PODCAST
Same Inside and Out
June 20th, 2017
Matthew 23:13-28
Jesus could be harsh when He needed to be, and His animus was often aimed directly at the religious establishment of His day. In Matthew 23 He constantly calls out the teachers of the law and the Pharisees as hypocrites! He pronounces judgement with an emphatic, “Woe to you!” seven times in Matthew 23.
Why would Jesus be so upset? Because, He was fed up with the religious leaders of the day saying one thing and doing another. He was angry that they were leading others to destruction by their hypocrisy. Jesus used clear and ugly word pictures to describe the filth of those religious leaders.
Who would want to drink from a filthy cup that had been washed only on the outside, or use a dish that was clean only on the bottom? Jesus said to be sure to clean the inside, then the rest would be clean as well. Jesus even compared the teachers of the law and the Pharisees to tombs filled with rotting corpses and decaying bones, but all gussied up with a fresh coat of white paint on the outside.
Does our internal life match up to the gleam of what others see in us?
Author: Curtiss A. Hartley
