What is Jesus telling Christians in this chapter? (Alert: Lengthy)?

Question

Matthew 23

"Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples,
"Saying The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat:
"All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.
"For they 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.
"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.
"But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.
"And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.
"Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.

"But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.
"And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.
"But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
"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.
"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
"Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor!
"Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?

"And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty.
"Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?
"Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon.
"And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein.
"And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon.
"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.
"Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.

"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.
"Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.
"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.
"Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,
"And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.

"Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.
"Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
"Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
"Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:
"That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
"Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.
"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!

"Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
"For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord."

A whole chapter devoted to denoluncing hypocrisy.

A whole chapter devoted to denouncing hypocrisy.

Answer 1

okay the general mood it seems Cleanliness within as more important than outward political correctness and appearing to be clean. Under the lime light of Vedas and Vedanta, if this Q. is attempted, a lot of scorn is there for running after the Earthly Material Possessions in this Earth that is sensory and fleeting in Nature.

Now that's the general trend to induce all of us to keep our thoughts, words and deeds to be in Complete Hrmony with the Divine.

Sathya Sai Baba say, "A Christian should become a True Christian, A Muslim should become a True Muslim and a Hindu should become a True Hindu."

May here in your quote also the thrust is on Truthfulness Within and Without.

Now a bit more into a part of the quote that you gave which caught jk's special interest.

"And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.
"Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ. "

In the lime light of Vedas and Vedanta arguements, Vedas give importance to shapes, names, forms and hierarchy, but Vedanta, the end or essence deducted of Vedas, like the butter or ghee from the milk say, more than the shapes, forms and names what comprises these matter, the Divinity within matter most, just like the amount or quantity of Gold matter more than the shape ie made of Gold.

Here no man on earth is your father, intends to bring in the vision perhaps that, its not the biological father but the Heavenly Father, we should give more importance to. The several masters that appear before you in this sensory, earthly world, perhaps as priests, the bosses in work places or the teachers that are fleeting are not the Real Master, perhaps not even the body and shape of the Christ ie sensory in Nature.

Beyond these sensory and fleeting we have to travel with Nethi, Nethi as the Advaita schools of thoughts put forward to reach the State where sensory names and forms do not matter and there is Only One God with nothing second or secondary, may be like the Sun that never rises nor sets.

Most of this quote that you gave seemed to be in line with this Advaitic Vedantic thoughts.

But to add some more, there are quotes in Bible in line with the Vedic school of thoughts also which consider names, shapes, forms, priesthood and heirarchy just like the acceptance of practicalities of Sun Rises and Sun Sets that are felt as if real for the time being.

May be the back ground is the Sun that never sets nor rises as the Real Atma Dharma of God Realisation, but for the common man the Vedic ways of Achara Dharma with a back ground "Nethi, Nethi" interpreted as "Not only this, Not only this" the better solution.

Products made of Ghee and Butter are liked by common people more than eating more and more of Ghee and Butter alone.

After all God is the Father of All and He has to address the concerns of All as an Ever Loving Father according to each one's capacities and capabilities (as given by He, Himself) to understand and reach back to Him.

Perhaps by implanting and encouraging both these schools of thoughts of Vedas and Vedant in Scriptures, God perhaps wanted man to assuage one of his greatest foes the need for one upsmanship for the individual ego to orient towards Thee

By fighting over the nature of God, whether He is like This or That actually the man develops slowly more and more interest into the 100 % Omni God.

Had these not been there, imagine how boring the search for God would have been and people would have discarded it much earlier. Perhaps that is the Greatest Divine Drama, Tatvamasi, Thou Art THAT.

See some more aspects of these two Schools of Thoughts on the Time immemorial Vedas and Vedanta in this link

http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-xXSjjhg7er9d7VyaCsYH4qyJveacMoF0?p=72

SAI RAM

Answer 2

Thank you for telling us that your question is lengthy! I opened it and answered it just for that reason! Hold on a minute and I'll read it and answer it!

Kudos to you :) It's nice to see that you're considerate of people's feelings; a lot of people hate opening huge questions that they don't want to take the time to read... anyway, here goes:

Jesus is requesting that His disciples pay homage to that which is holy, and not to glorify men (including themselves) or things (even the things in the temple) above God and His word. It all boils down to

"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, might, mind and strength."

Answer 3

I'll sum it up in one word:

Humility....

Should be the number one charactaristic of us Christians

The Pharisees were more concerned about people keeping every little bit of the law.....but they themselves could care less about the people or the law for that matter....as they were breaking it themselves and making a mockery of it.

Answer 4

In summary: the religious leaders are damned. Do as they say (insofar as they are correct), but not as they do. Do not desire to imitate them, for they are hypocrites. I wanted something better for them, but they have rejected me. It's over, and they will pay.