Avoiding the Hypocrisy of Matthew 23

Matthew 23 contains perhaps the sharpest rebuke that the Savior gave of anyone while He was on the earth.  He said this to his disciples about the scribes and Pharisees: “All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.”  That seemed to be the crux of His condemnation towards them: they were not only doing wicked things, but they professed to be righteous while secretly committing terrible acts.  The culmination of this hypocrisy was of course in the killing of the One who was the God they professed to worship.  It seems incomprehensible how they could claim “We be Abraham’s seed” and “we are Moses’ disciples” but then later cry out violently, “Crucify him… We have no king but Caesar” (John 8:33, John 9:28, John 19:15).  It’s no wonder that Jesus would try to warn the people of their leaders’ wickedness, saying of the scribes and Pharisees, “Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?” (Matt. 23:33)  That’s a pretty harsh chastisement for a murderous group that clearly deserved it. 

Hopefully we are all very far from the extreme level of hypocrisy that these contemporaries of the Savior exhibited, but I think there is still much to learn from the Savior’s rebuke as we think about how we might have some of the same problems.  Christ told of how the scribes and Pharisees, “bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers” (Matt 23:4).  In other words, they expected others to do those things that they were not willing to do themselves.  In our dispensation, the Lord called this “unrighteous dominion,” and as we gain any level of power over another it can be very tempting to expect of others more than we require of ourselves (D&C 121:39).  The Savior also described this behavior of the scribes and Pharisees: “But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi” (Matt 23:5-7).  This description I think invites us to ask ourselves about our own motives for participating in public spiritual events.  Whether bearing testimony or teaching a class or serving others in some activity, we have to be careful that our desire is not to be “seen of men.”  I’ve mentioned in a previous post the story of President Kimball who prayed at Congress once, and someone apologized to him because not many people attended to hear his prayer, he replied simply, “I wasn’t praying to them.”  That’s the kind of attitude we should have when given the opportunity to participate publicly in religious matters.  Another rebuke the Savior gave was this: “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation” (Matt. 23:14).  They prayed long prayers, but they didn’t help those in need.  Amulek said this about that attitude, “If ye turn away the needy, and the naked, and visit not the sick and afflicted, and impart of your substance, if ye have, to those who stand in need—I say unto you, if ye do not any of these things, behold, your prayer is vain, and availeth you nothing” (Alma 34:28).  All the faith and prayers in the world won’t help us if we are unwilling to actually help those who are in need around us.  Another statement from the Savior was this, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone” (Matt. 23: 23).  It’s very easy to focus on the requirements that we can measure and forget that the whole point of the gospel is to change us from the inside out.  The Savior said the scribes and Pharisees were “like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness” (Matt. 23:27).  The warning for each of us is that the Lord sees what we are on the inside, and that is how He will judge us.  While the world makes constant judgments based only on what it can see, to be unlike the Pharisees and scribes of old we have to learn to be true to who God wants us to be at all times without concern for the perceptions of those around us.