Immerse: Messiah - Flipbook - Page 365
23:8-29
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“Don’t let anyone call you ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one teacher, and
all of you are equal as brothers and sisters. And don’t address anyone here
on earth as ‘Father,’ for only God in heaven is your Father. And don’t let
anyone call you ‘Teacher,’ for you have only one teacher, the Messiah. The
greatest among you must be a servant. But those who exalt themselves will
be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees.
Hypocrites! For you shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in people’s
faces. You won’t go in yourselves, and you don’t let others enter either.
“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees.
Hypocrites! For you cross land and sea to make one convert, and then you
turn that person into twice the child of hell you yourselves are!
“Blind guides! What sorrow awaits you! For you say that it means nothing to swear ‘by God’s Temple,’ but that it is binding to swear ‘by the gold
in the Temple.’ Blind fools! Which is more important—the gold or the
Temple that makes the gold sacred? And you say that to swear ‘by the
altar’ is not binding, but to swear ‘by the gifts on the altar’ is binding. How
blind! For which is more important—the gift on the altar or the altar that
makes the gift sacred? When you swear ‘by the altar,’ you are swearing
by it and by everything on it. And when you swear ‘by the Temple,’ you
are swearing by it and by God, who lives in it. And when you swear ‘by
heaven,’ you are swearing by the throne of God and by God, who sits on
the throne.
“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees.
Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your
herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more
important things. Blind guides! You strain your water so you won’t accidentally swallow a gnat, but you swallow a camel!
“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees.
Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and
the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and self-indulgence! You
blind Pharisee! First wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the
outside will become clean, too.
“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees.
Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity. Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts
are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness.
“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees.
Hypocrites! For you build tombs for the prophets your ancestors killed,
and you decorate the monuments of the godly people your ancestors
