Matthew 23: 1-39

Summary: In this chapter, Matthew recounts some of the sharpest words of Jesus on record. And he saves his most blistering admonition for the sin of religious exhibitionism–religion as a mere show put on to impress others. Given their supposed devotion to the scriptures, the Pharisees ought to have been right beside John the Baptist using all of their influence to point others to Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah. Instead, they rejected him and led others to reject him as well. As verses 37-39 reveal, Jesus’ rebuke was anger mixed with agony over the pain of watching the very people he’d come to save turn away from their salvation. Yet the great hope of this chapter is the reminder of how eager Jesus is to save us–and the assurance that our salvation rests not on our ability to look the part. Our salvation depends entirely on the work our Saviour came to do for us.