One of the things that I have learned from studying the New Testament is that Christ has little patients with hypocrites. The Pharisees were very guilty of this characteristic. This week in Matthew 23 Christ actually calls out the Pharisees and scribes for being hypocrites. Because Christ was talking to these groups in the scriptures that means that we don't struggle with this today, right? Because the Pharisees and scribes don't exist in our culture today, right? Wrong. We can apply and learn from these teachings directed towards the Pharsisees and scribes.
Christ used many analogies to help portray what the Parisees and scribes were struggling with. Three of which stood out to me. In Matt 23:24 it says "Ye blind guides, which strains at a gnat, and swallow a camel." While reading this on my own, I will admit, I looked over it without a second thought. However, when we went over it in class i realized how significant it actually is. When you strain liquid you try to get out every particle that you possibly can. Picture this: if you were trying to strain out some freshly squeezed juice and you found a very large bug along with a few small pieces of leaves which would you rather have strained out? In my opinion the bug. However, this analogy is saying that the Pharisees are straining out the little things (the gnat) but are allowing themselves to swallow a giant camel. What this is getting at is that these men were so focused on picking at the little things, accusing those around them of not keeping "simple commandments" such washing their hands before a meal or healing on the sabbath. But because they were so focused on picking at the little things they were allowing themselves to "swallow camels," meaning, they were neglecting the bigger commandments such as those that demanded others to judge not your neighbor, being honest with others, and so forth. Sometimes I think i do the same thing. I will get so caught up with "doing my visiting teaching" or "paying tithing" that I forget that I should be focusing on bigger commandments like "loving my neighbors as myself" and "judging not."
The other thing I really liked was Matt 23:25-26:
"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites? for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the paltter, 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."
This analogy is pretty self explanatory. Christ is reminding the Pharisees that they may look polished and good on the outside but their hearts and desires are not righteous or clean. Are we the same way? Do we make ourselves look like "good people" on the outside because our appearance is "clean cut" and we have the appearance of being a "good religious person." How far does this outward appearance really go? Are we really as good on the inside as we are on the outside? Christ in the scriptures is always spending time with the sinners rather than the Pharisees and the people who are higher in society. That is because those considered sinners were more humble and righteous than they that claimed to be. We need to work to make sure the outside of us matches the inside. If it does not we ourselves are being hypocrites. And as we have seen Christ does not tolerate hypocrites well.
I am setting goals for myself that i focus less on little things and more on the big picture. I am going to try and make myself "real" all around so that the "Kelsey Wood" that people see on first glance is the real "Kelsey Wood" on the inside. I believe that that is how the Savior wants us each to be, as genuine and real "through and through."
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