Reflection on Matthew 23:25-26
A quick break from Romans thanks to some thoughts from today's daily reading. In declaring the seven woes of the pharisees, Jesus makes a wonderful reference to the new covenant and our true and only hope of righteousness...“25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.” (Matthew 23:25–26, ESV)We discussed Thursday that our only hope before God is the righteousness of Christ, not our own. Even our faith is not the substance of righteousness but merely the access to it by union with Christ. Here we see the pharisees have not yet learned this and they rely on their own righteousness.
Jesus makes clear in John chapter 6 what is required for of us and it is not that we clean up our behavior and make ourselves worthy of God's favor...
“54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:54, ESV)
This is the cup and the plate we must partake in. We need Christ and we need his cleansing blood to justify us before God. We need not only his broken body that took our guilt and shame but his risen and glorified body whereby he offers to save us by his life and delivers newness of life to our souls that we might walk and live as those brought from death to life!
“9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.” (Romans 5:9–10, ESV)
“4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” (Romans 6:4, ESV)So I take from Jesus' teaching here in Matthew 23:25-26 that he refers to the body or the person of the pharisee as the cup and plate. We can only see cleansing of our hearts by the work of God, not our own work. We cannot simply white knuckle it and clean up our life while not surrendering to Jesus and not embracing Him in person. Religion and rules do nothing for us except possibly impress others. Jesus is the substance and the need of our hearts.
Let us eat and drink to our fill and let us be cleansed by the only righteousness that is true. Let God grant us the righteousness of the Son by our union with him. Let us abide in Jesus and be transformed by his power and not try to do it ourselves. The end of self improvement is death...God is not hiring dishwashers. Remember that the only wages we can earn with God is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We either worship God with our hunger and thirst or we dishonor him with it. For what do we thirst? Let us put down the dishtowel and pick up our bible with bended knee. The only way we can get clean dishes is by dining heartily! We must come and seek the wine to be poured into our dirty cup and the bread to be broken upon our filthy dish. Let us dine upon Christ for true righteousness because the Christian life is not a struggle for holiness but a daily fight for joy in Christ.
Soli Deo Gloria!
