To Be Least

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and selfindulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean." (Matthew 23:25-26)

In this verse in which Jesus was talking, he makes some facts very clear. They did not practice what they taught. To put it simply, Jesus called them hypocrites.

"Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus." (Mark 3:6)

In the Ten Commandments, one of the commands is not to kill, or murder. Yet these teachers of the law, who knew the Ten Commandments, plotted and eventually succeeded in killing Jesus. This is a fine example of their hypocrisy. They taught the people to obey God, yet disobeyed his command to not kill. Again, they were hypocrites.

I agree with Keith, who said that what the Pharisees were doing was very dangerous. These men, if they continued on the same path, would end up entering hell. For as Matthew: 50-52, "He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Obviously these Pharisees, who were also hypocrites, were headed towards something very dangerous called hell.

As Christians, we should avoid becoming like Pharisees. Before we condone others for a particular sin, we should search our hearts and see if we are committing the sin.

However, we must be careful to understand what Jesus did not like about the Pharisees. He hated the fact that they were hypocritical, but he did not hate the fact that they taught. Read the following verse:“

The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach." (Matthew 23:2-3)

As you can see, Jesus told the crowds and his disciples that they should obey the Pharisees. But they should not be like them, because they did not do what they preach.

Jesus said to his disciples before he ascended into heaven, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." (Matthew 28:19-20) While we should not be hypocrites, we are commanded to teach others to obey Christ's commands.