23:4
While Jesus told the people to obey their leaders, they were not to follow their example. For the leaders were not following the Law. Instead they laid heavy burdens on the people, and did nothing to help them carry those burdens. The religious leaders were acting directly against the Law. There is a lesson for us here in how we treat others. The religious leaders would claim that their myriad of rules were helping to ensure that the Law was observed, but they had totally lost sight of what the Law was about (love God, love your neighbour). This phenomenon occurs again and again in human affairs. We have a set of means put in place to achieve a certain end. However, the means soon become an end in themselves and everything and everyone ends up having to bow down to the means, and the original end becomes lost, or is at best paid lip-service.
23:5-7
All the actions of the religious leaders were designed to show how “good” they were. Phylacteries were boxes containing scriptures. They made a big show of wearing these, but they did not obey the word itself. It is like, before the days of online Bibles, someone carrying around a big Bible but hardly ever reading it. The leaders enjoyed having the place of honour, enjoyed being greeted by people with respect. This hypocrisy is also human nature, part of our fallen nature, so all of us need to be on our guard against it.
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