TRANSLATION MATTHEW 23:13

But misery for you, experts in the Law and Pharisees, you play-actors! You shut the Rule of Heaven in people’s faces.,You do not enter yourselves, nor do you allow those who want to enter, to go in.

Misery for you, experts in the law and Pharisees, you play-actors! You traverse sea and land to make one convert, but when you succeed you make him twice as much a child of The Great Rubbish Dump as yourselves.

Misery for you, blind guides that say, “if anyone swears by the Temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the Temple, he is under obligation.” “You blind dunces! Which is the greater, the gold or the Temple that sanctified the gold? And you say, “If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if he swears by the gift on the altar, he is under obligation. You blind people, which is the greater, the gift or the altar which sanctifies it? So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and everything on it. And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and the one who dwells in it. And whoever swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and the one who sits on it.

Misery for you, experts in the Law and Pharisees, you play-actors! You give tenths of your mint and dill and cumin but disregard the weightier duties of the Law; justice, compassion and faithfulness. These you should have done, without forgetting the others. You blind guides, who strain out a midge and gulp down a camel!

Misery for you, experts in the Law and Pharisees, you play-actors! You clean the outside of cup and plate, but inside they are filled by extortion and excess. You blind pharisee! Clean the inside of the cup and plate, so that the outside can be clean as well.

Misery for you, experts in the Law and Pharisees, you play -actors! You are like whitewashed tombs that look beautiful on the outside but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all manner of filth. In the same way you also appear to others as decent men but within you are full of play-acting and immorality.

Misery for you, experts in the Law and Pharisees, you play-actors! You build up the tombs of the prophets and decorate the memorials of moral heroes, You say, “If we had lived in the days of our ancestors we would not have shared with them in the blood of the prophets.” So you give evidence against yourselves, that you are the children of prophet-killers! Now try to measure up to your forefathers! You snakes, you vipers’ gets, how can you escape the judgement of The Great Rubbish Dump?

So- see this- I am sending you prophets and wise people and experts in the Law. Some of them you will kill and crucify, some you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town.So that upon you may be poured out the blood of all just people shed on the earth, from the blood of the just man Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Bachariah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. Amen, I tell you, all these things will come upon this generation.

The Great Rubbish Dump is Gehenna, a natural valley and Jerusalem’s dump, used as a metaphor of God’s judgement.

There may be scholarly doubts as to whether much of this is really by Jesus, but my job is to comment on Matthew’s presentation of Jesus, of which this is a part. Jesus has turned from answering trick questions to asking a difficult one of his own. His magical authority has held out in the city of disbelief. He now turns on his enemies without any veil of respect. He cannot win them over, so he confirms his prophetic judgement upon them. We may argue that all legal experts and all Pharisees cannot have merited such a denunciation, but Matthew does not accept that argument: the whole batch is bad.

The excessive legalism of these leaders denies people access to God’s rule.

Their converts from the Jewish diaspora are converted to false teaching and practice

They have daft casuistry which makes simple obedience to the Law impossible

They are finicky about fine points of giving to God but neglect the heart of the Law: justice compassion and faithfulness. The joke about midges and camels could easily be applied to aspects of Calvinism in Scotland.

The sarcastic language about the outside versus the inside exposes the sad reality of “play-acting” These leaders think they’re part of the entertainment business . We may think of the pious Christian supporters of Mr. Trump.

The prophets are introduced in order to characterise these leaders as killers. One may think of British missionaries who preached the gospel while British troops killed natives.

Jesus speaks of the witnesses of his coming assembly, who will be rejected, tortured and killed by their Jewish brothers. He sees an approaching catastrophe – the Roman destruction of the Temple- as a punishment for the murder of innocents (Beware, Netanyahu)

Jesus’ greatest moment of power where he speaks in judgement is also the moment of his greatest weakness. His enemies must now kill him, and they can.