Be a Solid Chocolate Bunny

• Third Sunday of Easter

Matthew 23:13-39

With John 17

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In the Gospel of Matthew there is so much on discipleship!
Like God planting a garden and cultivating disciples.
(for fun, take a look at the titles of today’s music selections: We Are God’s People, Many and Great O God. He Grew the Tree. You Are the Seed. In the Garden. Victory in Jesus!)

Nice thing about a garden is you know what you’re going to get
(Check out the song Plant A Radish, 1960 Fantasticks)
Not a guarantee with children, with people, or with disciples.

• Discipleship gone right is integrity.
Picture a solid chocolate Easter bunny, compared to a hollow one.

Consider Jesus’ prayer in John 17, “that they may be one with you.” (17:11)

Unity with the Father.
“Make them holy in the truth. Your word is truth.” (17:17)

“…so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” (17:21)

Discipleship gone right is a perfect completion of God’s plan,
mature fruit which goes forth to produce more mature fruit.        

• But if discipleship gone right is integrity, discipleship gone wrong is what Jesus’ “woes” (or maybe “how terribles”) in Matthew 23 are. Jesus’ diatribe exposes hypocrisy, insincerity, a horrible mismatch between faith and action. Should-be disciples abusing the system for personal gain at best or to bring others down.
Petty micromanagement while neglecting truly spiritual matters. Seeking attention for looking good on the outside but actually being rotten on the inside.

If John 17 points to perfect completion of God’s plan,
Matthew 23 points to perfect rejection of Jesus:
from A to Z you have destroyed what God has sent (see verse 35).

• Recall that though we are three Sundays after Easter, this passage is still in early Holy week… It is Jesus’ last interaction with the crowd until Pilate brings him out on Good Friday.

Notice Jesus’ words that ‘they’ will kill and crucify those that God has sent, that the blood of the righteous will be on their hands, and that “I assure you these things will come upon this generation.”

The next interaction with the crowd? The crowd calls for Jesus’ crucifixion (chapter 27) and even says “his blood be on us and on our children”. (27:25)

• We have in the Gospel of Matthew Jesus’ recipe for discipleship,
and this example of antidiscipleship, if you will.

We have a warning, or a challenge, or an antidote,
or all of the above:
To be a disciple requires connection. Connection with Word and with other disciples. Connection with God. Laying aside of ego (antidiscipleship) and “let go, let God.”

• Hymn 583 You Are the Seed

Matthew 23:13-19        (CEB)        Easter 3  04/10/16

¹³ “How terrible it will be for you legal experts and Pharisees! Hypocrites! You shut people out of the kingdom of heaven. You don’t enter yourselves, and you won’t allow those who want to enter to do so.

¹⁵ “How terrible it will be for you, legal experts and Pharisees! Hypocrites! You travel over sea and land to make one convert. But when they’ve been converted, they become twice the child of hell you are.

¹⁶ “How terrible it will be for you blind guides who say, ‘If people swear by the temple, it’s nothing. But if people swear by the gold in the temple, they are obligated to do what they swore.’ ¹⁷ You foolish and blind people! Which is greater, the gold or the temple that makes the gold holy? ¹⁸ You say, ‘If people swear by the altar, it’s nothing. But if they swear by the gift on the altar, they are obligated to do what they swore.’ ¹⁹ You blind people! Which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift holy? ²⁰ Therefore, those who swear by the altar swear by it and by everything that’s on it. ²¹ Those who swear by the temple swear by it and by everything that’s part of it. ²² Those who swear by heaven swear by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it.

²³ “How terrible it will be for you legal experts and Pharisees! Hypocrites! You give to God a tenth of mint, dill, and cumin, but you forget about the more important matters of the Law: justice, peace, and faith. You ought to give a tenth but without forgetting about those more important matters. ²⁴ You blind guides! You filter out an ant but swallow a camel.

²⁵ “How terrible it will be for you legal experts and Pharisees! Hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and plate, but inside they are full of violence and pleasure seeking. ²⁶ Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup so that the outside of the cup will be clean too.

²⁷ “How terrible it will be for you legal experts and Pharisees! Hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs. They look beautiful on the outside. But inside they are full of dead bones and all kinds of filth. ²⁸ In the same way you look righteous to people. But inside you are full of pretense and rebellion.

²⁹ “How terrible it will be for you legal experts and Pharisees! Hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. ³⁰ You say, ‘If we had lived in our ancestors’ days, we wouldn’t have joined them in killing the prophets.’ ³¹ You testify against yourselves that you are children of those who murdered the prophets.³² Go ahead, complete what your ancestors did. ³³ You snakes! You children of snakes! How will you be able to escape the judgment of hell? ³⁴ Therefore, look, I’m sending you prophets, wise people, and legal experts. Some of them you will kill and crucify. And some you will beat in your synagogues and chase from city to city. ³⁵ Therefore, upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been poured out on the earth, from the blood of that righteous man Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you killed between the temple and the altar. ³⁶ I assure you that all these things will come upon this generation.

³⁷ “Jerusalem, Jerusalem! You who kill the prophets and stone those who were sent to you. How often I wanted to gather your people together, just as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. But you didn’t want that. ³⁸ Look, your house is left to you deserted. ³⁹ I tell you, you won’t see me until you say, Blessings on the one who comes in the Lord’s name.”^{[Psalm 118:26]}