study of God’s word and obedience to the Holy Spirit’s leading.

“ They do everything to be seen by others” (v.5) - One thing to always remember as a folower of Jesus, most of ministry is done outside of view of the public eye, as it should be. God doesn’t want us to become prideful through what He is using us for.

Q- Why is it so important to continuously examine our motives in ministry?

THE GEOGRAPHICAL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONTEXT

Matthew 23:1–36 records a lengthy discourse in which Jesus indicted the Pharisees of Jerusalem for hypocrisy. To illustrate what hypocrisy was, he cleverly compared the Pharisees to activities or things that would have been familiar to people living in Jerusalem. Earlier, Jesus had made similar statements while dining with a Pharisee (Luke 11:37–42). The time and place of that account is unknown, but it had to have been weeks or months prior to his last journey to Jerusalem for the Passover (compare Luke 13:22). Each of the items that Jesus used to illustrate the Pharisees’ hypocrisy could stand alone as a pithy saying, and he likely said many of them individually as situations arose now and again, here or there, throughout his ministry. Indeed, in a time when information was transferred by word of mouth, itinerant rabbis like Jesus must have repeated things often, and in many different places, as they traveled from village to village encountering people who had not heard them before. In this way Jesus’ indictments of the Pharisees are similar to the way that rabbis used parables, stories that were shaped to specific situations yet could easily be tooled to new audiences down the road.

Pharisees

Members of a Jewish party that exercised strict piety according to Mosaic law. The Pharisees were a sect within early Judaism, becoming active around 150 bc and enduring as a distinct party until being subsumed into the Rabbinic movement around ad 135.

Introduction

Although the origin of the Pharisees is disputed (they may date as far back as the period of resettlement in Palestine following Babylonian exile), the group appears to have become the primary voice of Judaism following the destruction of the Jerusalem temple in ad 70. The Pharisees developed a tradition of strict interpretation of the Mosaic law, developing an extensive set of oral extensions of the law designed to maintain religious identity and purity.

The origin of the term “Pharisee” comes from the Aramaic word פרשׁ (prsh), which means “to separate,” “divide,” or “distinguish.” Greenspoon asserts that the sect emerged from the Hasidim, a group of strictly devout separatists known as the “righteous” or “pious” (see Greenspoon, Between Alexander and Antioch, 343). The Pharisees kept themselves apart both socially and theologically from aristocratic sympathizers with Hellenism and the uneducated commoners.

Interactions and encounters with the Pharisees

Luke 7:36-50

Then one of the Pharisees invited him to eat with him. He entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. 37 And a woman in the town who was a sinner found out that Jesus was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house. She brought an alabaster jar of perfume 38 and stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to wash his feet with her tears. She wiped his feet with her hair, kissing them and anointing them with the perfume.

39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “This man, if he were a prophet, would know who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him—she’s a sinner!”

40 Jesus replied to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.”

He said, “Say it, teacher.”

41 “A creditor had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii,, and the other fifty. 42 Since they could not pay it back, he graciously forgave them both. So, which of them will love him more?”

43 Simon answered, “I suppose the one he forgave more.”

“You have judged correctly,” he told him. 44 Turning to the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she, with her tears, has washed my feet and wiped them with her hair. 45 You gave me no kiss, but she hasn’t stopped kissing my feet since I came in. 46 You didn’t anoint my head with olive oil, but she has anointed my feet with perfume. 47 Therefore I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; that’s why she loved much. But the one who is forgiven little, loves little.” 48 Then he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

49 Those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this man who even forgives sins?”

50 And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”

Matthew 9:9–13 (CSB)

As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office, and he said to him, “Follow me,” and he got up and followed him.

While he was reclining at the table in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came to eat with Jesus and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

Now when he heard this, he said, “It is not those who are well who need a doctor, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy and not sacrifice. For I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Matthew 16:1–12 (CSB)

The Pharisees and Sadducees approached, and tested him, asking him to show them a sign from heaven. He replied, “When evening comes you say, ‘It will be good weather because the sky is red.’ And in the morning, ‘Today will be stormy because the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to read the appearance of the sky, but you can’t read the signs of the times. An evil and adulterous generation demands a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” Then he left them and went away.

The disciples reached the other shore, and they had forgotten to take bread. Then Jesus told them, “Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

They were discussing among themselves, “We didn’t bring any bread.”

Aware of this, Jesus said, “You of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves that you do not have bread? Don’t you understand yet? Don’t you remember the five loaves for the five thousand and how many baskets you collected? Or the seven loaves for the four thousand and how many large baskets you collected? Why is it you don’t understand that when I told you, ‘Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees,’ it wasn’t about bread?” Then they understood that he had not told them to beware of the leaven in bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

The Pharisees and Sadducees approached, and tested him, asking him to show them a sign from heaven. 2 He replied, “When evening comes you say, ‘It will be good weather because the sky is red.’ 3 And in the morning, ‘Today will be stormy because the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to read the appearance of the sky, but you can’t read the signs of the times. 4 An evil and adulterous generation demands a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” Then he left them and went away.

5 The disciples reached the other shore, and they had forgotten to take bread. 6 Then Jesus told them, “Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

7 They were discussing among themselves, “We didn’t bring any bread.”

8 Aware of this, Jesus said, “You of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves that you do not have bread? 9 Don’t you understand yet? Don’t you remember the five loaves for the five thousand and how many baskets you collected? 10 Or the seven loaves for the four thousand and how many large baskets you collected? 11 Why is it you don’t understand that when I told you, ‘Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees,’ it wasn’t about bread?” 12 Then they understood that he had not told them to beware of the leaven in bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.