23:1-3
Having resisted the various attempts to trap Him, Jesus now launches an attack on the Pharisees and teachers of the Law. Offence and defence go together. There is a time to forensically highlight the glaring evil of the ways of society. Perhaps surprisingly, Jesus starts out by telling the people that they must obey the leaders. Respect for authority is an important characteristic, it is also a very difficult one. For what are we to do when authority is so clearly wrong? First, why does Jesus say they must obey the authorities? Because they sit in the seat of Moses, ie God had given the Law and the religious leaders were in the position where they were meant to implement the Law. Likewise, Paul in Romans 13 says we must respect the authorities because they are in a God appointed position. Now, this does not mean unquestioning blind compliance. Jesus will soon show that that is definitely not the case. In Acts Peter and John continued to preach the gospel. In history, the times when the church has gone along with tyrannical regimes (eg the church in Germany during the Nazi era, the Pope Francis and the Chinese regime), have not been glorious years. But we need to be so careful, for the root of human sinfulness is a rebellious spirit, our rebellion against God. We may start off with the best of intentions, but before long our sinful spirit will rise up to take advantage of the situation, and rebellion will be all that we have.
No comments:
Post a Comment