It could be said in
Jesus’ day, concerning the Sanhedrin, the judicial and religious authority of
Israel, that if it wasn’t for its hypocrisies and legalisms (HALs, or hypocrites and legalists (the Pharisees and the Sadducees), the HALs would have
had no standards at all. They were self-serving, self-righteous, and hyper-hypocritical;
all but a few among their ranks hated Jesus and wanted to see Him dead. But
Jesus did not come to drain the political swamp of Israel or overthrow the
yoke of Rome, or solidify the status quo of the power and control base of the Jewish leadership.
He came as a spiritual Savior to address the penalty of sin of the sons of Adam.
In the eyes of the
Jewish leaders of Israel, however, Jesus didn’t fit the Messiah profile; they
were looking for a political redeemer. There was absolutely no need for a spiritual Messiah to
deliver them from the bondage of sin in their opinion. Jewish elitists boasted
of their lineage of being the sons of Abraham (cf. Jn 1:13 8:39; Gal 3:7); the real sinners were the Gentiles, the Romans in particular, the half-breed
Samaritans, law-breakers (Mosaic and Rabbis), and those with physical defects or
mental or physical health issues (cf. Jn 9:34), and fake Messiahs! The more they attempted to disqualify Jesus as the Messiah, the more they qualified Him! What they wanted was a political
savior to break the yoke of the Gentile occupier of Israel, Rome. Then the Sanhedrin would have absolute power over its people, or so they thought.
Their hope for the
Messiah was anybody but Jesus, who could successfully rid the Gentile scourge
from their country. His miracles validated that He was truly the Son of God as
foretold by the prophets, centuries beforehand, but the Sanhedrin attributed all
of His miraculous works to Beelzebub! In their willful spiritual blindness,
they could not envision Jesus as the Messiah due to unbelief (cf. 2 Cor 4:4).
When Jesus was crucified, the Sanhedrin was convinced that this Jesus of Nazareth
was not the long-awaited Messiah for it was unthinkable that the Jewish Messiah
would die like a common criminal on a cross. This belief persists today.
Let’s take a look at an
incident of stupefying self-importance and self-righteousness in action in Jesus’ day. Jesus and
His disciples just came across the sea of Galilee and anchored in Gennesaret. Word got out and people were flocking from everywhere to see Jesus because they were in need of healing,
And as many as touched Him were made well (Mk 6:56).
There were some
Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem who were experts in the washing of hands that approached Him. And
they found fault – unwashed hands (Mk 7:1-2, Oh, my God!)! Jesus’ disciples were not
washing their hands in a special way according to the traditions of the elders
(Mk 7:3-4); Jesus and His troop were in trouble now!
The HALs had to ask Jesus,
Why do Your disciples
not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed
hands (Mk 7:5)?
Jesus could have
given a multiplicity of examples. But here are three biggies that the HALs would emphatically disagree with Jesus on. I am not surprised in
the least that even some believers struggle with this, for hypocrisy and
legalism are rampant.
1. True worship is based on God’s
Word, not the doctrine of men that contradicts it (Mk 7:7).
2. God’s Word is rejected
when the traditions of men usurp the divine authority of the Word (Mk 7:9).
3. The heart of man is already
defiled (Mk 7:20-23). Defilement was being treated in a physical way by the
Jewish leadership. Defilement was about the heart, not the stomach!
The HALs were of the mindset that if you wash your hands right your heart is right! It was all about
keeping the rules of a religion gone rogue by honoring their traditions over
the commandments of God. This kind of Pharisaical mindset is as scary as it
gets. This religious order was about voluminous rules and meticulous
rule-keeping and regulations upon regulations, a thick batch of religious bureaucratic
minutia.
It is quite the opposite in Christianity; it is not about rule enforcement;
rather, the focus is on a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. This is not about
being in bondage to the law or man’s traditions but freedom with a responsibility
that does not conflict with the Word of God. The Sanhedrin playbook
codified, cuddled, and coddled the fastidious keeping of their rules at all
costs, and if you got an ailment or infirmity, it could be interpreted as
having a faith fault or some sin in your life.
As spiritually numb
as Nicodemus was in his covert meeting with Jesus with his incredulous question
that revealed that he was stuck on the physical plane (Jn 3:4), his unbelief
was shielding his view of the spiritual reality of regeneration. Jesus knew
Nick’s heart, but you got to kind of wonder if Jesus thought, “Nick, really?
You are a spiritual leader in Israel?!” Jesus penetrated the barrier of Nick’s
own spiritual blindness with, “You must be born again” (Jn 3:3). He got it
before he left that night.
These representatives
from the Ministry of Self-righteousness in Jerusalem asked a very dumb and very revealing question leading Jesus to answer in such a way that struck at the
very condition of the heart of the spiritual leadership in Israel. Mark records the liturgy of the lost in this way,
He
answered and said to them, Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as
it is written: THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR
FROM ME (Mk 7:6).
In the eighth century B.C., the prophet Isaiah prophesied this! It was as certain as it is written. These were not the words of a redactor
centuries later, but it came from Isaiah himself because Jesus said so,
Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites
Talk about authority, accuracy, authenticity, approval, and amen
and amen! Isaiah prophesied, according to Jesus, “of you hypocrites (Mk
7, emphasis mine).” The HALs thought they treated and held
the law of Moses as sacred when in reality they held it in contempt by treating
their traditions more authoritative than the Word of God itself! These spiritual hucksters discovered all kinds of violations of washing dishes improperly! If they had not come by, the disciples of Jesus would have been defiling themselves! Isn’t the providence of God good!
This was a damaging indictment of the spiritual leadership of
Israel. Jesus charged them as being “hypocrites” (Gk, hupokritōn, occurring 20x
in NT) or spiritual phonies, counterfeits, pretending to be what one is not;
does fake strike a word of familiarity?
Hupokritōn comes from
Greek drama of an actor portraying a character in the Grecian theater. The
HALs “followed the traditions of men because such teaching required
only mechanical and thoughtless conformity without a pure heart” (The
MacArthur Bible Commentary on Mk 7:6).
HALs never promoted mercy, justice, and equity then
or now. Jesus brought the blessing of conversion when He stepped off the boat
onto the shores of Galilee to be a blessing. This Jewish delegation brought
only the baggage of criticism down with them from Jerusalem, including instructions on the observance of Dishwashing 101.
We could gather a list of hypocritical things concerning the
spiritual leadership of Israel from the twenty appearances of hupokritōn in
the NT as well as from the interactions of the HALs with
Jesus, His apostles, and disciples. Isaiah prophesied the essence of a
hypocrite in Isa 29:13 under inspiration though he never actually used the word
for hypocrite in that passage Jesus cited in Mk 7:6-7.
Who would be so arrogant
as to contend Jesus’ own interpretation of His own words given to Isaiah! Of
the 8 occurrences of the Hebrew word translated hypocrite (haneph) in the OT, Isaiah did use haneph (hypocrites) in referring to the leaders and those that
followed them. Let’s read Jesus’ citation of Isaiah in Mk 7,
He answered and said to them,
Well did Isaiah prophesy of you
hypocrites, as it is written: THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR
HEART IS FAR FROM ME (v6).
AND IN VAIN THEY
WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE COMMANDMENTS OF MEN (v7).
God sees the hypocrisy behind their mask of religiosity because
He looks on the heart (cf. Jer 17:9, 10). This hypocrisy is two-fold: false
worship and false standards.
Mk 7:6 teaches us that we can only gauge
a person’s spirituality by the fruits which is an outer reflection of the
inward man (see what I call inevitable fruit, Mt 7:20 (cf. Jas 2:18), but God
knows when they appear to other men to be close to God by their lips; He knows the
heart is far away from Him, an unviewable thing to others (Jer 17:10).
Far from Me is as far as hell is from heaven in this context, humanly
un-traversable; only grace through faith not of works could bridge the chasm
between the lost and the saved (Eph 2:8-9). Far from Me
for the believer is living a life unworthy of repentance (Mt
3:8); it would only constitute a break in fellowship with God not a loss of
salvation. 1 Jn 1:9 remedies that spiritual condition immediately. Even in our
sense of “alienation” due to disobedience, God never leaves us nor forsakes us
(Heb 13:8). Satan employs the “judge not” card in an attempt to foil the charges
against those acting pretentiously pious.
Both honor and hypocrisy originate from
the heart, and out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks (Mt 12:34).
Since we cannot look upon a person’s heart, all we are left with to discern a
person’s spirituality are the fruit of their words and actions. Faith without
fruit is dead (Jas 2:17). The fruit of righteousness does not come from a dark
heart (Mt 7:16-19). This is why Jesus said,
Therefore
by their fruits you will know them (Mt 7:20).
This applies to religious folk, too! Jesus continues,
Mt 7:21 – Not
everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but
he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
Mt 7:22 – Many
will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name,
cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?
Mt 7:23 – And
then I will declare to them, I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice
lawlessness!
I think we will be
surprised who is not in heaven one day because of the promulgation of the prosperity gospel, God is
love (human affection, not agape) doctrine, acceptance (“We just love
everybody”) doctrine, and the judge-not doctrine that had bullied and intimidated believers by being treated as “self-righteous isolationist, fundamentalist, Bible
thumpers, unloving, insensitive, uncaring,” or being associated with the
“crazies,” as one IRS official described Christians during the Obama
administration.
Rather than being
separate from sinners, there is the motivation to intermingle to be accepted by
the world. The problem with that is we are disobedient when we are bound with
unbelievers (2 Cor 6:17; Heb 7:26). Often churches split not because of
holiness but rather over control of the congregation in the name of “holiness.”
The greater the “holier than thou” the greater the need to control the plethora of man-made rules and regulations, keeping to the traditions of
faulty interpretations of Scripture to keep the flock in check.
When “holiness”
declines among the congregation, the tighter the grip is to preserve that which
is deemed “holy.” It inevitably becomes stifling and unbearable. Ironically,
it’s the unholy controlling the “holy.” Some split over fundamental doctrines,
but this is not as common as over this matter of flock control. There is this
grandiose attitude among spiritual leaders, here and there, that “we are the
last remaining keepers of the truth,” as if the light of the truth can only be
seen as long as the self-proclaimed, “Keepers of the Flame”, keep vigil over it;
people like the HALs, for instance! HALs are not your pals!
Legalism never
promoted mercy, justice, and equity in Jesus’ day or now. We should be able to
smell legalism (“legalized” hypocrisy) a mile away and immediately recognize
it and rid ourselves of it should it come knocking on our door. Why should
we invite grace killers into our hearts or tolerate them for one second in our
place of worship?
Love (agape)
has standards; sadly many fail to recognize today that those standards are
in agreement with being holy as God is
holy. He who stands for nothing falls for anything, right? But we have to stand
for the right things sourced in Scripture that promote genuine godliness, not
man-made rules and regulations.
Those HALs who were concerned more about washing a certain way before eating were
nothing more than ungodly grace killers who came from Jerusalem down to
Gennesaret to challenge the lavishly dispensing of grace by Jesus to all who
came into contact with Him, literally!
The people were
desiring just to touch the hem of Jesus’ garment to be healed! Hell (cf. Mt
23:15) is what the religious leaders brought from Jerusalem to this little town
on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee, not hope, just a bunch of rules
and regulations that superseded God’s Word in their mind and was devoid of any fruit
of a personal relationship with God (Gal 5:22-23).
This, my friends, is the liturgy
of the lost, honoring God with the lips but the heart is far from Him.
God is Spirit, and those who
worship Him must worship in spirit and truth (Jn
4:24).
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