"... woe to you..."
For Jesus, there is a big difference between the body of theological substance and the Substance of his Body.
The Pharisees and Sadducees were whiz kids when it came to the substance of theology. They knew the Law and created a system wherein people were fooled into believing that, in following the tenets of that system to perfection, entrance would be granted to heaven - as righteousness had finally been achieved.
But they missed it.
It would have been different to be as dogmatic and self-righteous with lessor things - such as cooking, exercise, or even gardening. But they were bucking up against the Very Issues of Creation. God had created them in his image and now they were recreating him in theirs - and telling his children to do the same.
God puts up with a lot. But he will step in when injustice or falsities are proclaimed that run in conflict with who he is - especially when the ones proclaiming those falsities have spiritual influence or oversight over his beloved children. Better a millstone tied to his neck then to cause one of these little ones to stumble.
Jesus steps into their world and slams them - and their system of religion - for falling short of Knowledge and Truth in four ways:
Creating and imposing their own standards of righteousness on otthers. It's been said that Christians save people from the Law and then infuse so many new customs into their life that, the latter work of keeping the Law - now a "Christian Law" - is worse than the first.
Not seeing the Big Picture. They were swearing on the gold in the temple, or the temple itself. Jesus reminds them that there is so much more happening around them. Lift your eyes, ask for the revelation to see beyond what you see, to see through what is seen. In so doing, the little things wont become burdens to you anymore and the Big Thing will become your saturating reality. (By the way, one can see the Big Picture and not understand the Big Picture, and be content with that.)
Selective Spirituality. It was easy for the leaders of the Law to highlight one passage of Scripture over another to justify any given cause. Are there really weightier matters of the Law - sections of the Word that exclude lessor priority - not unlike the hand saying to the head, I have no need of you? The Scriptures are an entire Body of the Word, complete, giving us everything needed for salvation.
Inner/Outer Congruence. On the outside they were beautiful. On the inside they were filled with dead bones and uncleanliness.
I once had a vision on the way to church. I had been asking God to give me a word to give to the congregation. As I was driving in, I saw a picture of a beautifully manicured Cape Cod-styled home - white picket fence, shutters, swing off the oak tree - the whole nine yards. As I entered the gate I saw the backside of the fence was unpainted and rotting away. In fact, as I looked closer at the house, everything was dead on the inside and in need of immediate repair. The house was perfect on the outside, but the owner of the house knew its true state. And, in this case, the owner of the house was me. This vision was one of many revelations which lead me to a season of rest and restoration about a year ago.
All the same, Jesus would rather have the inside and the outside of the house living as one, honestly and transparently, humbly and gracefully being on the outside who we are on the inside. He knows we can easily fool ourselves into believing a lie - believing we really are that glistening cup and dish, when the Truth is not in us.
This spirit of the Law is alive and well in us today. It is everything the Living Christ came to free us from. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
Lord, give us the grace to be real with you, to shine forth your glory, not from a cosmetic spirituality that seeks to stealth our unstealthable hypocrisy, but from an inner glory that witnesses the anchored residence of the Son of God.
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