These posts will always be free, however, if you find them meaningful and would like to consider supporting our online outreach, you can donate using this link. Scripture: Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 4 They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. 5 “Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries[a] wide and the tassels on their garments long; 6 they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; 7 they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others. “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. The greatest among you will be your servant. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. 13 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. 15 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are. 25 “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 self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean. Consider: Do you remember trying out to make a team? Whether a sports team, or dance or theatre performance, or to get accepted into the school, or be part of a special project, event, elite group… you name it! Many of us are conditioned to work hard and be competitive and make that team because there are only a limited number of slots available. This puts us in the difficult situation of not just trying to be better at something, but to be better than the competition which could be a friend or a colleague. Then the results are published, and we may be disappointed not to make the team, or it can be a bit difficult not to get puffed up with pride when we do make it. Well, thank God that His kingdom is not like that! We need to shift out of the paradigm of competition and scarcity mentality. God’s kingdom is not out of anyone’s reach. When Jesus came, he dramatically changed the rules, in fact he turned the whole game upside down. Now, to be first you must be last, the exalted are humbled, the humbled are exalted, the greatest is the servant. Then He not only talked the talk, but He walked a walk that no one else would ever have to walk. He did it with the disciples when he wrapped a towel around his waist and washed their dirty, stinky feet, just like the lowest of servants. Then, He humbled Himself to be humiliated in the worst of ways by being crucified like the vilest of criminals. The problem for the Pharisees and the scribes, is that they had already invested and dedicated much of their lives to compete and make the team. They tried to elicit a standard which deep inside they knew they could not meet. But they were good at their game. They wore the uniform to be recognized. They thought they were on the team. They thought they had beat out the competition, and by setting the high bar they fended off the common who were not as good at their game. When we read a passage of scripture like this, it is easy to put ourselves in team Jesus, and “other” the Pharisees and the scribes. However, we need to understand the context and what they were doing and examine ourselves to identify where we may eliciting similar hypocritical behaviors. This is not an easy task, but we need to step off the soap box which only has room for One and consider how we may also be falling into this trap. The good news is that the kingdom of God is not a team with limited slots, and Jesus came so that the whole world might be saved through him (John 3:17). The warning to the scribes and Pharisees, and to us, is that we are not the dispensers of grace. We do not get to say who is or who isn’t worthy of receiving His grace. Just when we thought we had figured out this whole grace thing, Jesus turns around and pours it on the wrong guy (or so we think). But the one thing that really makes Jesus mad is when any of us “lock” anyone else out of His kingdom because they didn’t make the cut, they aren’t enough, because of how they vote, what they post, the hat or t-shirt they wear, the issue they support or oppose, who they love, or because their sin just happens to be more visible than ours. Jesus himself told us that his yoke is easy and his burden is light, so if we’re putting heavy burdens on people to make team Jesus, something is amuck. Respond: Where have we limited God’s grace? Have we excluded anyone out of God’s kingdom because they don’t meet a certain standard? Let’s examine ourselves and ask, who is Jesus calling me to love with his love? Pray: Father God, You are eternal and omniscient and your grace really is amazing and beyond comprehension. Give us a heart to love those who we find it hard to love. Help us to understand today, how we may be limiting your grace. Give us the humility to open our hearts to those who we misjudge as not enough or not worthy of your love. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wfpc.substack.com
