The Enemies of Jesus

The Enemies of Joseph L. Williams Jesus

The Enemies of Jesus

Joseph L. Williams

Copyright © 2025 by Feed the Hunger. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in mechanical or electronic form without the express permission of the copyright holder. Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. Printed in the USA.

Introduction

Haveyou ever asked yourself the question, Who were the enemies of Jesus? Without looking at the Bible, you may guess some general categories of people like thieves, liars, murderers, adulterers, and the like. To be sure, these are all occupations to avoid, but Jesus primarily targeted another category of people and their accompanying traits.

You might think it would be the Roman government and men like Herod Antipas or Pontius Pilate. They overtaxed the Jewish people and actively participated in Jesus’ death. Along those same lines, you might say the Jews who called for Jesus’ crucifixion were his enemies. You may even name someone specific like Judas. After all, he was at least temporarily possessed by Satan before he committed the ultimate betrayal (Luke 22:3; John 13:27).

Let’s face it, everyone failed Jesus at some point. His own family thought he was crazy on one occasion (Mark 3:21), an angry mob tried to push him off a cliff (Luke 4:29), and his disciples abandoned him at the most crucial hour (Matthew 26:56). Paul states that “many live as enemies of the cross of

Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things” (Philippians 3:18–19). But we want to narrow down our search for Jesus’ primary enemy.

There was one group of people found throughout the Gospels that Jesus clashed with, spoke incredibly harshly to, and declared to be the real masterminds behind his death, at least from a human perspective. To be abundantly clear, we know it was God’s will that Jesus had to die for our sins and then defeat death so we could too. Yet, this group of people were the main examples of who not to be or act like. They were the religious leaders of the day. They had various names like the Sanhedrin, Pharisees, Sadducees, and so on. We’ll get these defined first, then spend nearly half our time in Matthew 23, which details many of their transgressions.

You might be guilty of glossing over passages about religious leaders. After all, what do they have to do with you? You’re (probably) not a Jew or a religious one at that. You don’t live in the first century. Your daily life is unaffected by their edicts. Yet, it’s so important that we comprehend why the Lord repeatedly clashed with them. We need to understand specifically what he detested about their hearts, words, and actions so that we can avoid resembling them.

Looking at these negative religious leaders and their negative traits might end up making you feel, well, negative. So, we will also end each day looking at the positive so that we understand not only what Jesus hates, but also what he loves and longs for us to exemplify. I hope you are ready for what I believe will be an enlightening journey for us.

Enemy #1

He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

John 8:44

Before we look at the earthly enemies of Jesus, I would be remiss if we didn’t spend a day looking at Jesus’ ultimate enemy, Satan. Although everyone else discussed in this devotional is human, Satan was created by God as an angel. In his pride, he rebelled and fell from heaven (Luke 10:18), and symbolic language in Revelation seems to imply that he took a third of the angels with him (12:3–4).

Jesus refers to Satan by many names and labels, including “evil one” and “enemy” (Matthew 13:38–39), “prince of this world” (John 12:31; 14:30), “murderer,” “liar,” and “father of lies” (John 8:44). There are more unnerving details. He targets followers of Christ for downfall, just as he did Peter (Luke 22:31). He can inflict horrible realities on people, just as he did on a crippled woman for 18 years (Luke 13:10–17).

Perhaps Jesus’ most infamous conflict with the devil was over the course of three temptations, or tests, in the wilderness after completing an extensive time of prayer and fasting

(Matthew 4:1–11). With each temptation, Jesus quotes Scripture back to Satan. Let’s look at each briefly.

Satan came to Jesus after an intense period of seeking God’s face and forsaking all the comforts of life. He first tempted the Lord to turn stones into bread so he could finally eat. The response: “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4, quoting Deuteronomy 8:3). God’s Word is more important than human desires.

Satan then took Jesus to the highest point of the temple in Jerusalem and told him to jump because angels would catch him. What’s interesting about this second temptation is that Satan also quotes Scripture (Psalm 91:11–12)—but he leaves out a key phrase and takes it out of context. The response: “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test’” (Matthew 4:7, quoting Deuteronomy 6:16). A crystal-clear message.

For the final temptation, Satan took Jesus to another high place, a mountaintop with a panoramic view of the world. He offered it all to Jesus if Jesus would only bow down to worship him. The response: “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only’” (Matthew 4:10, quoting Deuteronomy 6:13). The time for Jesus to rule is at his second coming, not his first.

This pivotal episode in Jesus’ life is a stark example of what we should do when we face temptations and trials of all kinds from Satan and our own fallen nature. As Paul declares, “Do not give the devil a foothold” (Ephesians 4:27). We should know and recite Bible verses with our hearts and mouths, but the only way to quote Scripture is to know Scripture, and the only way to know Scripture is to bathe in it consistently. When we are most vulnerable to Satan and his demons is when we must still be able to stand on the Word of God. “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).

Coming to Terms

Aswe begin this excursion into understanding the enemies of Jesus, it is important to understand some useful terminology related to our subject. Specifically, I am referring to some names and examples of religious leaders (examples are in parentheses):

• Sanhedrin (Nicodemus)—the 70-member ruling body of the Jewish people that included Pharisees, Sadducees, scribes, and chief priests. It was presided over by the high priest. This body discussed and debated Jewish law, and it could get heated due to the different factions (Acts 23:1–10). They did, however, have a common enemy in Jesus and early believers like Paul, Peter, and John.

• High Priest (Caiaphas)—a member of the priestly caste called the kohanim and the spiritual leader of the Jewish people. He offered sacrifices to God on behalf of the people and, most importantly, entered the Holy of Holies one day a year (on Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement) to sprinkle the blood of a spotless lamb on the mercy seat. We will look at three high priests mentioned in the New

Testament. It is worth adding that “chief priests” are also mentioned, and they were high profile members of the priesthood in the Sanhedrin.

• Pharisees (Paul)—a group that was a bit legalistic and claimed to strictly follow the Law of Moses and Jewish tradition (Matthew 15:2). Their name in Hebrew means “separated ones,” and they lived that way too. They believed they were the only ones with the proper authority from God to interpret the law and were most favored and anointed by God to lead the masses.

• Sadducees (possibly Annas)—smaller in number than the Pharisees but with more members on the Sanhedrin. They belonged to the priestly line and were usually wealthy and politically minded. They rejected anything past the first five books of today’s Bible (the Pentateuch), as well as the Jewish oral traditions. They also did not believe in resurrection, angels, or spirits.

• Teachers of the Law (Gamaliel)—generally viewed as the scribes, which in an oral culture meant those who were literate. They copied Scripture, interpreted the laws found therein, and taught the people. They could also be Pharisees, but not all scribes were Pharisees. Over time, they mixed in man-made traditions that went beyond what the law said. And like the other groups mentioned here, hypocrisy was rampant.

What all these groups had in common during the time of Jesus was a disbelief in the gospel—that he lived, died, and rose from the grave. They didn’t truly believe that Jesus was the Messiah they were looking for. Today, the word Pharisee is often used in Christian circles to label someone a hypocrite or self-righteous. We’re going to be looking a lot more at their hypocrisy—and ours—soon enough.

The Judaizers

You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.

Galatians 5:4

There are two other religious groups that were not mentioned in the previous list. One reason is that they were a problem after the life of Jesus. Second, they were targeting new Christians and not Jews. Today’s group were known as Judaizers. This group was similar to many of the Pharisees because they were legalists, which is why they are worth understanding in this devotional. Instead of fighting against this new faith in Christ, they taught that Christians must take on Jewish practices to gain favor with God. This included things like observing the Jewish holy days, undergoing circumcision, and participating in other rituals. Essentially, they didn’t believe in the all-sufficiency of Christ as the means to salvation.

Paul continually addresses the Judaizers in his letters to churches. Read these harsh words as Paul references them in his letter to the church at Philippi: “Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh. For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh” (3:2–3).

These are tough labels: wild, mangy dogs; workers of evil; and manglers of flesh! Paul expresses similar language in Galatians 5:15 in relation to legalism. He warned them, “If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.” How does this happen? When caught up in being selfrighteous, hyper-critical, and trying to outdo one another with outward performance of the law, the spiritual and literal heart of the matter is ignored.

As a reminder, circumcision was a physical reminder of God’s covenant with Israel. This is hard for our modern minds to grasp. Regardless, Paul is declaring Christians are spiritually circumcised (or in covenant with God); therefore, physical circumcision is unnecessary. This decision had already been reached by the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15. James, the brother of Jesus, spoke up and shared, “We should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God” (verse 19).

The legalist spirit of the Judaizers is still around today. There are churches and even entire denominations that are stuck in the rut of following rules and rituals. This mindset, like that of an exclusive club, allows them to look down on other churches and denominations, create a false sense of righteousness, and live in a performance-based manner.

Today’s focus on the Judaizers is a reminder that we are not saved by works, even though doing good works is an expression of the salvation we have received (Ephesians 2:10). I try to do good because I’m grateful for what God did for me. I don’t deserve his mercy and grace, and nothing I do will earn it for me. He rescued me. Salvation is an undeserved gift.

People Conquerors

They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Bezer, who loved the wages of wickedness.

2 Peter 2:15

Likewise, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Repent therefore!

Revelation 2:15–16

Now,we come to the second group who were supposedly Christians but were getting things seriously wrong. This group would be on the other extreme end of the spectrum. Whereas the Judaizers were unhealthy legalists, the Nicolaitans were unhealthy liberalists. Let’s unpack what I mean.

Like the Judaizers, the Nicolaitans were not part of the Sanhedrin but rather were a heretical sect invading the church. Tradition traces this movement back to Nicolas, one of the seven deacons appointed at the church in Jerusalem (Acts 6:5), but this can’t be proven. Outside of John’s Revelation, we don’t know a lot about them, so it is safe to assume that, thankfully, they faded into obscurity, at least under that name.

One of the telltale signs of a sect or cult is they claim to have special knowledge that others don’t have. This was true of the Nicolaitans. They believed they had insight into the spiritual

world, which they used to rationalize the integration of sexual immorality and pagan idolatry into their worship. The Church at Smyrna hated the practices of the Nicolaitans (Revelation 2:6), but the Church at Pergamum followed them and risked judgment (Revelation 2:15). John mentions here that believers at Pergamum also held to the teachings of Balaam, who was an immoral Old Testament prophet (Numbers 31:16). He is mentioned negatively in other places as well, like 2 Peter 2:15 and Jude 11. The Church at Thyatira similarly is accused of being sexually immoral like the harlot Jezebel in the Old Testament (Revelation 2:20).

Interestingly, the etymology of both Nicolaitans and Balaam can mean “to conquer the people.” Whether this was unintentional or a label meant to expose their immorality is unclear. They did not bring victory in Christ, but a life conquered by willful sin. Like the Judaizers, the spirit of the Nicolaitans continues to this day. Both are a denial of the gospel. One says “I’ve saved myself,” and the other says “I don’t need saving.” Both reject salvation by grace alone.

Once again, Paul comes to the rescue and sets the record straight on the proper way to live out our faith, addressing whether we should sin freely after we are saved, like the Nicolaitans would have advocated. He plainly asks and answers his own question: “Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” (Romans 6:1–2). Our old self was crucified with Christ, “therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires” (verse 12).

One more admonition to share. There is a passage that should put holy fear into all of us. It is Jesus’ warning in Matthew 7:21–23. He warns that many people who claim to know Christ will not be allowed in heaven. We can’t simply willingly live like hell on the way to heaven. God calls for our total surrender.

Enemies from Within

The Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus. Matthew 12:14

It will be helpful to next summarize why the Jewish religious leaders became adversaries of Jesus. After all, they weren’t Gentiles (non-Jews), but shared the same ethnic roots as Jesus. They were enemies from within. The main purpose of this devotional is to look at the traits and actions that Jesus despised in these leaders. Before we do this, let’s try to understand why they were eventually eager to take his life. The following are several of their reasons for despising Jesus (there are more), with a brief description of each and a biblical reference:

• He had miraculous power : He did amazing things they couldn’t do. “Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. ‘What are we accomplishing?’ they asked. ‘Here is this man performing many signs’” (John 11:47).

• He was popular : The people followed him everywhere. “So the Pharisees said to one another, ‘See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!’” (John 12:19).

• He embarrassed them : Jesus exposed and scolded them in public and made them look bad. “But do not do what

they do [the teachers of the law and the Pharisees], for they do not practice what they preach” (Matthew 23:3).

• He had authority : He taught with an authority that superseded theirs. “The chief priests and the elders of the people came to him. ‘By what authority are you doing these things?’ they asked. ‘And who gave you this authority?’” (Matthew 21:23).

• He lacked rabbinical education : Jesus was not educated under a recognized teacher. “The Jews there were amazed and asked, ‘How did this man get such learning without having been taught?’” (John 7:15).

• He had unconventional social practices : The Messiah associated with the wrong people. “[Pharisees] asked his disciples: ‘Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?’” (Mark 2:16).

• He broke their legalistic constraints : Christ rejected established customs and simplified the law. “Some of the Pharisees said, ‘This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.’ But others asked, ‘How can a sinner perform such signs?’” (John 9:16).

• He scared them: His popularity broke the norm. “The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching.” (Mark 11:18).

• He made them jealous : They didn’t want the people to revere anyone other than them. “It was out of selfinterest that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him [Pilate]” (Mark 15:10).

Even if we don’t agree with the “why” of the religious leaders, we can understand where they were coming from and their resulting actions against Jesus. Because we have sinful natures, we are capable of many of the same flaws. To think otherwise is simply religious pride and we will learn how dangerous this is.

High Priest Against High Priest

The high priest said to him, “I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.”

“You have said so,” Jesus replied. “But I say to all of you: From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, “He has spoken blasphemy! Why do we need any more witnesses?”

Matthew 26:63–65

Aswe look at some high priests opposed to Jesus and his followers, we need to first dig a little deeper for a fuller understanding of the priesthood. The first high priest was Aaron in the Old Testament (Exodus 28), and the position was passed down through his family line.

We know that one of the main messages in the book of Hebrews is that Jesus is the eternal high priest (3:1; 4:14; 6:20) in the order of someone named Melchizedek. Jesus was not a descendant of Aaron. However, six generations before Aaron was a priest-king named Melchizedek (Genesis 14:18). The author of Hebrews makes the case that Jesus is in the spiritual

line of Melchizedek (5:1–10) because he, too, is a—or actually the —Priest-King.

There are three high priests named in the New Testament, two of whom crossed paths with Jesus. All three opposed his message of salvation:

• Annas —high priest from AD 6 to 15, but deposed by the Romans and succeeded by his son, Eleazar, and then by his son-in-law, Caiaphas. There is biblical evidence that Jews still recognized Annas as high priest, as they referred to him as such when they brought Jesus to him first. Annas then sent Jesus to Caiaphas. Peter and John were later brought before these two and the rest of the high priest’s family (Acts 4:1–22).

• Caiaphas —son-in-law to Annas and high priest from AD 18 to 36, which meant he held this position during the ministry of Jesus. He unknowingly prophesied Jesus’ death as the Sanhedrin plotted to kill Jesus (John 11:45–53). Caiaphas also handed Jesus over to the Roman governor, Pilate, after the religious leaders led by Caiaphas falsely accused him.

• Ananias —high priest when Paul was persecuted and brought before the Sanhedrin in Acts 23. In this setting, Paul didn’t realize that at one point he was scolding Ananias, and the high priest instructed others to slap him on the mouth. Paul responded by referencing Exodus 22:28: “Brothers, I did not realize that he was the high priest; for it is written: ‘Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people’” (verse 5). This would match why Jesus never directly reproached Annas or Caiaphas.

As we close, let us hold fast to Hebrews 4:14: “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.”

The Thought Reader

Some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, “This fellow is blaspheming!” Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts?”

Matthew 9:3–4

Now, let us consider some New Testament passages that focus on the Pharisees. Just like Pharaoh refused to believe the miraculous giving and taking away of the plagues through Moses, the Pharisees got to see Jesus heal right in front of them and yet denied the obvious.

In Luke 14, we see Jesus heal an infected man while having a meal in a Pharisee’s house on the Sabbath. Other Pharisees and teachers of the law were also present. Jesus asked them, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?” (verse 3). They didn’t answer, so Jesus healed him then and there.

On a separate occasion (referenced in the verses at the top from Matthew 9), Jesus was visiting Nazareth by boat. A paralyzed man was brought to him. Moved by the faith of this man’s friends, Jesus first tells him, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven” (verse 2). Making this statement would have been incredibly jarring to the religious leaders, and they “said to themselves, ‘This fellow is blaspheming!’” (verse 3). Forgiveness

of sins was something only God could declare (Isaiah 43:25). Jesus read their thoughts just as he had read the faith in the hearts of the paralytic and his friends.

Matthew then records an interesting occurrence: “Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, ‘Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts?’” (verse 4). In true rabbi mode, Jesus poses another question: “‘Which is easier: to say, “Your sins are forgiven,” or to say, “Get up and walk”? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.’ So he said to the paralyzed man, ‘Get up, take your mat and go home.’” (verses 5–6).

Which one is easier? Speaking words of forgiveness is easier because they couldn’t be disproven by the Pharisees. Telling the man he was forgiven and to get up and walk displayed who Jesus was, the Son of Man. This is one of the main titles of Jesus mentioned dozens of times in the New Testament. It demonstrates what Paul says in Colossians 2:9: “In Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.”

Jesus had the power to forgive and to heal. He showed he had God’s authority to declare the forgiveness of sins and God’s authority to heal the paralyzed man. How could the religious leaders deny this? While we are told in a few places that some did quietly believe, most refused. The Bible speaks of a hardened heart in John, Mark, Ephesians, and Hebrews. Just as the teachers of the law suffered from this spiritual affliction, so do some of your friends and family. It should motivate us to pray continually that God would open their heart and break it toward him.

The Way of Blood

[An expert in the law] answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” Luke 10:27–28

Mostof us are familiar with the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10. However, we are probably missing the full context and meaning of this passage. So, let’s dive in.

An expert in the law asked Jesus a question out of an impure motive—to test Jesus. His question was, “What must I do to inherit eternal life” (verse 25). Jesus employs the rabbinical practice of responding to a question with a question: “What is written in the Law?” The expert answers with the response at the top, which combines quotes from Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18. Jesus responds that he has answered correctly. This response isn’t sufficient for the expert, so he asks, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus responds with the famous parable. A man went on a journey from Jerusalem down to Jericho and was beaten, robbed, and left for dead. Three separate men come upon him. The first two avoid him altogether, while the third, a man from Samaria, helps him.

Let’s first understand the setting. The distance from Jerusalem to Jericho was around 16 or 17 miles through the Judean wilderness, and it would take eight or so hours to walk at two miles per hour. It also involved a change in elevation of more than half a mile because Jericho is the lowest city in the world at 864 feet below sea level. This tough and dangerous road ran along an ancient water source known as the Wadi Qelt. It was also known as the Way of Blood due to ongoing threats of violence to travelers.

Of interest to our study is that the first two men were religious leaders—one a priest and the other a Levite, someone from the Jewish tribe of Levi who had special religious duties. After seeing the beaten traveler, both men “passed by on the other side” (verses 31–32). They believed that even their shadow touching a presumably dead person would make them unclean or impure. It was the Samaritan who stopped, bandaged up the man, took him on his own donkey to get care, and gave the caretaker a full day’s wages (with a pledge to give more) to continue helping the man.

The Samaritans were of mixed ethnicity and were therefore treated as outcasts. Yet it wasn’t the pious, religious Jews who helped, but an outsider. Jesus basically corners the expert in the law into admitting which one of the three travelers was a neighbor to the beaten man. It was, of course, the Samaritan, one whom no Jew would have ever called “good.” Jesus responds, “Go and do likewise” (verse 37).

Jesus was greatly upset with the religious leaders for not doing what God’s Word told them to do—love their neighbor. He hated their hypocrisy in preaching this message and only expecting the people to obey it. Likewise, the Bible is there for all of us to read, understand, and submit our lives to. We should love God above all else, then love our neighbors, even when it is inconvenient.

Dirty Hands

The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus and saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. . . . So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands?”

Mark 7:1–2, 5 (also in Matthew 15:1–20)

There was a tradition—not a law—among the Jews that they had to ceremonially wash their hands before they ate any food. The tradition didn’t stop there. They also washed anything and everything that touched the food, including “cups, pitchers, and kettles” (verse 4). What is wrong with this, you might ask? After all, we generally do the same things before we eat. To be sure, there’s nothing wrong with cleanliness for the purpose of good health and hygiene. However, this was not the motive here. Some of the Pharisees and other teachers of the law asked Jesus why his disciples didn’t observe this practice. Jesus quickly calls out their hypocrisy by stating that the leaders are only concerned with outer cleanliness rather than inner purity. He quotes from Isaiah: “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules” (Mark 7:6–7). Jesus then

points out that they are not even obeying God’s commands but have instead added human traditions. Keep in mind that Mark’s primary audience is Gentiles, so it was important to demonstrate Jesus’ distancing himself from Jewish traditions and customs that went beyond Scripture.

Jesus then gives an example of honoring your father and mother (verses 10–13), which is stated in the fifth commandment. However, some Jews were getting out of taking care of their parents by declaring that their resources couldn’t be used because they were “devoted to God” (verse 11), another human tradition. These and other so-called traditions were used not only to distort the laws of God but also as a way of getting around them altogether. I can think of a few church denominations that treat more than a few traditions like holy Scripture, but let’s focus on Jesus’ main point here.

Jesus concludes by telling the religious leaders and the crowd that “nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them” (verse 15). The priority of these traditions was exactly the opposite of what they should have been!

He later clearly explains the whole situation when alone with his disciples, so there is no need for me to paraphrase. Imagine him saying these very words to you: “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body. . . . What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person” (verses 18–23).

Are we like the Pharisees, who do church on the outside but the messages never make it to our heart? Is our life devoted to appearance on the outside or purity on the inside? Jesus’ lesson here is easily applicable to us Gentiles as well.

Who Brought the Flatbread?

“Be careful,” Jesus said to them [the disciples]. “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

Matthew 16:6

My wife has been working on the tedious process of perfecting her sourdough recipe to make the tastiest bread. It begins, unsurprisingly, with a starter, which is a mixture of water, flour, and naturally occurring yeast that is present in the flour from when it was still grain growing in a field. The starter will sit, rise, and be halved repeatedly as the yeast completely permeates this simple mixture.

More ingredients are eventually added, like oil, honey, salt, and more water and flour. It will then be baked in the oven to produce what is hopefully the best-looking and best-tasting bread. Other types of bread can be made using a small yeast packet from the local grocery store that makes up only one percent or so of the total weight of the flour to make a loaf. A little bit impacts a whole lot.

Let’s go back further in Jewish history to learn more about yeast before focusing on this verse and broader passage. The Feast of Unleavened Bread was established by God (Exodus 12:14–20)

and is commemorated by Jews to this day. Overlapping with but distinct from Passover, the feast required people eat unleavened bread, which is flat because it doesn’t have yeast in it to make it rise. In fact, yeast couldn’t be anywhere in the home during this time (verse 15). I have been in Israel during Passover, and unless you are staying in an Arab-run hotel or eating at an Arab-run restaurant, you will not find leavened bread anywhere.

“Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” In this passage (Matthew 16:5–12), the disciples struggled with understanding Jesus’ analogy using yeast. They finally got the point that “he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees” (verse 12). Luke records that Jesus equated yeast with the hypocrisy of the Pharisees (12:1).

To put it more broadly, Jesus is equating yeast with corruption and evil. It only takes a tiny amount of yeast to impact (ferment) the whole lump of dough. I think you and I would agree it only takes a little bit of sin to ruin everything!

Paul also gives this same analogy to the believers at Corinth, equating yeast with sin: “Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Corinthians 5:6–8).

Let us commit to a life that has as little yeast (sin) as possible. When the world sees us Christians being hypocritical, boastful, malicious, and acting as bad as the rest of the world, we greatly damage our spiritual reputation and taint the image of Christ. You have probably heard the saying “You may be the only Jesus some people ever see.” While this is a bit of hyperbole, you get the point. Please take your responsibility seriously to pursue and display sincerity and truth to the world.

It’s a Trap!

Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. Matthew 22:15

Matthew

22 sets the stage for Matthew 23—a chapter I mentioned we would study in depth. Before Jesus directly calls out and shames the religious leaders, this previous chapter records several instances when these leaders tried to trap Jesus by asking seemingly clever questions. Let’s look briefly at each, realizing we won’t get into the full context:

• Paying the Imperial Tax to Caesar (verses 15–22): The Pharisees asked Jesus whether non-Roman citizens (i.e., most Jews) should pay the tax. Jesus has them show him a coin with Caesar’s image on it, and he famously responds, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” The Jews were expecting their Messiah to depose their Roman conquerors, but instead Jesus demonstrated that they should be subject to human government (see Romans 13:1–2) while also recognizing God’s sovereignty.

• Marriage at the Resurrection (verses 23–33): The Sadducees didn’t believe in resurrection or angels and wanted to

discredit both. They shared a hypothetical story about a man who married several widows (see Deuteronomy 25:5–6). Who would his wife be in heaven? Jesus’ answer: “At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.” He chastises them for not recognizing the Old Testament scriptures that point to resurrection (and to the existence of angels).

• The Greatest Commandment (verses 34–40): It’s the Pharisees’ turn again. They asked him, “Which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus quotes back to them the words they revere in Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18 about loving God and loving others. This is a summation of the Ten Commandments. Mark 12:32 records that one of the Pharisees realized Jesus was right.

After these three events, according to Mark’s account, “from then on no one dared ask him any more questions” (12:34). (See Matthew 21:23–27 and 22:41–46 for examples of Jesus turning the tables on his critics and asking them questions.)

All these stories demonstrate Jesus’ superior wisdom compared to that of human religious leaders. Most refused to consider that God incarnate was right in front of them. The goal wasn’t the truth—it was to figure out a way to expose Jesus as a fraud, get the Romans to imprison him, or ultimately kill him. What was needed instead was humility and an honest exploration of what Scripture already told them. We need to exhibit these same traits. I admonish you again to pray for those you know who have hardened hearts just like these leaders. Pray that God will “open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me” (Acts 26:18).

Hypocrites

(You’re One Too)

The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

Matthew 23:2–4

Wewill now be spending several days in Matthew 23 because this is where it is repeatedly recorded how much Jesus despised the actions of the teachers of the law and the Pharisees. Let’s start by looking at a repeated word that lies at the core of what Jesus detested. There are 18 occurrences of the word hypocrite in the Bible. Hypocrisy is also used. Matthew uses the word 11 times in his Gospel, six of which are in chapter 23. In the verses above, Jesus describes the hypocrisy practiced by the Pharisees.

It was in the Decameron , the most famous work of the fourteenth-century Italian poet and scholar Giovanni Boccaccio, where it was first stated “Do as we say, not as we do.” Let’s investigate even further back into the etymology (the study of the meaning of words) of this funny-looking word, hypocrite. Its

initial meaning was “one who answers or replies.” It eventually referred to a stage actor. By the first century, the impact of Greek and Roman civilization was everywhere, especially in arts and culture. To disguise themselves, actors would wear masks and use devices that would distort their voices. A hypocrite became known metaphorically as someone who was a dissembler. This type of person presents a false appearance or pretense and hides their true feelings or intentions. They often do this for the purpose of deceit or manipulation. Other labels might come to mind, like pretender or phony.

Jesus condemns the religious leaders for being hypocrites. He knew that over the centuries they had taken the laws of Moses and added traditions and customs of their own. They preached these from the pulpit (“Moses’ seat” in this passage), yet these rules were impossible for people to follow in daily life. And, at the same time, they did not hold themselves to the same standards. They were hypocrites. The last verse (verse 4) in today’s study points this out. It is reminiscent of King David’s words in Psalm 26:4: “I do not sit with the deceitful, nor do I associate with hypocrites.”

Jesus came to do the exact opposite for the people. Back in chapter 11, Matthew records these encouraging and comforting words by Jesus: “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (verses 29–30). There are many believers like you and me who have and will continue to find peace, hope, and strength in this message through the most challenging of times.

Let me close by getting us all to admit something very important. We are all hypocrites. Ever told your kids to do or not do something that you were or were not doing? I’ve done both with my driving! We must be honest with ourselves and admit that we are capable of all manner of sins, including hypocrisy. Examine your own life and come up with some examples. This is the best way to accept it and see how you need to change.

Celebrity Rabbis

Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called “Rabbi” by others.

Matthew 23:5–7

To understand Matthew 23, we need to bring some cultural context to this first verse. Jewish men (likely including Jesus) wore phylacteries, or in Hebrew, tefillin , during morning and evening prayers. They consisted of small black boxes—one strapped to their forehead and the other to their left arm—that contained a parchment with four passages from the Old Testament: Exodus 13:1–10, Exodus 13:11–16, Deuteronomy 6:4–9, and Deuteronomy 11:13–21.

In all four of these passages, God stated that his commands are like signs or symbols on their hands and foreheads. So, the people took this literally and created the phylactery. The black boxes had leather straps attached to them for wrapping either around their forehead or from their hand to the upper arm near the heart.

Jewish men also wore (and still wear) an outer blue and white garment that had tassels, or in Hebrew, tzitzit , on the

four corners. This was a command by God through Moses in Numbers 15:37–41 and Deuteronomy 22:12. This garment became a prayer shawl and covered the head during prayer. The woman with the bleeding problem touched Jesus’ outer garment and was healed (Mark 5:21–34). Likewise, others who desired healing also wanted to touch the edge of his garment; that is, the tassels (Matthew 14:34–36).

What is Jesus addressing in verse 5? Simply put, the teachers of the law and the Pharisees wore these specific pieces of Jewish clothing in such a way as to draw attention to themselves. It was done not out of humility, but pride. It was done not out of devotion, but with an ulterior motive.

Verses 6 and 7 describe how these leaders sought favorable treatment. From banquets to synagogues to street corners, they wanted to be recognized, addressed by title, and adored. They pursued celebrity status, which clearly ignores the righteousness and humility God called them to exercise.

Let’s put this problem into our context. One of the ways this manifests today is through the improper elevation of pastors. There are numerous church leaders who inappropriately seek to be treated above everyone else—and there are plenty of church members to oblige them. Don’t be in either group!

Let’s go one step further. Don’t we all have within us a desire to be popular, to be recognized, to be treated better than others? It’s a natural part of our sinful nature. It is a twisted version of a good desire within us to be loved and appreciated. Ultimately, we must find our worth in Christ and what he did for us. He loves us and values us, and through the power of the Holy Spirit we can be humble enough to love and value others over ourselves.

Check Your Title

But you are not to be called “Rabbi,” for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth “father,” for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. The greatest among you will be your servant. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

Matthew 23:8–12

Building off yesterday, in this section of Matthew 23 we read multiple titles: Rabbi, teacher, brother, father, instructor, and servant. It seems rather clear that Jesus wants to expand his point about titles and positions. We already learned how he viewed the showiness of the so-called devout religious leaders and how they expected to be recognized and respected. This section puts them and their pride in their place and defines the proper perspective on leadership.

There are three points Jesus makes when talking to the disciples about how to view themselves. First, there is only “one Teacher,” “one Father,” and “one Instructor”—and the religious leaders aren’t him! Societies then and now have emphasized a formal respect for authority. Leaders were often addressed

with titles, and, subsequently, their followers were addressed as children. To be clear here, Jesus is not calling for the abolishment of the authority structure. More on what he was promoting in the third point.

The second point is “you are all brothers.” This is reminiscent of the relationship the disciples had with each other. Jesus saw people this way as well: “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” (Matthew 25:40). “Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother” (Mark 3:35). Beginning in Acts, believers began to be called brothers and sisters. Many times! We naturally want to venerate our pastors and Christian leaders, but do you instead correctly see everyone as a sibling in Christ?

The third point is that “the greatest among you will be your servant.” This was exactly the opposite of how the religious leaders he was scolding behaved. What a message Jesus is making here: The path to greatness is through humility and servanthood! He told his disciples, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all” (Mark 9:35). He later said, “Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me” (John 12:26). Paul often referred to himself and others as servants. He got the message. So should we.

There is a servanthood principle in this last verse that is also worth magnifying. Perhaps the best way to explain the concept of humbling and exalting is through the imagery of Proverbs 25:6–7: “Do not exalt yourself in the king’s presence, and do not claim a place among his great men; it is better for him to say to you, ‘Come up here,’ than for him to humiliate you before his nobles.” In other words, you do the humbling, and let God do the exalting.

Lots of Woe

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!

Matthew 23:13

Tomorrow begins our journey through the “Seven Woes” Jesus pronounces on the religious leaders in this chapter. Let’s first set the stage by understanding what the word woe means. The Greek word for woe is ouai . It is an onomatopoeic word, which is just a fancy way of saying that the word sounds like what it means, like “bang” or “quack.” It is an exclamation of anger or pain and was not frequently used in classical Greek. In the New Testament it is primarily an expression of condemnation. Jesus repeatedly uses the word here to denounce publicly what the religious leaders were doing.

Starting tomorrow, we will spend seven days looking at each woe. But what else can we first glean from this passage? There is a compelling literary device used in this passage that demonstrates the depth of God’s Word. You may not even be aware it’s there! It is a pattern called a chiasmus. Let me explain.

The Greek letter chi is shaped like an X, which has two straight lines crossing at a central point. With the seven woes, the purpose is to present each one, share a central point (woe #4), and then reverse the process, forming a mirrored structure that can be represented by the pattern A-B-C-D-C-B-A. Here is what

the religious leaders were being scolded for, with the chiasmus visible in the shape of the text:

A. Woe #1: They failed to recognize the path to heaven. (verses 13–14)

B. Woe #2: They are superficially zealous and do more harm than good. (verse 15)

C. Woe #3: They didn’t apply Scripture correctly. (verses 16–22)

D. Woe #4: They neglected what was more important than the law. (verses 23–24)

C. Woe #5: They didn’t apply Scripture correctly. (verses 25–26)

B. Woe #6: They are superficially zealous and do more harm than good. (verses 27–28)

A. Woe #7: They failed to recognize the prophets and the Messiah. (verses 29–32)

Do you see the pattern? What do they all have in common? The Pharisees were pretty good at following through with keeping the law, but the problem was their hearts. They struggled to correctly understand, interpret, and apply God’s Word. Instead, the results were bad for themselves and for those they subjected to their views. In these next seven days, we will look more at the specific descriptions Jesus uses with each of the woes. He gets detailed on the major grievances he has with the teachers of the law and the Pharisees. We’ll unpack their context and find out if there’s sometimes more to these warnings than meets the eye.

When a Gentile believer like you or me reads a passage like this, we may not think much of it in terms of personal application, since Jesus’ audience and targets are all Jewish. But if we look closer, we can see how Christians are guilty of similar sins. This is the point of the devotional.

Woe #1: Knocking on Heaven’s Door

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. Matthew 23:13

Thefirst woe that Jesus declares on the Pharisees is shown above. He calls them hypocrites and claims that they are keeping people from entering heaven. What does this mean? How did the Pharisees shut the door to heaven for others? They didn’t believe Jesus was the Messiah and therefore tried to convince the people he wasn’t. Instead, they expected the people to follow rules and regulations as the sole means of salvation, holiness, and righteousness. In other words, it was works-based salvation. We’ll revisit this terrible lie in a moment.

Notice the irony of Jesus’ message. These men religiously devoted their lives to God, studied his Word in incredible detail, proclaimed to follow all the laws to the smallest point, and served as teachers of the Jewish people. Sounds like a good recipe for a secure eternity, right? Instead, Jesus is saying that not only were the Pharisees not getting into heaven but that they were making sure the people who followed them weren’t either. Wow!

The verse shown above is verse 13. Most early manuscripts omit verse 14, but it is also found in Mark 12:40 and Luke 20:47 in a similar context: “They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely.” What does it mean to devour a widow’s house? It is important to know that teachers of the law were not allowed to work for a living. They relied on the generosity of others. It should be no surprise, then, that widows were sometimes targeted because they could be more easily exploited for money.

The other part of this criticism in verse 14 has to do with saying public prayers that were meant to impress those who were listening. In other words, the purpose wasn’t to pray to God but to appear spiritual to others. Jesus taught a very different way to pray: “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full” (Matthew 6:5).

Now, let’s get back to works-based salvation. Entire denominations have promoted some version of this deception for literally centuries. You must do this and not do that in order to be saved. Women must dress a certain way. Prayers must be repeated a certain number of times. And so on. You can probably think of an example or two from your own life at church.

Paul is abundantly clear that we are supposed to do good works, but we are not saved by them. It is by grace alone through faith alone. So, we are not saved by good works; we are saved for good works. We do good works to demonstrate that God lives in and through us (Ephesians 2:8–9).

It takes faith to accept that God loves us despite our sinful selves. It takes faith to accept that there is NOTHING we can do to earn salvation except to believe in our heart and proclaim with our mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord (Romans 10:9). This— not works—is the door to heaven.

Woe #2: Highway to Hell

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.

Matthew 23:15

Thissecond woe reads very similar to the first woe, both in calling the teachers and Pharisees hypocrites and condemning what they were doing to their followers. Let’s see if we can find some differences.

The word translated “convert” is also translated “proselyte” in many English Bibles. The verb form of this word is proselytize and is often used to mean the action of trying to get someone to change faiths. In this passage, it could be a Pharisee trying to convert someone outside of Judaism (a Gentile) into Judaism, or a Pharisee trying to convert a Jew to Pharisaism and adopt their version of submission to Jewish law and their oral traditions.

Before we go further, let’s identify the positive attribute that is mentioned here. Jesus notes the zeal of the Pharisees in making new converts. They apparently were devoted to going

to great lengths to do so, “over land and sea” so to speak. This was Jesus likely using hyperbole to make his point. The problem wasn’t their passion but their actual teaching. It was not leading the people to heaven but to hell.

These teachers were the gold standard for law-abiding citizens of God, and the people’s quest was to become as pious as possible, to “out-Pharisee” the Pharisees! The teachers and Pharisees were trying to make converts to live and worship like them—and even better than them—by following rules and regulations. In doing so, they believed they would be pleasing to God and one day enter the kingdom of heaven. However, this road only led to the wrong place.

Think about it in our context today. Most well-meaning teachers want their students to grow up and be smart and successful in life. Certainly, parents want their children to achieve more than they did. Likewise, most church leaders want their people to become spiritually mature and fruitful. However, in this first-century scenario, all these efforts by the Pharisees were not pointing converts to Jesus and were thus pointless.

Devotion to God is a good thing. We should aspire to live a life in humble obedience to him. We should aspire to telling others about Christ. However, it should be out of gratitude as a response to what he has done for us and not based on how well we serve him through ritualistic practices and by obeying rigid laws. Christ came to fulfill it all (Matthew 5:17). He is worth our every effort of devotion because he alone is worthy of our praise (Psalm 96:4).

Woe

#3: Stop Swearing

Woe to you, blind guides! You say, “If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.” You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? You also say, “If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gift on the altar is bound by that oath.” You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? Therefore, anyone who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And anyone who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. And anyone who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it.

Matthew 23:16–22

Swearing by the gold of the temple? What in the world is this about? This woe needs some serious clarification and context! Let’s start by mentioning that in the ancient world when someone invoked the name of a deity in an oath, they were counting on him or her to avenge them when false testimony was made against their oath.

Now let’s turn to the Old Testament. The Israelites were forbidden to make oaths that were irreverent. Leviticus 19:12

warned, “Do not swear falsely by my name and so profane the name of your God. I am the Lord.” Numbers 30:2 drives this point home: “When a man makes a vow to the Lord or takes an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word but must do everything he said.”

By the time of the New Testament, tradition did not allow Jews to say the name of God. It was too sacred. Instead, they invoked the name of something else considered holy, like the temple or the altar in the temple. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law claimed here that only when they swore by the gold in the temple treasury or by the gift they put on the altar was their oath binding. Sounds like questionable logic!

Jesus addressed this oath practice earlier with his disciples, as recorded in Matthew 5:33–37. He told them not to swear on things such as heaven, earth, or Jerusalem. Instead, “all you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.” James, the brother of Jesus, reiterates this message in his book: “Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. All you need to say is a simple ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’ Otherwise you will be condemned” (5:12).

Let’s try to understand even more clearly the point of this third woe. Since these oaths weren’t literally made to God, the religious leaders felt they could get away with the consequences of breaking the oath. Therefore, if the oaths couldn’t be taken seriously, the leaders weren’t lying when they made them.

However, Jesus is telling these “blind guides,” “blind fools,” and “blind men” that oaths invoking the temple were binding because of whose temple it was (verses 21–22). The overall, and most crucial, message is to tell the truth and be a man or woman of your word. Let your yes be yes, your no by no, and then act accordingly. How you live should back up what you say. I’d say this is definitely an applicable lesson for us today!

Woe #4: Strain the Gnat, Swallow the Camel

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.

Matthew 23:23–24

Jesus gets visual with this fourth woe. As is true with much of the Bible, it is helpful to understand cultural context to get the proper meaning of a passage. The Jewish people were required to tithe a tenth of everything, according to Deuteronomy 14:22–29 and Leviticus 27. Think of how meticulous you would have to be to measure out a tithe of the small spices mentioned here.

The measuring of spices exemplified the overarching legalism that the teachers of the law and Pharisees were guilty of emphasizing. Notice also here, however, that Jesus is not condemning the tithe itself but the neglect of more important practices of the law such as justice, mercy, and faithfulness. This is reminiscent of Micah 6:8: “What does the Lord require

of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Jesus points out the need to do both because both represent the actions of someone submitted to God. For example, as we give our tithes and offerings, do we also show acts of mercy to those in need? Jesus wanted these leaders to exemplify the qualities of God because he is just, he is merciful, and he is faithful over the people.

This is the second instance of Jesus referring to the Pharisees as blind guides, which is another way of acknowledging their position of authority over the people and the fact that they were failing at it. We all understand just how ineffective a blind tour guide would be.

And now we come to the colorful imagery of the gnat and the camel. Without any context, this still paints a vivid picture! A Pharisee was careful to purify his water or wine by pouring it through a cloth and into his cup. This would prevent anything like a gnat, the smallest of unclean creatures (Deuteronomy 14:19 and Leviticus 11:41), from getting in the poured liquid and being consumed. Just as meticulous as measuring out a tenth of spices was straining a drink.

Then there is the camel, the largest unclean animal in Palestine (dietary laws in Deuteronomy 14:7 and Leviticus 11:26 prohibit eating camel because it does not have divided hooves). The Pharisees were figuratively allowing this nasty animal into their bodies. Jesus is stating that while the Pharisees were properly avoiding taking in the small sinful stuff, they were allowing the larger sinful stuff inside.

In summary, these outward actions were not accompanied by real heart change. Following the letter of the law without changing the heart was unacceptable, especially for those who were spiritually leading the Jewish people. This is true for us as well. We need to seek righteousness in the small and big things. Both can mess us up.

Woe #5: Clean Your Plate

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. Matthew 23:25–26

Youwill recall that several days ago we looked at clean hands and dishes in Mark 7. Let’s look at this similar passage. Most of us can relate to having to “clean our plate” while growing up. In some households, this might have meant eating everything you were served for dinner. Or it might have meant putting the scraps in the trash so that they wouldn’t clog up the sink or dishwasher. If your parents were like mine, they told you that you had to eat all your dinner because “there are starving children in Africa who don’t have anything to eat!”

With today’s woe, Jesus accused the Pharisees of symbolically having eating vessels that were clean on the outside but dirty on the inside. Imagine how silly it would be to only wash the outside of a cup or dish and not the inside too. No one does this! The same is true for outwardly pious acts that are contradicted by a lack of inward purity.

It may seem that these two verses for the fifth woe are the same warning as the previous woe. There is a common thread of hypocrisy, to be sure. However, it is important to note here what is metaphorically on the inside of the dish (their heart), which is greed and self-indulgence. More on that in a moment.

Let’s pause here once again and get some cultural context. Leviticus 6:28 states that if the meat of a sin offering “is cooked in a bronze pot, the pot is to be scoured and rinsed with water.”

This is a thorough cleaning. Mark mentions that the Pharisees “observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles” (7:4). Jesus then quotes Isaiah to explain what it means to be clean outside and dirty inside: “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules” (7:6–7).

In 2 Kings 21:13, God uses the analogy of washing dishes when declaring his plans for Jerusalem due to the detestable sins of its king at the time: “I will wipe out Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down.”

Cleansing can also be found in Paul’s admonition to husbands concerning their wives. They must sacrificially love their wives and point them to Christ “by the washing with water through the word” (Ephesians 5:25–26). Husbands need to know God’s Word because we walk before the Lord together with our wives!

Only because of the gospel can we have a changed heart and be clean. And God’s Word cleanses us from the inside out and helps us resist the greed and self-indulgence that are a constant temptation since we are fallen creatures. We have also been given the Holy Spirit to sanctify us and help us resist these trappings. It is a journey of success and failure that will take our whole lives. But we are called to this resistance, nonetheless.

Woe #6: Whitewashed Tombs

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.

Matthew 23:27–28

Onceagain, we’re looking at Jesus using another analogy to make the same point. As always, we’ll pay attention to any extra details. In modern countries, we do not bury our dead in tombs. We either put the bodies six feet underground in a graveyard or in above-ground crypts in a mausoleum.

In first-century Palestine, Jewish people were often initially buried in tombs, which could be hollowed-out stone caves. The first recorded instance of this in the Bible is when Abraham buried his wife Sarah (Genesis 23). By Jesus’ day, a dead body would be wrapped in spices and cloth so it could decompose. A year later, the bones would be collected and placed in an ossuary, which is like a mini-coffin. I’ve visited several tombs throughout Israel that still exist today and have seen some ossuaries from this period.

Now, let’s get even more cultural context. Numbers 19:16 states: “Anyone out in the open who touches someone who has been killed with a sword or someone who has died a natural death, or anyone who touches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days.” To prevent this from happening, tombs were whitewashed to make them stand out, day or night. Specifically, this meant painting them white by coating them with lime. Whitewashing was often done before the days leading up to the Jewish festival of Passover. Someone who was unclean was unable to enter the temple and participate in the sacred holiday, which brought many pilgrims to Jerusalem. Even one’s shadow touching a grave or corpse made them unclean for a week.

In a similar biblical example, Ezekiel compares false prophets to this whitewashing practice. The Lord said of them, “Because they lead my people astray, saying, ‘Peace,’ when there is no peace, and because, when a flimsy wall is built, they cover it with whitewash, therefore tell those who cover it with whitewash that it is going to fall. . . . The wall is gone and so are those who whitewashed it” (13:10, 15). Paint won’t do any good. It may hide the flaws for a while, but eventually the weak wall will collapse. God will expose them.

The Apostle Paul made this same accusation against the religious leaders in Acts 23. He said directly to Ananias the high priest, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! You sit there to judge me according to the law, yet you yourself violate the law” (verse 3). You get the point. Outside pretty. Inside ugly. Or as Jesus put it in Matthew 23: outside, righteous; inside, hypocrisy and wickedness.

I hope you’re getting the point that Jesus has righteous anger when he sees window dressing covering all manner of sin. If we are striving for cleanliness, holiness, and righteousness on the inside, it will pour out of us on the outside. It will be natural whitewash!

Woe #7: Prophet Murderers

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!

Matthew 23:29–32 Jesus’

words in these verses sound pretty gruesome, and the accusation against the leaders here is equally as troubling. He knew they were already planning his demise. We’re going to look at two key points in this passage.

• You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. The Jews in this time period had monuments built over the tombs of both the prophets and the righteous. The prophets we read about in the Old Testament often had to share bad news. As a result, they were harassed, persecuted, run out of town, or

murdered. Second Chronicles 36:15–16 records how the people of that day “mocked God’s messengers, despised his words and scoffed at his prophets.” Hebrews 11 is known as the great faith chapter, and prophets are among those mentioned as having great faith but also being persecuted (verses 32–38). One of the ways they met their demise was by being sawn in two, which was the fate of Isaiah, according to the extrabiblical work Lives of the Prophets . The prophet Jeremiah was thrown into a cistern (Jeremiah 38:6). Jesus mentions later in Matthew 23 that the prophet Zechariah was murdered in the temple complex (verse 35). You get the point.

• You testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. The sentiment here is similar to “like father, like son.” Jesus is telling the religious leaders of his day that they are no different than their ancestors. This leads to our practical application for today. I think it’s safe to say that many believers are convinced they would have acted differently during Jesus’ ministry than the Jews who were alive then. They think they would have believed in the Messiah despite their respected religious leaders emphatically stating otherwise. I believe it is arrogant to think this way about ourselves. Peter thought the same way before he betrayed Jesus three times. Are we any better?

Jesus declares at the end of today’s passage that he is in a direct line from the Old Testament prophets. He is stating to the religious leaders that these prophets also spoke the truth and were rejected by the Jews and that he is facing the same fate. And so it happened. Jesus was murdered by those who were supposed to be the spiritual leaders of God’s people—but we also know it was God’s will and necessary for our salvation.

Brood of Vipers

You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?

Matthew 23:33

Perhapsone of the most famous movie scenes involving snakes is in Raiders of the Lost Ark . Indiana Jones and the leading lady, Marion, are dropped inside an ancient room full of serpents of all kinds. It’s a hair-raising scene as they fight off the vipers with their deteriorating torches.

Matthew records in his Gospel that twice Jesus referred to the Pharisees as a “brood of vipers.” In addition to today’s verse, earlier in chapter 12 he proclaimed, “You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good?” (verse 34).

Prior to both of these instances, Jesus’ cousin John the Baptist used the same label and made a similar warning. “When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?” (Matthew 3:7; also Luke 3:7).

A brood is the term used for the offspring of snakes. In the New Testament, the difference between a serpent or snake and a viper is that the latter is specifically venomous (“serpent” is the more general term for all snakes). In ancient tradition, it was

believed that baby vipers ate their way out of their mothers. And killing one’s parents was considered the most heinous of crimes. This description, therefore, was representative of something truly evil. Jesus is saying these leaders not only act like serpents, but are also the offspring of poisonous parents.

Ever since Genesis 3, Pharisees (and all Jews) associated Satan with the serpent in the garden of Eden. The Apostle John records that Jesus told unbelieving Jews they were the offspring of that deadly serpent: “You belong to your father, the devil,” because he is “the father of lies” (8:44). Jesus is declaring that the Pharisees were directly linked to Satan. Why? Because they deceived the people into following rules they did not follow themselves.

In the second part of Jesus’ words in Matthew 23:33 and John the Baptist’s words in Matthew 3:7, both men question how the religious leaders will escape the hell and wrath to come. When a farmer clears his fields with fire, the snakes try to scurry away but are consumed. So it will be for those who don’t believe Jesus is the Messiah and instead spread lies about him. They will one day be consumed by God’s judgment.

John admonishes the Pharisees and Sadducees to instead “produce fruit in keeping with repentance” (Matthew 3:8). Jesus also talks about fruit in the Matthew 12 passage: “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit” (verse 33). In other words, just like a healthy tree produces good fruit, a spiritually healthy person will produce good things with their life (verse 35).

Don’t be the spawn of a serpent. The antidote to having the poisonous heart of the Pharisees is to have the heart of Jesus. If we do, we will speak the truth, live a fruitful life, and escape God’s wrath to come.

Righteous Blood

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.

Matthew 23:34–36

Thismessage is like the seventh woe, which condemned the Jewish religious leaders’ treatment of the prophets in previous generations. It’s a pretty harsh message: kill, crucify, flog, and pursue. What is pretty obvious here is that prior to this persecution the religious leaders will reject the message of God these prophets will preach.

It is interesting to note that Jesus also earlier told his disciples before he sent them out, “Be on your guard; you will be handed over to the local councils and be flogged in the synagogues” (Matthew 10:17). How would you like to go to church only to be whipped?! Further, some will be “put to death” (verse 21) or have to flee due to persecution (verse 23). Sadly, this became true. It is believed that all but the Apostle John were martyred, and he was banished to an island.

Jesus’ warning to his disciples is just like the one he is giving the religious leaders here. However, the leaders are on the giving end of this vile behavior and not the receiving end, like the disciples and others throughout time who had shed “righteous blood,” as he puts it here.

In these verses, Jesus goes beyond the religious leaders persecuting prophets and expands it to include anyone who was deemed honorable before God by mentioning Abel and Zechariah. Jesus is bookending the history of martyrdom as recorded in the Old Testament. He is making a sweeping statement like “from Genesis to Revelation” by mentioning these two names.

Abel was the first human being to be murdered (Genesis 4:8) and Zechariah was the last (2 Chronicles 24:20–22; this book is last in the Hebrew Bible). Abel’s brother, Cain, murdered him in a field, while the king of Judah ordered Zechariah to be stoned to death in the courtyard of the temple. The religious leaders of Jesus’ day had the same evil intentions in them as these murderers before them.

Jesus ends this part of the warning with an ominous statement: “Truly I tell you, all this will come on this generation.” He knew the rejection of God’s chosen messengers by the religious leaders would continue. And they would be judged for it, along with the Jewish masses who went along with them. The temple was destroyed in AD 70, about the length of a biblical generation and approximately 40 years after Jesus’ earthly ministry had concluded. The Jewish people remained scattered across the world until the early twentieth century, when political movements began paving the way for their return to the land historically connected to their ancestors.

Today, there are faithful men and women enduring the same kinds of persecution described in these verses. We need to join with them by faithfully praying for them. I encourage you to utilize the multitude of resources online to help you pray specifically for persecuted believers.

Under the Wings

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 23:37–39

Atthe end of this relentless attack on the character of the Jewish religious leaders, Jesus closes with these words. He states the name Jerusalem twice. This repetition was normal in Jewish texts. Jesus is targeting the spiritual condition of the city that represented the entire nation and was led by the Pharisees and teachers of the law. We have already looked at how they treated the prophets whom God had sent in the past.

Let’s transition to this imagery of a hen gathering her chicks under her wings. You can immediately see this in your imagination because you’ve probably seen it in person or in a photo or video.

In a few notable Jewish traditions, it is said that God has his people under his wings. Moses reminds the Israelites, “You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you

on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself” (Exodus 19:4). In Deuteronomy 32:11, Moses eloquently states that the Lord is “like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them aloft.” There are also numerous examples in Psalms. Can you see it in your mind? Jesus calls on this imagery because the religious leaders knew it full well.

Jesus claims here that the religious leaders are running away from God and his loving protection. The Messiah (unrecognized by them) would soon be leaving the city and the temple (the setting for this chapter) for an untold number of centuries until his second coming. On that future day, “then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other” (Matthew 24:30–31).

Many people today have rejected the Savior. He offers salvation and permanent safety under his wings, protecting us from the sting of death because heaven and a sin-free existence await! We need to embrace this future by living more boldly by faith in the present. Even if we meet resistance, we know it is totally up to the prerogative of God as to whether or not he opens the hearts of the hard-hearted to the good news of Jesus Christ.

Breeding Fear

Because of the Pharisees they [the Jewish leaders] would not openly acknowledge their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue.

John 12:42

Nowthat we’ve navigated Matthew 23, it’s time to close out with a few events from near the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry. The most famous week in all of human history was just days away—the Passion week, as it is known today. Passover was coming, and Jesus was now in Jerusalem. Leading up to this, Jesus had been preaching, teaching, and healing for only a few years, yet his impact was growing. So was the opposition. Many did not believe, and emotions were running higher and higher. However, John 12 records that some, even among the Jewish leaders, did believe. If the disciples were hoping this was the breakthrough that would take the message of salvation to the next level, they would be sorely disappointed. The leaders didn’t become evangelists. Why not?

Verses 42–43 explains the reason, and you won’t be surprised that it had something to do with the negative influence of the Pharisees. John states that “they would not openly acknowledge their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved human praise more than praise from God.” Simply

put, the new converts were more focused on fear and human influence than faith.

It is a sad reality that these leaders were more driven by fear of the religious leaders than they were motivated by their newfound faith in the promised Messiah who had finally come. To put this into today’s context, how disappointing it is when a Christian fears persecution to the point of not letting their light shine (Matthew 5:16). Certainly, discernment is needed for believers in hostile countries and cultures. Yet Proverbs 29:25 reminds us that “fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.”

One of the defining moments of my life is similar to this account in John 12. I had the option of giving in to a religious leader due to a very real fear of him, or I could somehow summon the faith to take a stand and be obedient to what God was calling me to do. I recall the anguish of this decision, and I eventually landed on the reality of facing God one day. I just couldn’t live with knowing that, in a crucial moment in my life—perhaps the crucial moment, I caved to fear instead of being compelled by faith.

Let’s consider a previous moment in Jesus’ ministry. In Matthew 10, he is about to send out the twelve disciples in various directions to expand his supernatural ministry. He warns them that they will be handed over to the religious leaders to be flogged. They will also be betrayed, hated, and persecuted. Still, Jesus admonishes them not to be afraid. Listen to these keywords in verse 28: “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

We should not have an unhealthy fear of religious leaders and others who do not represent Christ in their hearts or actions. Instead, we should have a healthy awe and reverence for the only One who has the power to save souls.

Not in My House

On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’”

Mark 11:15–17

Imustbe honest with you. When I used to read this story, I assumed Jesus’ anger was toward the common merchants profiting off the temple sacrifices. Yet a bit of digging reveals more depth. We need to understand the context, and we will focus primarily on Mark’s account. (All four gospels make record of it, and John’s account is believed to be a much earlier instance of Jesus doing the same thing. No doubt, what took place in the temple courts wasn’t going to stop after one encounter with Jesus.) The Jewish temple was in Jerusalem, and only Jews could go in and worship there. Just outside was an area known as the Court of the Gentiles. It was estimated to be between two and three dozen acres in size, so this was not a small space. During Passover, cattle, sheep, and doves, all without blemish, were sacrificed as part of the ritual requirements.

Pilgrims from all over came for this special time, which meant they needed to exchange currencies, both to purchase the animals for sacrifice (at unfairly high prices) and to pay the temple tax (see Matthew 17:24–27). To top it off, apparently this area was a convenient cut through for people taking merchandise elsewhere.

On the day of his “triumphal entry” into Jerusalem in preparation for the Passover, Jesus surveys the temple courts (Mark 11:11). The next day, he heads back because it is filled with greed instead of godly activity. This is the moment of his greatest rage—a fulfillment of the prophecy in Malachi 3:1–3. Like a one-man demolition crew, Jesus makes a big mess and then scolds everyone. John’s account includes Jesus using a whip (2:15). Jesus also quotes Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7:11 to drive home his point. Then, in Mark 11:18, we read that the chief priests and teachers of the law (part of the Sanhedrin) “began looking for a way to kill him.” Why? Because it was the religious leaders who allowed and even promulgated these corrupt activities.

So, how does Jesus clearing the temple court have relevance to us today? We know that when he came, it changed everything. Observing the law and sacrificing animals could no longer take away sin (Hebrews 10:4), as God had made the ultimate sacrifice, his Son, once and for all. And the literal temple was no longer needed because he gives us the Holy Spirit to guide our daily living. Going forward, “your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. . . . You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.” (1 Corinthians 6:19–20; also 3:16).

This is our application for today. Do we honor God with all we think, say, and do? Or are we like religious leaders and vendors who have corrupted his temple—our bodies—by allowing all manner of sinful behavior to freely take place?

The Betrayer

Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve. And Judas went to the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard and discussed with them how he might betray Jesus. They were delighted and agreed to give him money.

Luke 22:3–5

Wementioned Judas in the introduction as someone you might immediately classify as an enemy of Jesus. After all, he is presented in the darkest of ways with the deepest of betrayals. The decision to turn Jesus over to the authorities became cemented in his heart at the Last Supper: “As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him. So Jesus told him, ‘What you are about to do, do quickly’” (John 13:27).

We already know from other Scripture that Judas was a compromised individual. He feigned moral outrage when Mary poured the expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet in the previous chapter. John reveals that Judas was in charge of the disciples’ financial resources and had already begun helping himself to it (12:4–6).

It was Judas who then guided the weaponized contingent to the garden of Gethsemane. Once Judas realized that Jesus was condemned to death, he experienced remorse, albeit far

too late (Matthew 27:3). Matthew records that Judas hanged himself (27:5), while Luke, who was also a physician, records the gruesome detail of what happened to his body afterwards (Acts 1:18).

Remember, however, who had been Jesus’ adversaries almost from the beginning of his public ministry: the religious leaders. They gave Judas 30 pieces of silver in exchange for turning Jesus over to them. To put this amount in perspective, this was the price for a slave in the Old Testament (Exodus 21:32). This is what they thought of Jesus.

After they seized him, it was the chief priests and elders who “made their plans how to have Jesus executed” (Matthew 27:1). It involved convincing the Roman authorities to crucify him. It was these leaders who “persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed” (verse 20). They further mocked him on the cross (verses 41–43). It was they who asked Pilate to secure the tomb so that Christ’s resurrection couldn’t be faked (verses 62–66). And it was these religious leaders who bribed the tomb guards to hide the fact that the resurrection had actually happened (28:11–15). At least Judas showed remorse. They did not.

In the 1930s there was a radio show about the comic book character the Shadow. Each broadcast began with the words “Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!” To put it in biblical language, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). Humankind is desperately sinful and desperately in need of a Savior. So, as fallen as the religious leaders were, the Messiah still had to die so that all might have the opportunity to live forever.

Some of the “Good” Ones

Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.” Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”

John 3:1–3

Justas the road to heaven is narrow and a minority of humankind enter it (Matthew 7:13–14), the same is true for the Jewish religious leaders during the New Testament era. And just as there have been secret believers in Christ throughout the centuries due to persecution, we can safely assume there were secret believers among the Sanhedrin. Certainly, among the men who had steeped their minds and hearts in the teaching of Moses and in the many prophesies surrounding their future Messiah there were those who would have had their eyes opened by the Holy Spirit to see that he had finally arrived. We know three of them by name, and we will also add a fourth that you know well:

• Nicodemus —the Apostle John described him as a “ruler of the Jews” who came to Jesus in the night. It was he with whom Jesus shared the path of salvation: “For God

so loved the world . . .” (John 3). There are two pieces of evidence that he became a believer. Nicodemus tried to convince the other religious leaders to hear Jesus out (7:50–51). He was also one of two men who came to the burial site of Jesus to care for the body (19:39).

• Joseph of Arimathea —the other man who came to the tomb with Nicodemus. We only hear about him in this one moment, but he is mentioned in all four gospels. Mark calls him “a prominent member of the Council (15:43).” Luke mentions he did not take part in the Jewish Council’s accusations against Jesus (23:51). Matthew (27:57) and John (19:38) refer to him as “a disciple of Jesus.”

• Gamaliel —a Pharisee and a teacher of the law who was well respected by the people. He was open to the possibility that Peter and the other apostles could be on a mission from God, so he warned the Sanhedrin that if this were the case, “you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God” (Acts 5:39). He also taught our next person before his conversion.

• The Apostle Paul —it may surprise some of you that he was a former Pharisee (Acts 23:6). He was as pious a Jew as they come: “circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless” (Philippians 3:5–6). Yet, he counted it all but “loss for the sake of Christ” (verse 7).

What I take from today’s study is that no one is too far from God. He can rescue those he wishes. We don’t know how or when he will move in someone’s heart. For this reason, we as Christians must assume that everyone can be reached—even those who oppose God and oppose us. Everyone needs to hear the lifesaving message of Jesus Christ.

Conclusion

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

Luke 15:1–2

Asa point of summary, the enemies of Jesus are more so the heart and actions that he detests rather than the individuals themselves. If I were to pick a moment or attitude that best represents the religious leaders of Jesus’ day, it would be one that exposes their feeling of pride and superiority like in the verses above. It demonstrates the exact opposite spiritual position that the heart must have to recognize and follow the Messiah. This attitude is diametrically opposed to servant leadership and the view we need to have toward the lost.

On two occasions in his Gospel, Luke lets the religious leaders expose their arrogance. In the passage above, Jesus goes on to share parables about a lost sheep, a lost coin, and a lost son to demonstrate his passionate pursuit of those who are lost and need finding, not those who think they are above the need of saving.

Luke’s other recording of this religious sentiment is after Jesus calls Matthew (Levi) to be one of his disciples. The leaders ask the other disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax

collectors and sinners?” (5:30). Jesus responds that he has come to help the sick, not the healthy, and the sinner, not the socalled righteous.

As a former Pharisee, Paul knew their prideful mindset well. His message in Romans 12:16 is clear: “Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.” It was pride that got the devil kicked out of heaven and the garden. Pride tops the list of sins that God hates (Proverbs 6:16–17). It is the antithesis of who Christ is and how Christians should behave.

So, I ask you today, humbly examine yourselves for any speck of leaven in your heart. Is there any measure of pride, hypocrisy, false righteousness, and legalism that needs to be dealt with once and for all? Do you ever twist Scripture to fit your own selfish desires? Do you elevate any traditions or other practices in your denomination or church to a higher place than they should be? Is your life marked by haughtiness or humility? Do you pray continually for the hard-hearted, or are you lulled to sleep by a daily life lacking spiritual fervor? These are the questions you should be genuinely asking yourself and the Lord about you.

How do you avoid displaying the traits and lifestyle of the enemies of Jesus? “Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 5:1–2). Love, servanthood, and sacrifice.

The Enemies of Jesus

Who were the enemies of Jesus? You might think of Roman officials like King Herod and Pontius Pilate. Or the angry mob who called for his crucifixion. You may even name someone specific like Judas, who committed the ultimate betrayal. Yet there was one group of people that Jesus consistently clashed with, spoke incredibly harshly to, and declared to be the real masterminds behind his death, at least from a human perspective. The Enemies of Jesus reveals specifically what Jesus detested about their hearts, words, and actions so that we can clearly understand how to walk in the way he loves.

Let’s face it, we have all failed Jesus at some point. Even his own disciples abandoned him at the most crucial hour. So how do we avoid resembling his enemies? “Follow God’s example . . . and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 5:1–2). Love, servanthood, and sacrifice. May this study inspire you to pursue a deeper relationship with the Savior who desires to call each of us “friend.”

About the author

Joseph Williams serves as CEO of Feed the Hunger, a Christian mission organization based in North Carolina. He is an ordained minister, has a Master’s degree in Ministry, and is currently pursuing his Doctorate in Ministry. He has been in full-time ministry for nearly 30 years, traveling for the sake of the Gospel to 45 countries. He has written numerous books, devotionals, and studies to help Christians grow in their walk with the Lord and to reach nonbelievers with the truth of Jesus Christ.