5:44
If we are looking for praise from man then we cannot hope to believe. If we seek approval from men we cannot hope to believe. Going with the weight/significance aspect of “glory” the religious leaders sought to please each other. If other men approved of their work then this was their goal. But they did not seek the glory that comes from God, they did not look to see if God thought their work was significant. Now we need to note that seeking approval from others, seeing what others think of our work, is not wrong in itself. Indeed, it is very sensible to see what others think, and if we don’t care at all then that is usually a sign that something is wrong with us, such as arrogance! The problem arises when seeking the praise of men becomes the primary goal. We need to “seek the glory that comes from God” first. “Seek first the kingdom”. If we do this then other things tend to fall into place.
5:45
“But do not think I will accuse you ...Your accuser is Moses”. Jesus knew how to really get to the point. The religious leaders might have argued that they were faithfully following Moses (i.e. following the Law and the Prophets, though just the Law in the case of the Sadducees), how could they be expected to adopt this new teaching. Jesus’ word to them is that they were not actually following Moses at all. Their hopes, and their pride, were set on the Law, but in reality they did not understand the Law at all.
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