CHRIST is in the temple for the last time. He had warned the Pharisees and scribes and denounced their evil practises while at their table, invited there that they might find something whereby they might cause Him to be put to death. Now He addresses them and His disciples, saying, "The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat." The Jewish teachers stood up to read the Scriptures, but were seated when they expounded them. As persons exalted, they supposed themselves capable of acting in the place of Moses as interpreters of the law given by God.
"All therefore," continued Christ, "whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works; for they say [when teaching the law from the Scriptures], and do not." They did not bring their own works into accordance with the written Word. They enjoined upon others what they were to do, but their own teaching they did not practise. "For they bind heavy burdens [of requirements and exactions] and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works they do to be seen of men; they make broad their phylacteries and enlarge the borders of their garments, and love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogs, and greetings in the market-places, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi." Whatsoever good thing they do, whatever zeal they show, is not that they may obey and honor God, but to gain approval and respect for themselves, that others may think them pious and holy. Their phylacteries were strips of parchment, with scriptures written upon them, and were worn upon the wrists, the forehead, and the arms. But all this outward appearance of piety was, through their spiritual pride, only violating both the spirit and the letter of the law.
The oft-repeated "rabbi," was very acceptable to the ear, but Jesus warned His disciples against this. He said to them, "But be ye not called Rabbi, for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth; for one is your Father which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters; for one is your Master, even Christ."
"They Make Broad Their Phylacteries."
By these words Christ meant that no man is to place his spiritual interest under another, as a child is guided and directed by his earthly father. This has encouraged a spirit to desire ecclesiastical superiority, which has always resulted in the injury of the men who have been trusted and addressed as "father." It confuses the sense of the sacredness of the prerogatives of God.
Of this list of sins the scribes and Pharisees were guilty; and it was for this reason that Christ denounced them. "Wo unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men." And to the lawyers He said, "Wo unto you lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge; ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered."
Knowledge is the only key that will open heaven. The inspired John declares, "This is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent." A right knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ whom He hath sent is eternal life to all who believe.
"Wo unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayer; therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. Wo unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him two-fold more the child of hell than yourselves. . . Wo unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith; these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Ye blind guides, which strain at [out] a gnat, and swallow a camel. Wo unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first2that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. Wo unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
"Wo unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchers of the righteous, and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes; and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them ye shall scourge in your synagogs, and persecute them from city to city; that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily, I say unto you, all these things shall come upon this generation."
Anguish, deep and unfathomable, pressed upon the soul of Christ; and in the intense pain of unrequitted love He exclaimed, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee [not content to receive with indifference and spurning God's message sent by His servants unto thee, your enmity and hatred against God you have vented upon His messengers. You will not suffer them to live], how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wing, and ye would not." The same works that ye do to My messengers whom I send, will be reflected back upon you. Refusing to be gathered, you will realize what it means to be scattered, to be the despised of all nations.
"How often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen gathereth her brood under her wings, and ye would not." Christ's representation is a most striking one. He would have gathered her children together as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wing. He would have given them protection, they would not have been left defenseless. When the hen sees her brood is in danger, she calls them under her sheltering wings to protect them. She will resist any enemy that may approach. She will die rather than that those who have fled for protection under her sheltering wings should suffer. This will Christ do for those who fly to Him for refuge. He will gather His children together under His mediatorial wings, and there they will be safe.
