103 posts 8/27/2007 6:58 am
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8/27/2007 7:02 am
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Denunciation of the Scribes and Pharisees... reflect
Denunciation of the Scribes and Pharisees... reflect
Notice that in the gospel reading, Jesus twice calls his opponents hypocrites. The term in Greek is hupocritai. Originally, the word hupocrites was a theatrical term meaning “actor.” In Matthew gospel, it comes to refer to people who behave falsely; false interpreters of Scriptures, false religious leaders who fail in their responsibility.
Legalism and hypocrisy are naturally connected, I am legalist when I used the law to hide my true self. In other words, I obey the letter of the law (knowing all the time that I am really disobeying the spirit of the law) and thus appear to be righteous and honest. But all this playacting is aimed at concealing the fact that I am not the honest person I appear to be. Legalism gives the illusion of holiness, but no substance. Its greatest danger is that in the long run it can deceive me into believing in my phony holiness. Then salvation is rejected as unnecessary. When such a condition of spiritual ruin has been reached, only the strongest of shock treatments has any chance of bringing me back to my senses. That is precisely what Jesus is attempting here. In a wrenching effort to save the hypocrites facing him, he insults them and tears away their masks in the hope of shaking them from their complacency. His violent attack is here a desperate act of love.
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365 Days with the Lord
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