Unveiling the Irony of Spiritual Hypocrisy: A Reflection on Matthew's Insight
Matt. 27:6 And the chief priests took the silver pieces, and said, It is not lawful for to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood.
How thoughtful! Just look at their sensitivity to spirituality…they don’t want to put blood money into the treasury, because it’s not lawful; but of course, it’s ok to CRUCIFY THE PRINCE OF LIFE!! Really??? I don’t think so! Just think of the insanity behind this kind of logic.
This is the crowd Jesus was talking about when He said in Matt. 23:24, “Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.” How much crazier can it get? We’ve all known them; people who have much bigger problems of their own to deal with than what they choose to focus on. Maybe, just maybe, one of those people you know is the one in the mirror!
We have to be willing to ask ourselves the tough questions. We have to be willing to be harder on ourselves than we are on others. And we have to stop pretending to be so spiritual that we’re blinded to our own tendencies to, in essence, crucify the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame with our hypocrisy.
Back to our text; how can the chief priests be so blind that on one hand, they’ll bribe someone to betray someone so that they can get rid of him, while on the other hand, acknowledge that it would be just wrong to take the blood money and donate it to the church? We just can’t go there! So let’s get this straight, you’re ok with bribery, betrayal, and crucifixion, but you’re concerned with how it would look to put the wrong kind of money in the offering plate? Something is BAD wrong here!
And the sad reality is, this kind of stuff goes on in our churches all across the world all the time! There are people who pay their tithes and attend their churches, but then omit what’s really important, such as living with discretion, having mercy, and honoring God by walking in faith (see Matt. 23:23).
My prayer today is that God would help us not to be hypocrites. A hypocrite is indeed a hypocrite because of his misguided motives. He does not truly participate in religious activity because of his supposed “sincerity”, but really because he just wants to be seen in his act of religion at the moment, so that others will think more highly of him than they should. May God help us to repent of any hypocrisy in our lives immediately!
~ Pastor Gary Caudill
How thoughtful! Just look at their sensitivity to spirituality…they don’t want to put blood money into the treasury, because it’s not lawful; but of course, it’s ok to CRUCIFY THE PRINCE OF LIFE!! Really??? I don’t think so! Just think of the insanity behind this kind of logic.
This is the crowd Jesus was talking about when He said in Matt. 23:24, “Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.” How much crazier can it get? We’ve all known them; people who have much bigger problems of their own to deal with than what they choose to focus on. Maybe, just maybe, one of those people you know is the one in the mirror!
We have to be willing to ask ourselves the tough questions. We have to be willing to be harder on ourselves than we are on others. And we have to stop pretending to be so spiritual that we’re blinded to our own tendencies to, in essence, crucify the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame with our hypocrisy.
Back to our text; how can the chief priests be so blind that on one hand, they’ll bribe someone to betray someone so that they can get rid of him, while on the other hand, acknowledge that it would be just wrong to take the blood money and donate it to the church? We just can’t go there! So let’s get this straight, you’re ok with bribery, betrayal, and crucifixion, but you’re concerned with how it would look to put the wrong kind of money in the offering plate? Something is BAD wrong here!
And the sad reality is, this kind of stuff goes on in our churches all across the world all the time! There are people who pay their tithes and attend their churches, but then omit what’s really important, such as living with discretion, having mercy, and honoring God by walking in faith (see Matt. 23:23).
My prayer today is that God would help us not to be hypocrites. A hypocrite is indeed a hypocrite because of his misguided motives. He does not truly participate in religious activity because of his supposed “sincerity”, but really because he just wants to be seen in his act of religion at the moment, so that others will think more highly of him than they should. May God help us to repent of any hypocrisy in our lives immediately!
~ Pastor Gary Caudill