The First Steps: Read: Matthew 23
Focus Verse: “O 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, but you were not willing.” Matt. 23:37
Meditation: Correct Labeling
Labels are important. Very important!
Take your average bottle of Dr. Pepper. If the bottle isn’t labeled right, if it says it’s Root Beer, than when you go to drink from the bottle, expecting one thing...you’ll be very surprised.
Or take your average can of green beans. If it’s labeled as green PEAS...you’re not going to be too happy opening it up.
Labels are important for it is only by the labels we read that we know what is inside the packages we buy. We don’t know the product without the label and incorrect labeling can be annoying, if not downright dangerous.
Today’s chapter of Matthew is all about incorrect labeling. People labeling that is. And it is something that gets Jesus pretty upset. In this case, Jesus focuses on incorrect religious labeling. Those who say they speak for God and for Moses, but whose actions are far from pleasing God.
Jesus begins by talking about the labels themselves. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat, “so you must obey them and do everything they tell you to.” They CLAIM to speak for God...but their actions are far from it. They claim to be authentic products of God. “Trust us...” they say. But the product they contain is all wrong.
For starters...they exalt themselves, loving the attention they get by their high position. Jesus says... “NO!”... “For whoever exalts himself will be humbled and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” True leadership is found in servanthood, Jesus says, not in being the greatest in the assembly.
Then Jesus goes through their problems point by point. In a contrast to the beattitudes which list the eight groups of people blessed by God, these verses list seven woes, or mistakes the inauthentic product, makes.
The Inauthentic Word...
• ...Is an insider-only deal. Jesus says: “You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who try to.” Those who are “inside” don’t want the “outsider” in...and so close off the kingdom of God to those who really need it.
• ...Trusts only insiders... The Word of God opens us up to the world...it doesn’t close us off from others. Anything that attempts to separate you from those who need to hear the Word of God...making them outsiders even as you become an insider...isn’t to be trusted.
• ...Always makes exceptions to suit THEIR fancy...not others. Anytime we exclude ourselves from the picture or make exceptions that appeal to US...that’s when we’ve got to be wary. The authentic Word realizes that “...he who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and the one who sits on it.”
• ...Doesn’t know what is more important...money or justice. This is a hard one, for we live in a world ruled by money, but in God’s eyes what matters most isn’t our money but “...the more important matters of the law–justice, mercy, and faithfulness.”
• ...Is too wrapped up in outward appearances. The inauthentic Word is caught up in what things look like, in the outside of the cup, instead of what is inside of a person.
• ...Doesn’t know themselves... The inauthentic Word is SO concerned with the sin of others that they cannot see the unrighteousness in themselves. They “...appear to people as righteous, but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.”
• ...Separate themselves from the sin of their ancestors. Beware anytime a church or other organization does not acknowledge their own corporate guilt in the sins of the past. Such a separation is never healthy nor is it what God requires.
We, like the religious people of Jesus day, may find ourselves in one or many of these categories. We too may not be properly labeled. But there is hope. For after saying these things, Jesus speaks of mercy, compassion, and grace.
“I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers...” Christ comes, bringing with him apostles and disciples, prophets and wise men and women, whose job it is to stir in us the authentic product, the New Creation. Through these messengers, God works in our lives to “...gather us together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings.” Through the Word of God in with and under such ordinary and simple things, even bread, wine, and water, our insides are renewed so that our outside labels match what may be found within. Amen.
Questions to Ponder...
1) Look around your home. What things have a label? How much do you trust the label on the package?
2) How do you label yourself? How do others look to those labels for answers to who YOU are?
3) How might God renew your insides so that the label “Child of God” might apply to you more fully.
A Prayer to Pray...
Almighty God, your authentic Word, your beloved Son, comes to us with both law and gospel. May your Law convict us of our sin, that we might be drawn to your Gospel, the good news of your Son Jesus Christ. Amen.
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