Beware of hypocrisy
Pastor Jiang
Translated by Leo Liu
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Mark 12:38-40 Mark 12 of the Gospel records that Jesus taught the people in the temple. The Bible's living word and the body of the living life word, the incarnate Jesus, are presented to us in unison, which can let us know that the Bible is really the word of God. The biblical teaching, after being explained by Jesus, brought the power of the gospel and the supreme authority into the hearts of the people, which was completely different from those taught by the scribes and Pharisees. On the one hand, Jesus made people correct, and made the Jews understand the psalm, the resurrection, the law, and the truth about the Messiah (Mark 12:1-37); on the other hand, they taught them to learn the righteousness and understand what God sees True godliness (Mark 12:38-44). How can the fruit be separated from the tree? In the same way, the behavior of the truth and the knowledge of the truth cannot be separated. Today’s Scripture 12:38-40 and tomorrow’s Scripture 12:41-44 are closely related. From both positive and negative perspectives, Jesus wants us to watch out for ungodly behavior and distinguish between what we believe and what we do What, don't fall into the trap of hypocrisy. The ungodly behavior of scribes lies in "high", "big", and "noble". (1) The scribes love to lengthen the clothes and make the scriptures wider, and they like to dress up in the street market. People ask him to call him a rabbi to show his spirituality. "High" (Matthew 23:5, 7); (2) The scribes admired the high seat in the synagogue, the first seat on the banquet, so that people could see the "big" of his identity, (Matthew 23:6); ( 3) The scribe also loves to pretend to make a long prayer. Such a long prayer makes people feel that he prays not only for himself, but also for others. The purpose is to let people see the "nobleness" of his virtue. Jesus called the scribes hypocrisy and could not be said to be good (Matthew 23:3). On the surface, it seems to understand the teachings of the Bible, but in essence it is inner unbelief. What they did behind the scenes was greed and misappropriation of the widow’s property. Why embezzle widow's property? Because widows were the least supportive group in society at that time, the "low-end population" in their eyes was the most likely to bully them and embezzle their only property. (This is a sharp contrast to tomorrow's scripture "Widow's Little Money"). The godliness that God wants is not the "high", "big", and "noble" godliness shown by the scribes, but the clean and undefiled piety, that is, to care for the orphans and widows in trouble, and to protect themselves from the world. (Ya 1:27) Brothers and sisters in the Lord, hypocrisy is the thoughts and actions of each of us sinners. While I was sharing, God also let me see my hypocrisy as good. May the Lord forgive his transgressions. The Lord Jesus used the three words "Beware" here. Thankfully, the Lord Jesus didn't call us "to hate" and "to curse" hypocrisy for good. The Lord Jesus knew that a sinner could not do real good. When the sinner said, "I hate those who are hypocritical in my life", he also falls into self-righteous hypocrisy. Just like a person who says he never lie, he is lying at the same time. May the Lord have mercy on us, the gospel will come to us, renew us, and always guard against our hypocrisy, and wear a mask of faith for hypocrisy. Pray for God to help us write the people he pleases! Meditate and pray: What does the Lord Jesus say in the Scriptures today illuminate me? Where is the most challenging and helpful to my personal beliefs? How to live the godly life God wants step by step?