Venturing on to the
twenty-fifth verse, and not allowing for a breach in the continuous stream of
thought, Jesus can be heard continuing to speak about the Temple and its
corrupt rulers (though those who were Pharisees were not necessarily Temple
authorities, nor is this necessarily true of the experts in the law, but they
would represent that which stood behind the laws and traditions, which was the
Temple) when He says “Woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees,
hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside
they are full of greed and self-indulgences. Blind Pharisee! First
clean the inside of the cup, so that the outside may become clean too!” (Matthew
23:25-26) Though a personal application is surely intended here, one should
not allow the personal and individual application to completely override the
major focus of the woeful discourse that is on offer from Jesus.
With yet another
statement that could be dually applicable to individual and Temple, Jesus adds
“Woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You are
like whitewashed tombs that look beautiful on the outside but inside are full
of the bones of the dead and of everything unclean. In the same way, on
the outside you look righteous to people, but inside you are full of hypocrisy
and lawlessness (23:27-28). Piling on and making sure that it is well
understood that Jesus still has the Temple not only as the setting (in view of
His judging speech), He adds “For this reason I am sending you prophets and
wise men and experts in the law, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and
some you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town, so that on
you will come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood righteous
Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the
Temple and the altar” (23:34-35). With the close of this statement, Matthew
and Jesus provide a reminder of the earlier mentions of Temple and altar,
giving this portion of the statement even greater weight as it relates to the
pronounced judgment. Jesus then adds: “I tell you the truth, this
generation will be held responsible for all these things!” (23:36)
Now, what would His
hearers have understood by “this generation”? Most likely, they would
have understood that phrase in its very plain and literal sense of “this
generation,” meaning those that were hearing him would be held responsible for
what has been outlined throughout His discourse---they would experience that
which represented the Creator God’s judgment. Jesus then goes on to say,
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent
to you! How often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen
gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would have none of it!”
(23:37) Then, while standing in the Temple courts, Jesus makes yet
another very clear reference to the Temple, continuing His speech to Jerusalem
and saying “Look, your house is left to you desolate!” (23:38) The house,
of course, is the Temple---the house of God.
The desolation of the
house could be a backwards and then-present reference to the fact that the shekinah
glory of the Creator God had never rested in this particular Temple from the
time that it was rebuilt in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah (though it was an
ongoing project), or it could be a forward reference, encompassing the
generation to be held responsible and pointing to the desolation of the Temple
that would also be its destruction. Though both are probably legitimate
inferences to be drawn from the statement, Matthew’s narrative seems to clearly
point toward the latter, as he moves his audience onward to learn that “as
Jesus was going out of the Temple courts and walking away, His disciples came
to show Him the Temple buildings” (24:1).
No comments:
Post a Comment