Jesus’ blood pressure seems to go up in Matthew 23. He is perturbed at the Scribes and Pharisees. The chapter contains a litany of “Woe to you…hypocrites!”

Before ripping into them, he prefaces it by saying, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted” in 23:12. Then he lights them on fire. He jiggity-jiggity-jacks them up.

He indicts them for

• not practicing what they preach (v. 3)
• tying people up and placing heavy burden upon them, but not lifting a finger to help them(v. 4)
• doing deeds to be seen by others (v. 5)
• shutting the door to the Kingdom of God in people’s faces (v. 13)
• not understanding what makes something sacred (vv. 16-19)
• getting their priorities out of whack (vv. 23-24)
• being full of greed and self indulgence (v. 25)
• and being all-around spiritual schmucks.

I can imagine Jesus being on this roll. I can imagine myself, being there in the crowd, pointing my fingers at those hypocrites and thinking, “Take that you stupid Scribe!” or “Eat that you stinkin’ Pharisee.” Then, something happens, like when you read about wandering Israelites in the OT and shake your head, thinking, “What are you doing idiots?” only to realize you often act equally as idiotic in your own walk and life. At some point in the middle of chapter 23, those hypocrites from the 1st century fade away and I’m left there accusing no one. It’s just Jesus pointing his finger at me.

So then I’m faced with the hard questions like, “Am I practicing what I preach?” “Am I complying with the easy/ convenient parts of my life of faith, but neglecting the weightier ones such as justice, mercy, and faithfulness?” (Or better yet, am I picking and choosing who deserves justice, mercy, and faithfulness from me? Oftentimes it is considerably easier to me to extend more grace to a perfect stranger than it is to a family member or close friend.) “Am I straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel?” “Does how the outside of my cup looks worry me more than the inside of my cup?” “Are my insides full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness?”

These are not easy questions to answer? As inconsistent as we tend to be as finite beings, our answers might vary day to day, hour to hour, minute to minute. But they are questions worth contemplating. They are questions that deserve honest reflection. They are questions that should make us uncomfortable. Uncomfortable enough to run to the Comforter.

Looping back to the statement Jesus prefaces this spot-on-spirit-filled-rant by, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted” is a something we must bear in mind. How could we dare exalt ourselves if we consistently ask ourselves theses questions? These questions and this account of Jesus publicly humbling the Pharisees who were exalting themselves should serve as a sobering reminder and a means by which God humbles our own hearts before we exalt ourselves to the point of hurting others and negatively impacting the kindgom of God.