Nowhere in the Gospel narratives do we find Jesus more severe in his judgments, than we find him, here, in Matthew 23. Why is this so? What occurred at this time, that caused Jesus to be so angry with the Jewish authorities? Perhaps, these questions wouldn’t need to be asked, if we were reading from the original manuscripts, or even from written scripture prior to the use of chapters and verses in the text. Matthew 23 follows a public debate between the Jewish authorities and Jesus in the Temple. Matthew 23 seems to be Jesus’ heated response to the Jewish authorities’ inability to admit error, which their debates with him in Matthew 22 were intended to expose, vis-à-vis who spoke the truth and who was in error. In Mark’s account, a single scribe did admit Jesus had done well, but this was done discretely, without the rest of the scribes and Pharisees knowing what he did (Mark 12:28-34).
In other words, the people were entitled to know the truth. These folks, the scribes, Pharisees and the Sadducees, were the Jewish authorities, whose responsibility it was to teach the truth to the people. Nevertheless, when the authorities were proved wrong in their understanding of the Law, none of them repented. They were put to silence. They were unable to respond to Jesus’ own response to their queries, nor could they reply to Jesus’ counter question, which he put to them! These men weren’t the average folk, who might be unable to give an account for their beliefs. Rather, these men were the professionals, the experts in the Law and the truths it declares. While mere men, even the best of us, err, this isn’t an excuse to hide the truth, once it has been proved to you, which is what Jesus did in Matthew 22, during the debates he held with these authorities. Albeit, one, single, scribe testified of how well Jesus did in the debates, but his testimony was a mere whisper in contrast to the loud silence of his colleagues! Thus, Jesus became enraged with their behavior before the public.
We need to keep in mind as we read Matthew 23, that Jesus had cast out those who bought and sold in the Temple, and this was the third time, he had done so (cp. Luke 19:45-46; Matthew 21:23). The Jewish authorities came to Jesus, as he was teaching the people, and they challenged his authority to cast out the businessmen from the Temple. As I mentioned in an earlier study, Temple protocol was established by the Jewish authorities, particularly the chief priests. It was unlawful for an ordinary Jew to do as Jesus did. However, as Messiah, he had the authority to contradict the authority of the chief priests and other Jewish authorities. The Messiah’s authority was supreme. He challenged them to tell him, and the multitudes, whether or not John’s baptism was of God or man. They refused to reply,[1] so Jesus refused to tell them by what authority he did as he did (Matthew 21:27).
Next, Jesus delivered a parable to them, and they sent their disciples with the Herodians to try to find fault with Jesus in a discussion. Then the chief priests sought to trap him in his words, but when they were through testing him, Jesus silenced them completely with a question of his own. Under ordinary circumstances teachers, who seek the truth, once proved wrong, should adopt the truth that put them to shame, if they were serious about teaching the truth. Thus, because the authorities had no official reply and remained unrepentant, Jesus took this opportunity to turn to the multitude he had been teaching (Matthew 23:1; cp. 21:27) and condemned the behavior of the scribes and Pharisees. He told the people that they must obey the scribes and Pharisees, because they sat in Moses’ seat, vis-à-vis their authority was derived from the authority God gave to Moses. Therefore, they must be obeyed, because, ultimately, they stood in the place of God. Nevertheless, Jesus also told the people, they shouldn’t imitate the behavior of their authorities, because their deeds didn’t match their words (Matthew 23:2-3).
[1] Had the authorities believed John, they would have had to support Jesus’ office as Messiah, because John claimed Jesus was the Messiah. If, on the other hand, they claimed they didn’t believe John was sent by God, the multitude would have stoned them, because they believed John was a prophet.
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