What would Matthew 23 look like today?
Matthew 23 is a very powerful chapter of Scripture. In that chapter, Jesus denounces the Jewish leaders of his day.
But, what would that passage look like today?
Dan at “Some Church Stuff” has written one possible account in his post “Matthew 23.” (A word of warning: Dan uses some language that some find offensive. If you think you might be offended by certain words, then just read my excerpt below.)
Note: Dan’s version is not like my “Scripture… As We Live It” remixes. He’s not modifying Scripture to show how we actually live contrary to what is written in Scripture. Instead, he’s wondering what that chapter would look like in a modern context.
This is how his version of Matthew 23 begins:
Pastors want to tell you what the Bible says, and a lot of what they say is true on a level but you couldn’t tell it from their lives because most of the stuff they talk about they don’t actually do. They weigh their followers down with all these insane rules and ridiculous expectations, but they don’t make any effort to help anyone. At the same time they make it look like they are always helping people. They do things like hand out giant checks to charity on the local news like some corporate America PR stunt, and they do all this because they want people to think they are awesome. They want people to look up to them and follow them and recognize them when they are at the grocery store and tell them how awesome they are and what great examples they are and what powerful teachers they are.
How close do you think Dan got with his version?
This man is clearly a heretic.
Stephanie,
Well, you know him better than the rest of us… 🙂
-Alan
I’m sure he learned his heretical ways from his “discipler”
I am sure you are right, Dan.
I cannot say that all pastors are like what is described above, but I can say that too many are. I was once under a pharistor (pharisee/pastor) who fit at least 75% of the description Dan wrote above.
I think the passage is a warning to all of us, though. How often has any one of us done something, with full consideration of how it would affect us? “If I do this for so and so, they will appreciate it this so much and they will throw their arms around me and be my friend forever…”, and the dream goes on. We love to see our name in print and to see it amid a story of top donors would really send chills up our necks. Oh, to be sure that the person sitting next to us sees us put that c-note into the offering plate and we want the media to be there when we stand among all those poor children.
The warning is clear – when a good work becomes more about me and my glory, it would be good for me to back off and humble myself. What I do I should do out of obedience to God and compassion for others. If someone draws attention to the deed, that is up to them. We should not act with attention, glory or praise as motive nor manipulate such attention.
I guess if I could be truly and purely humble, I would then be perfect (surely, I jest). Be blessed!
How close, nothing is truly new under the sun (SON). No differant than when Christ walked the earth, and if Christ were here today he would not be in the church today either. Hebrews 8 does a good job explaining this
Howard