But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.
It’s easy to detach ourselves from these warnings as over time the Pharisees have become synonymous with hypocrites.* We do not place ourselves in their shoes easily. In the time of Jesus, this was not the case. The Pharisees were well-known, seen as in right standing with God, and respected. People desired to rank somewhere close to these famous holy people of their day.; to some degree, they wanted to be in their shoes* Jesus, in labeling them as hypocrites, went against a very unlikely target; no one would dare question them. Jesus did.
In observing the religious people of our day, Jesus does not have a problem with religious efforts; He has a problem with disconnected hearts.* Because the hearts of the Pharisees were far from God in their religious practices, hoping to impress people, they led others astray.* They were pretending holiness.
Jesus came on the scene to bring people into the Kingdom of Heaven. The Pharisees, as respectable leaders, pulled people from the gates of the Kingdom of Heaven by denouncing Jesus, thus leading people from Him.*
Where do our religious acts point people? Where are our hearts in doing them? Are our leaders leading us closer to Christ, or further away.
Today, take a step.
Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to ask Him if there is a place where you have been pretending holiness. Perhaps God wants you to think about if those religious leaders you have been following are bringing you closer to the things of God, or further from them. Maybe God wants you to allow Him to speak into the motivations of your heart to see if what you do is for Him or for someone else.
Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.
Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus. Take a step today… just one is fine.
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*Leon, Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew. Pillar New Testament Commentary (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1992), 578–579, and Keener, C. S., Matthew (Vol. 1, Mt 23:13–32).) (InterVarsity Press, 1997).