JERUSALEM WITH AUTHORITY

Matthew 20, 21　

When we began our walk to Jerusalem, Jesus took us aside and repeated again the reason why we were heading to the big city.

“I want to remind you about what will happen when we get to Jerusalem. The Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death. Then I will be handed over to the Gentiles, and they will judge me and after inflicting punishment on me, will crucify me. But my death will not be the end, for on the third day the Son of Man will be raised from the dead!

You don’t believe me, do you? You don’t understand what I am talking about, do you? No matter how often I tell you this, you don’t seem to grasp the reason for this means of salvation and redemption. Believe me, this is the Father‘s will.”

As we continued on our way the mother of James and John, two of the apostles, approached Jesus with a request. She even knelt down before him.

“What is it you want from me?” Jesus asked her.

“I want to make a little request, only one,” she said. “I would like to ask that you give my sons, James and John, the places of honor when you announce your kingdom. One can sit on your right and the other on your left when you arrive in Jerusalem.”
“You don’t really know what you are asking of me,” Jesus answered. He turned to James and John who were standing with her and asked them:

“Do you think you can drink the cup I am going to drink? Do you believe that you really know what will happen in Jerusalem?”

“Yes, we can,” they replied. “We believe in you. We are your disciples. We will always be faithful to you. Yes, we can drink from the same cup and follow wherever you go.”

Jesus looked at them again. “I can tell that you are serious about this. You are indeed my disciples and yes, you will drink from my cup. But to sit at my right and left in places of honor is not mine to give. This kingdom is the kingdom of God! Only my Father has the authority to bestow honors.”

When the other disciples heard about this request, we were all angry with James and John. We were not only upset, but jealous. Who do they think they are to ask for special privileges? Everyone of us thought that we should be recognized and rewarded! But Jesus helped us to overcome our envy and presumption and to deal with our folly. He looked at us each one and explained to us how things would be very different in the kingdom of God.

“Have you watched how people treat each other in the world? Have you seen how the rulers of the Gentiles scramble for power and lord it over everybody else? Most people plot and scheme for high positions. And when someone else is promoted, they envy them because they reason that they have been overlooked. The world around us is engaged in a continuous power struggle which leads to shoving, pushing, cheating, and manipulating people.. Selfish desires, rising from evil hearts, feed greed and ambition!

The kingdom of God will never be anything like that. Everything like that which takes place on earth will be reversed. The first will be last and yes, even the last will be first. The high will be brought low and the low will be lifted on high. Do you understand this? The kingdom of God is not given to those who are aggressive and succeed because they fight for position and power. I reming you again that the kingdom is for the poor in spirit, the humble and the merciful, the pure in heart and hose who live in peace. The kingdom does not promote hatred and malice, but compassion and kindness. It is a place for holiness and humbleness.

You call me Lord and Master and you are right, because that is who I am. But have you noticed that as your Lord and Master, I have been among you as a servant? That is how you are to love one another, even as I have loved you. I am among you to demonstrate how life is to be lived - now and in the kingdom of God!

But I am also here for another reason. I have come to give my life as a ransom for many. The Son of Man will offer himself as the atonement for the sin of the world. This is the holy will of God, and I must fulfill it. This ‘ransom for many’ means salvation, redemption and the forgiveness of sins.

Let me say it plainly. Because of my crucifixion the sacrifices on the altar in the temple will come to an end. There is no need to continue blood offerings, when the Lamb of God takes away the sin of the world. This ’Lamb’ makes an end to all necessary sacrifices for sin.

But there is more - the will of God is not “my fate.” The will of God is not a command from which I cannot escape. I am not being forced to submit to the cross or compelled to drink this cup of death. No, I choose to obey my Father and to drink the cup. I choose the cross freely, since there is no merit in a sacrifice of duty or obligation. I choose to cooperate with the redeeming purpose of my Father in love and obedience.

Now as we are approaching Jerusalem, I want two of you to go into the village ahead of us. On the main street you will see a donkey tied up to a tree with her colt. Untie both of them and bring them to me. If anyone objects and asks what you are doing, just say, ‘the Lord has need of them.’ They will allow you to take the donkeys. Bring them here.”

The disciples did exactly as the Lord had instructed. They returned with a donkey and a colt. We laid some clothes on them and Jesus sat on the young one that had never been ridden. As we neared the gates of Jerusalem, more and more people joined us and children also. They were shouting: “Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”

Having passed through the gates of the city, Jesus rode straight through the narrow streets to the temple grounds. Arriving there he looked around and was disturbed by the sight. Many goings on troubled him. Loud merchants were busy exchanging money and selling temple sacrifices. They were obviously profiting and taking advantage of the poor. The house of the Lord had become a circus. Jesus could not accept the desecration of the temple. He overturned the tables of the money changers, flushed out the animals and drove the merchants and greedy priests from the temple grounds.

“It is written my House will be called a house of prayer,” Jesus shouted, “but you are turning it into a den of thieves. This is not what the holy God commands! This is not what God expects! How can you take advantage of people and stuff your pockets in this sacred place?”

Needless to say, the actions of Jesus angered the religious leaders. But others like the blind and the lame and needy people surrounded him and he touched and healed them by the power of the Spirit. Even some children who were watching became excited by all this and they shouted for joy when they saw these signs. “Hosanna to the Son of David,” resounded all over the temple!

This infuriated the priests and teachers of the law even more. “Do you hear what these children are shouting?” they screamed at Jesus. “Do you hear? Tell them to be quiet and stop all this racket.”

Jesus answered the priests: “Yes, I hear what these children are saying. But have you not read the word of God? Do you not remember what the Scriptures teach? Let me remind you: ‘From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise.’ So I say, allow them to praise God! Don’t stop them. I will always welcome little children!”

With that we left the temple and went out to Bethany for the night. But the next day Jesus decided to return. The religious leaders were expecting him and were very upset with him. No wonder. Jesus had interfered with their lucrative business. Their profitable temple market had disappeared.

They were furious: “By what authority are you doing these things? How can you rid the temple of animal sacrifices that are ordained by God? Are we not supposed to offer sacrifices to God?” They were blunt, even belligerent. “Who gave you this authority to act as you just did, in our sacred temple?”

Jesus realized that he did not want to argue with them. If he had replied that his Father gave him this authority, they would have flatly contradicted him. After all, they were the servants of God, and not this outsider from Galilee. This is how Jesus handled their loaded questions:

“I will also ask you something. If you answer my question, then I will answer yours - your question about who gives me authority to do what I did. Here is my question. You remember John who was preaching and baptizing at the Jordan river? Some people called him a prophet and went out to hear him. My question is this: from where did John the Baptist receive his authority? Was it from heaven or was it of human origin?”

They were at a loss how to answer him. They discussed it among themselves. “What are we going to tell him?”  “I don’t know.”  “What do you think?” “All right. Here’s what I think.” One of the priests took over. “If we say, ’from heaven,’ he will ask us, ’then why didn’t you believe him?’ But if we say, ’the authority came from human sources,’ the people won’t like our answer, and they will turn against us. So, we’ve got a problem here.”

“We sure do.”  Then they said to Jesus: “To be honest, we are unable to answer your question. We don’t really know from where John received his authority.”

“Then I don’t need to answer your question either,” Jesus said. “But wait a minute. I will tell you a story and you tell me what you think about it. There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said: ‘Son, go and work today in my field.’

‘No, I’m not going to,’ the son answered. ’I won’t do that.’ But a little later he changed his mind, and he actually went into the field.

In the meantime, the father approached the second son. He asked him the same thing. That son was more positive: ‘I will go, Sir. You bet, you can count on me.’ But then he didn’t go. He busied himself doing something else and never acted on his promise. My question to you is this: which one of these two did what his father wanted? What do you think?”

“That’s not a difficult question,” they answered. “It’s quite obvious. The first son did his father’s will. Even though he objected at first, he did go to work in the field.”

“You are absolutely right,” Jesus replied. “Now a moment ago, we were talking about the ministry of John. When John came preaching righteousness, people traveled to hear him from everywhere. Even tax collectors who work for the Romans and prostitutes whom you have written off as sinners. They came from many places and they repented. They were baptized, and that is how they have entered the kingdom of God!

These forgiven sinners are like the son who said to his father, ‘I won’t go into your field,’ but he did anyway. They disobeyed and rejected God in the past, but now they have been converted, and they believe.  As for you religious leaders, you consider yourself the servants of God and are confident that you have faith. You promise the Lord, ‘I go, Sir,’ but you don’t go. No, you don’t. When John came preaching righteousness, you went to hear him, but you did not believe, even though the tax collectors and prostitutes did. You witnessed their conversions at the Jordan, but you did not change your ways. Why not? Because you don’t accept that John’s authority was given him by God, do you? I ask you, how else was John able to reach the outcasts and bring them to faith and new life? Yes, the authority for John’s ministry came on the prophet from God.

And now here is another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress and built a watchtower. In short, he did everything that needed to be done. Then he leased out the vineyard to farmers and moved away. With the coming of harvest time, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his portion of the fruit.  But these farmers didn’t behave well. They didn’t like the interference, so they seized the owner’s servants and mistreated them. One was beaten, another was imprisoned and another was physically abused.

Naturally the owner became upset with all this, but that did not stop him. He decided to send more servants, and the tenants treated them worse. They were hostile and aggressive and even killed some of those servants.  The owner wondered what he could possibly do next. Then he made his decision: ‘I will send my son,’ he said, ’surely, they will respect my son. I certainly expect them to receive him!”  But when the tenants saw the son, they conspired against him as well. They told one another: “You realize, don’t you, that this is the heir? Let’s take him into custody, and then get rid of him. We will have to kill him.”

“Good idea,” someone replied. “With the son dead and gone, the inheritance will become ours!”

“Exactly.” So they detained the son, threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

Now here is my question for you: “What do you think the owner of the vineyard will do when he returns to his property? How will he judge them?”

“He will bring those scoundrels to a miserable end,” they replied. “That’s is the right thing to do. And then he will rent out his vineyard to others, who will give him his true share of the crops at harvest time.”

“You are absolutely right,” Jesus answered. “And that is exactly what will take place. Now. Have you read this prophecy in the Scriptures? Do you remember: ‘The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. Anyone who comes to this stone in repentance and faith will be broken and saved, but on whoever the stone will fall, it will crush them completely.’

I will explain the parable to you. God is the Owner of Israel, the vineyard, and the chosen people are the tenants. The servants whom the Owner sends are the prophets of old. Those prophets were rejected and persecuted and some were put to death. Then the Owner sends his Son, and when the son comes, you scheme to destroy him also. Even now you are planning to do away with the Son of the Owner!

Therefore I tell you this: the kingdom will be taken away from you and given to others who will respect the Owner. So it will come to pass that ‘the stone which the builders rejected, becomes the cornerstone!’ The kingdom of God is to be taken away from you and given to those who will honor the Owner.

Now, this conversation started with a question about my authority. The answer to that question is also found in this parable. Do you see it? The owner of the vineyard sends his son to the tenants. You have heard me say more than once, I have come from the Father into the world. My Father is the one who has given me authority, but you do not believe me. You refuse to come to me. You study the Scriptures because you think that in them you will have eternal life. But these very Scriptures testify about me! How can you believe when you eagerly look for admiration from one another and for praise from people, when you do not seek the honor of the heavenly Father?

Now, here is my last parable for today: The kingdom of God is like a king who prepares a wedding banquet for his son. Yes, this is another story about the son of a king. The king sends servants to all those invited to the banquet imploring them to attend. But they not only fail to respond to the invitation, they deliberately ignore them and refuse to attend.

Then the King sends more servants and insists that they apply more pressure: “Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner. My oxen and fattened calves have been butchered, and everything is ready. This is a great occasion! Come, join in our celebration. All are welcome! Repent and believe the good news, for the festivities are about to begin.”

Again, they pay no attention. Some send their excuses. ‘I need to go out to a field I have just purchased. I need to see it. This is something I cannot put off.’

‘I‘ve promised my family a ride in the country this weekend. I can‘t disappoint my children. Sorry, but we simply cannot make it.’

‘I’m getting married in the morning and we will be on our honeymoon. It’s all been planned. You understand that, don’t you? You must excuse us. We cannot come to your wedding.”

Some of those who were invited became hostile and slaughtered the servants of the king. In justice the king sent his army to destroy those murderers and burned down their city.  Still the king carried out his plans for his son’s wedding and informed his servants: “The wedding banquet is ready. We will not cancel it, but those who were invited will not receive another invitation. Go out into the villages and the towns wherever you can find people. Urge them to come, one and all. It doesn’t matter whether they are good or not so good, rich or poor, smart or not. I want this hall to be filled for my son’s wedding!”

And so it came to pass that all kinds of people responded. They were seated at the festive tables, when the king entered to welcome the guests. He looked around and saw someone who was not wearing proper wedding clothes. The man looked like he had come straight from work. He had not even washed or cleaned up.

The king walked over to him and said, “My friend, how did you get in here without the proper clothing? Why are you looking like a slob?” The man was speechless.  The King told the attendants: “Tie up his hands and feet, and throw him outside into the darkness. I assure you that at the judgment there will be weeping and the grinding of teeth.”

You see, many are invited, but few are chosen.

CONFRONTATION AND CONCERN

Matthew 22, 23

After Jesus cleaned out the temple area, the religious leaders were irritated whenever Jesus came to teach in the temple grounds. They wanted to discredit him before the people, and they schemed how they might trip him up by raising difficult and convoluted questions.

First off appeared some of the spiritual Pharisees, who brought the Herodians with them. The Pharisees and Herodians are not really friends nor do they agree on much of anything. The Herodians are more political than religious in their views and they support king Herod. Not so the Pharisees.

“Teacher,” they began, “we know that you are a man of integrity. You explain the way of God in sincerity and in accordance with the law. You are not swayed by people, because you can see right through them.” It was obvious that they were trying to flatter him. “Tell us therefore, what is your opinion about paying taxes? Is it right to give the imperial tax to Caesar, or is it not necessary? What do you advise?”

Jesus saw through the problem at once. This question could not be answered, ‘yes, it is right’ or ‘no, it is not right.’ They backed him into a corner. If Jesus speaks out against paying taxes to the Romans, the Herodians will report him, and he will be arrested. If on the other hand, he insists that the Israelites contribute taxes to Caesar, then the people will consider him a pawn of the Romans, a false teacher. They will stop coming to listen to him.

“You are hypocrites!” Jesus answered. “You are trying to trap me into a yes or no answer, aren’t you? And you realize that neither a ‘yes or no’ is possible! I’ll tell you what - let me see the coin you use to pay the tax.”

They brought him a coin. He laid it in the palm of his hand, showed it to them and asked: “Whose image do you see here? Whose inscription?”

“Caesar’s” they replied.

“Of course. Therefore give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar.” He paused for a moment, but before they could argue with him, Jesus added: “And give to God what belongs to God!”  That stopped them cold. They had not expected that twist to their question. As they walked away, the Sadducees approached him with a far different problem. The Sadducees are very liberal in their beliefs. For instance, they don’t believe in the resurrection from the dead, and they decided to test Jesus on a belief in resurrection, and fabricated an implausible situation.

They started like this: “Teacher, we want to ask you about something that Moses instructed us from the law. Moses taught that if a husband dies, and there are no children from that marriage, his brother must marry the widow. When children are born, he must raise them for his brother. Now there was a family of seven brothers. The first married a woman, but then he died before they had children, and so his brother did his duty and married the widow. But the brother also died and left the wife childless. Then the third brother took her to wife, but he also passed away. This continued all the way to the seventh brother. Finally the woman died also. You understand that all seven became husbands to this one woman. Now this is our question: since they all married her, whose wife will she be at the resurrection? Or to rephrase this question, if there is to be a resurrection of the dead, how can there be a fair resolution for all these seven brothers - in heaven?”

“I realize that you are asking this question because you don’t believe in the resurrection,” Jesus replied. “But you are wrong about that. When you do not accept what the Scriptures teach, you do not believe the Word of God, do you? Even more than that, by rejecting the resurrection from the dead you minimize the power of God. Do you not realize that God who made the world out of nothing can also bring life from death? Why do you place restrictions on the Almighty? Are you able to limit God? Is there anything God cannot do?

But there is something else I want to say to you. The kingdom of God will initiate a new and distinctive experience of glory. There will be no marriages in heaven, nor will there be giving in marriage. All who enter eternal life are like the angels in heaven. They will not be angels, but they will be like the angels in this, that they will not marry.

Furthermore about the resurrection of the body - have you not read what God says all through the Scriptures? God never states after the death of the fathers, ‘I was the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.’ God declares ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ It is plain to see that God is not the God of the dead, but God of the living!”

This ended the questioning, but only for the time being.. Soon the Pharisees returned with one of their legal advisors. This lawyer was a scholar, and he asked Jesus: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law of God?”

Jesus responded like this: “I realize that you are asking me a complex and often debated question. You surely know that God gave us ten commandments through Moses, but over the years devoted scholars have added six hundred more. You want me to choose only one from those six hundred, don’t you? All right, I will. This is the first commandment: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. And the second is like it: You are to love your neighbor as yourself. The entire law and the prophets are summed up by these two commandments.”

The lawyer accepted this answer, but he had not yet finished. “If you will allow me, Teacher, I would like to ask you a follow up question. Our scholars have debated this for centuries: ‘Who is your neighbor?” They have debated the meaning of ’neighbor.’ Now, what do you think? How far and how wide should we stretch ‘love of neighbor?’ In short, who really is my neighbor?”

“That is a good question,” Jesus answered. “So, I am going to tell you a story about a man who went down from Jerusalem to Jericho.”

“A man? Just any man?”

“Well, this man was an Israelite. You have probably heard that the road to Jericho is desolate and dangerous. This traveler fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothing, took all his money, and then they beat him up and left him half dead by the side of the road.

Now a priest came from Jerusalem and saw this poor fellow lying there. As soon as he noticed him, he looked the other way and walked around him. He suddenly remembered that he had many things to do and didn’t have the time to help. Then a Levite passed by on the road and also saw the man. He couldn’t miss him, but he ignored him and hurried past because he had an urgent appointment in Jericho. And then a Samaritan came..."

“Who?”

“A Samaritan. That’s what I said. Not an Israelite.”

“Really?”

“Yes. This Samaritan saw the injured man and stopped. He had pity on him, took out some of the oil and wine he was carrying, poured it on the wounds and bandaged the victim’s sores. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to the inn that is half way on that road, and paid for a room. He even made sure the man would rest comfortably that night. Before he left he actually gave the innkeeper more money and said, ’when I return I will pay you whatever other expenses you may need. Take good care of this poor fellow.’

Now since you asked, ‘who is my neighbor,‘ my question is this: Who of these three behaved like a neighbor to the man who fell among thieves?”

“Sir, you have changed the question on me, haven’t you? I asked you who should I consider my neighbor, and you tell me a story about someone who behaved like a good neighbor to someone. Obviously, he cared because he considered the victim was a human being and showed him mercy.”

“Of course. And now that you see what loving your neighbor really means, why don’t you go and do the same?”

As the crowd remained silent, Jesus raised his own question which he directed to the religious elite: “You look forward to the Messiah coming, don’t you? What do you believe about the Messiah? Whose son is he?”

“The Scriptures teach that the Messiah is the son of David,” answered the religious leaders.

“That is the answer I expected,” Jesus replied. “But is that all the Scriptures teach about the Messiah? If the Messiah is the son of David, how is it possible that David himself calls him ‘Lord?’ Yes, he does call him Lord. You read this in the Psalms: ‘The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.’ Do you realize that David is writing about God in heaven who is speaking to the Messiah on earth? And David calls him ‘my Lord!’ If therefore David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?”

No one was able to answer that question, and that’s when they stopped asking him anything else. But Jesus had not yet finished. He addressed the people who had nearly filled up the temple grounds because they wanted to hear his teaching. Jesus spoke fearlessly about the establishment. His words were convincing and disturbing!

“The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. That is why you must do everything they tell you. But do not follow their example, because they do not practice what they preach. They are good at placing heavy burdens on your shoulders. They insist that everyone must follow their instructions, but they are not willing to lift a finger to help anyone. It is plain to see that these spiritual teachers do not keep the law themselves.

Everything they do is for show. They want people to notice how devout and dedicated they are. That is why they enlarge the boxes they wear on their foreheads and on their arms. They lengthen the tassels on their clothing. They are show offs and want to impress you by their piety.

Watch them and see how they scheme to gain places of honor at banquets. They expect to receive the most prominent seats in the synagogues. They are eager to be looked up to and to be greeted respectfully in the marketplace and everywhere else. They insist that people address them as ‘rabbi’ and ‘reverend’ and ‘doctor.’

I want to make something clear to all who desire to be my disciples: Don’t be called ‘rabbi’ or ‘teacher.’ Don’t expect recognition. Don’t seek praise from people. When you become disciples, you are now brothers and sisters who belong to my family. You have only one Master, one Lord. Therefore you must not address anyone on earth as your spiritual ‘father,’ because you have only one Father, who is in heaven.

Neither are you to call anyone else ‘teacher.’ Why do I insist on this? Because you have one Teacher, and that is the Messiah. Remember what I have told you all along: those who desire to be great among you need to go all-out to become servants. Why? Because all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. Meditate on this way of life. Put it into practice, for I assure you that in the kingdom of God the first will be last and the last will be first!

As for you who enjoy the recognition that comes with being spiritual leaders, I realize that my words will disturb you. I intend to arouse you and awaken you to justice and righteousness and truth, so that you may truly serve the living God.

Woe to you, teachers of the law, you Pharisees and you hypocrites. You are frauds because you pretend to be something that you are not. You do not really believe what you profess to believe. You are deceitful, because you shut the doors of the kingdom in people’s faces, and then you yourselves don’t even enter in! And what is worse, you refuse those who want to enter, by standing in the doorway and blocking the entry against them.

You travel over land and sea to win one single convert. Then you go to great lengths to teach them, but with what results? You make the convert twice as much a child of hell as you yourselves are! You do not lift one finger to help produce character or humility or holiness. You turn your converts into prisoners of laws and legalities, but you don’t set them free so they can experience the grace of God.

Woe to you, spiritual leaders. You are blind guides who cannot lead the blind. That ought to be obvious - those who are without vision cannot help those who lack sight. All of you will stumble and fall into a ditch. You have turned the spiritual revelation from the God of Abraham into a slick religion of your own making.

Why is this true? You announce that if someone swears by the temple, it really means nothing, but if someone makes a pledge by the gold of the temple, it becomes a binding oath. What kind of distortion is that? You are blind fools who do not recognize what you are doing amiss! Ask yourselves, which is greater - the gold, or the temple that sanctifies the gold?

You insist when someone swears by the altar that it means nothing, but if someone vows by the gift on the altar that person is bound by the oath. What is that all about, you blind guides? What makes a gift sacred? The altar or the money on it? Isn’t it obvious that anyone who promises at the altar pledges by the altar and everything on it? It is the same when you swear by heave. You are making a promise by God’s throne and the Holy One who sits there.

That is why I accuse you of turning the revelation of the Spirit into a slick religion. That kind of religion will never save your soul. Only a holy, humble, spiritual faith leads into the kingdom.

Here is something else for you to hear, you who are teachers of the law, you hypocrites. You reduce to a form that which the Lord intends to become a force. I have watched you when you insist that people bring their tithes into the sanctuary. You are very legalistic. You order them to set aside one tenth of their spices, even miniscule amounts of mint, dill and cumin. How does this help anyone to live a holy life? What really matters in the service of God? What makes a difference for living as children of God? What are the essentials of the law? Do you ever ask those questions?

I will answer for you from the word of God. Remember what the prophet Micah wrote? The essentials of the law and of a godly life are faithfulness, justice and mercy. Have you forgotten those virtues altogether? You need to put faithfulness, justice and mercy into practice, without neglecting the lesser concerns of the law. But you seem to be blind as a bat when you strain out a gnat from your bowl of soup, and in the next course swallow a whole camel! That’s why I accuse you of reducing your religion to a form when it ought to become a force. What does the Lord require of you? A life of righteousness and justice, a life of mercy and truth.

There is more that I want you to hear, you teachers of the law. What do you think you are doing when you wash the outside of cups and dishes, but leave the inside full of greed and self-indulgence? What kind of hypocrisy is that? You busy yourselves with externals and neglect the values that can transform your hearts. First wash the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside will also become clean.

Don’t you understand that everything in life begins from within? Everything originates in your hearts! So, make the heart good, and your life will become good as well. Don’t try so hard to look respectable on the outside. Shift your emphasis to being redeemed from within, and you will certainly be changed. That is what a Spirit filled life is all about.

You teachers of the law, you hypocrites, you remind me of whitewashed tombs in your cemeteries. When you walk through a graveyard you see those tombs painted white and clean on the outside, but what is within? Those graves hold the bones of the dead which are decaying and rotting because of maggots and worms. And you who appear to be so righteous on the outside, are you covering up a heart of deception, wickedness and sin? A respectable exterior is hardly the same as a purified and clean heart.

You teachers of the law, you hypocrites, why do you enshrine the past and ignore the present? You build tombs for the prophets in their honor, and decorate the graves of the righteous. Then you tell everyone: ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would never have participated in shedding the blood of the prophets.’

But that is far from the truth. You are actually testifying against yourselves when you attempt to identify with the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. And what is worse, you are completely unconscious of your evil intentions! Why? Because you are even now planning to carry out the same sins that your ancestors committed when they killed the servants of the Lord. You do not believe that the Son of Man is among you! You are, in fact, about to do away with him. You snakes in the grass, you brood of vipers! How will you ever escape the condemnation of God? How can you avoid being damned to hell?

And yet in spite of it all, I continue to send prophets and teachers to you, even though you are following in the footsteps of your predecessors. You will kill and crucify the servants of God, persecute them in your places of worship and drive them from town to town. I am warning you that all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, will fall upon you. Judgment awaits this generation, because you enshrine the past while you ignore the present. For you are about to spill even more blood.

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you have fallen, and how you have fallen. You kill the prophets and destroy those who are sent to you, but you don’t know how often I have longed to bring your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. You don’t realize that, do you? You don’t understand why I have come into the world among you, do you? You are stubborn in your hearts and stiff-necked, because you are unwilling to admit that you are blind to the truth. Don’t you realize that you need to repent and come to the light? Don’t you want to enter the Kingdom of God?

Soon it will be too late for you, Jerusalem. The end will come and that means curtains. Your city and all that you cherish within these great walls will be gone, destroyed, left desolate and deserted. Therefore hear this all of you in the city of the King. You will not see me again until you acknowledge me, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’ For that is what you will confess and acclaim when the day of the Lord comes.

You can be sure of this - the day of the Lord will come! The kingdom of God will arrive on earth!  Yes, it will. And soon.