Introduction: CBE: Day #6. Matthew 15-17
It's a hard lesson to learn, but deep down, we're all Pharisees because we all have 'Pharisee-hearts' that we that keep away from the spotlight. It's a Satanic-induced tendency to minimise and trivialise sin by redefining what is right and wrong (just like Adam and Eve were encouraged to do). Like the Pharisees, we think our personal sin can be personally managed, and so the Cross becomes unnecessary. Here the disciples begin to learn that their problem of sin is not just skin-deep; rather, 'the heart of the problem is the problem of the heart'. Our hearts need to be radically transformed, our hearts need to be saved. It's why we need a Saviour. It's why we need Jesus.
There's a very good reason why the Gospel writers record so many of Jesus' clashes with the Pharisees, as Matthew does in chapters 15-16: for as they hold up the mirror of the Bible to our hearts and lives, they expose the "Pharisee-mindset" in all of us. Like the original hypocritical Pharisees of Jesus' time on earth, we too have a natural tendency to (1) become pre-occupied with highlighting the sins of others while minimising our own (15:2); (2) to think we can engage in sin-management by devising our own super-spiritual rules that we know we can keep and which make us look better than those around us (v5-6,9) rather than owning up to our spiritual struggles with the higher demands of God's Law (v3-4); and (3) emphasise the importance of observing specific, superficial, religious markers that sit on the surface of our lives (v2; see also Mark 7:3-4), all the while ignoring the deep, root problem of sin which is found in and arises from our unclean hearts (v16-20). The cure for sin must address the core problem of our idol-making hearts.
In the next chapter Jesus further warns his disciples of the danger of this highly influential self-righteous thinking ("the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees", 16:8-12) - again for a hugely important reason: those with a Pharisaical mindset, egged on by Satan, find it impossible to accept the need of the Cross (v21-23), the very reason Jesus has come (note the "must"s in these verses). If, like the Pharisees, we mistakingly think we can endear ourselves to God by our zealous religiosity, then Jesus' death - and the mercy and grace of God that flows from Calvary - are unnecessary. We do not have in our minds the things of God (v23).
In God's mercy, He reveals to the disciples that their friend and Teacher, Jesus, really is the long-promised, God- appointed, Spirit-anointed Messiah, the Christ (16:15-17). But what sort of Messiah will He be? This is why they are to keep quiet (v20): before they spread the 'good-news' that the Messiah has arrived, they need to learn the unthinkable paradox of who Jesus is: on the one hand, He is the Christ who must die on a shameful cross to save His people (v21), a truth hard to take in (v22-23; see also 1 Cor 1:18-25). But on the other hand, He is also the Christ of true and brilliant glory (17:2-9). It is when we, like the first disciples, learn to trust in this Christ, that 'mountains can be moved' and the impossible achieved (v22-23).
It's a hard lesson to learn, but deep down, we're all Pharisees because we all have 'Pharisee-hearts' that we that keep away from the spotlight. It's a Satanic-induced tendency to minimise and trivialise sin by redefining what is right and wrong (just like Adam and Eve were encouraged to do). Like the Pharisees, we think our personal sin can be personally managed, and so the Cross becomes unnecessary. Here the disciples begin to learn that their problem of sin is not just skin-deep; rather, 'the heart of the problem is the problem of the heart'. Our hearts need to be radically transformed, our hearts need to be saved. It's why we need a Saviour. It's why we need Jesus.
In the next chapter Jesus further warns his disciples of the danger of this highly influential self-righteous thinking ("the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees", 16:8-12) - again for a hugely important reason: those with a Pharisaical mindset, egged on by Satan, find it impossible to accept the need of the Cross (v21-23), the very reason Jesus has come (note the "must"s in these verses). If, like the Pharisees, we mistakingly think we can endear ourselves to God by our zealous religiosity, then Jesus' death - and the mercy and grace of God that flows from Calvary - are unnecessary. We do not have in our minds the things of God (v23).In God's mercy, He reveals to the disciples that their friend and Teacher, Jesus, really is the long-promised, God- appointed, Spirit-anointed Messiah, the Christ (16:15-17). But what sort of Messiah will He be? This is why they are to keep quiet (v20): before they spread the 'good-news' that the Messiah has arrived, they need to learn the unthinkable paradox of who Jesus is: on the one hand, He is the Christ who must die on a shameful cross to save His people (v21), a truth hard to take in (v22-23; see also 1 Cor 1:18-25). But on the other hand, He is also the Christ of true and brilliant glory (17:2-9). It is when we, like the first disciples, learn to trust in this Christ, that 'mountains can be moved' and the impossible achieved (v22-23).
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