The role of the media in our culture has resulted in a blurring of image and identity, of surface and substance. Public personalities who have created scandals do not try to live with greater integrity, they work on improving their image. How much can we learn about a product in fifteen seconds or analyze a political debate in one hour of television time? We know only the surface of things and that is all we want to know. It is also all we want to know about ourselves.

Jesus raised a bold and courageous protest against superficiality–notice the number of times he used the word hypocrites in this chapter! “Go to work on the inside,” he told his audience, “and the outside will take care of itself.”

Jesus had not given up on the Pharisees, but made an appeal to them to wake up to what they had missed, yet was so obvious. At least four times in this speech Jesus accused the Pharisees of being blind (vv. 16, 17, 19, 26). Their blindness was a typical trait of human nature: We cannot learn what we think we already know–our prejudice gets in the way. Unfortunately, what they had not seen would cost them everything (vv. 32-33).

O Lord, may You ever find us open to seeing new things and learning new ideas. May we be teachable. We are wrong about many things, but we cannot see how we are wrong. Patiently show us, enlighten us, and disciple us into Your truth. May we always remember that what God sees is different from what humans see, because we look only on the appearance whereas God looks into the heart. Lord, Jesus, make our hearts beautiful for Him.

Remarkably, Jesus told the crowds and disciples to do as the Pharisees taught when they took the teacher’s chair in the synagogue, yet the point of Jesus’ conflict with the Pharisees was precisely their interpretation of the Law of Moses–for example, Sabbath-keeping, purification rituals, fasting, and so on. On a positive note, however, the scribes and Pharisees did demonstrate a great devotion to the Scriptures.

The first of Jesus’ criticism of the scribes and Pharisees was that they did not live up to what they taught and, furthermore, they placed heavy burdens on people they themselves were unwilling to help carry. Religion will always have its people who say the right words, but do not live the truth, people who play for a human audience and love positions and official titles, people who are more image than substance.

Is living for God a heavy burden? Is a righteous life a heavy burden? Is it not sin and guilt that are the heavy burdens? But there is a way that some people define Christian duties and obligations that make it a burden–a bundle of rules.

We give You thanks, Lord God, for what this teaching tells us about the Teacher. There are times when we are bent over with a great burden that we must carry–and we have enough of them without the added load that religious people would place on us. Jesus, who invites those who are “heavy laden” to come to Him, gets under our burdens with us and carries them as if they belonged to Him. Yoked with Him, Jesus is forever with us, our closest Companion, our Savior.

Until now, Jesus had been answering questions put to him in the temple, but in this passage he asked the Pharisees a question. Reading this episode, we sense that Jesus enjoyed presenting a riddle they could not solve. His question seems to take them by surprise, as though they had never considered the logical problem entailed in David referring to the Messiah as his son (Ps. 110:1).

The way Jesus stated the problem, it sounds as if either they were wrong or David was wrong. In their culture, where the ancestor was always considered to be greater than the descendant and honor moved only one direction generationally, it was impossible for the Messiah to be both David’s son and David’s Lord.

The book of Matthew opens with an introduction to “Jesus the Messiah, the son of David” (1:1). But once we get through Jesus’ genealogy “according to the flesh” (Ro. 1:3), we discover he was conceived of the Holy Spirit (Mt. 1:20). Therefore, he is also “the Son of God” (Ro. 1:4). Jesus’ riddle brings to the surface a secret regarding the Messiah. Jesus led them into this quagmire because there was only one road  out–a new understanding of the Messiah.

We cannot answer all of Your questions, Lord Jesus, but still we enjoy the opportunity to learn more about You. For the same reason we are not afraid to ask You questions. We consider it unfortunate that the Pharisees used questions like weapons rather than \a means of receiving the best theological education in the history of humankind. Lord, we respect You, admire You, revere You, and love You.

The interrogation of Jesus in this chapter was not a quest for truth, but an ongoing attempt to “trap Him in what He said” (v. 15). His enemies kept dangling a baited hook in front of him, asking him trick questions, and hoping he would slip up and say something that would get him into trouble with the authorities or make him unpopular with the people.

There was a bright side to this bantering, however, in that it gave Jesus the opportunity to clarify and expand on important spiritual issues. Of all the issues Jesus addressed, none was more important than the “great and foremost commandment.” According to Jesus, every requirement of God in the entire Scriptures–Law and Prophets–was summed up in the two commandments to love God and to love one’s neighbor. After this dialogue, there could be no more question regarding the greatest commandment, because all the others were themes and variations on these two.

Oh Lord, we are tempted to congratulate ourselves because we know the greatest commandment. But for You, it has never been a matter of knowing what God desires most from us, but doing what He desires. It is as if You were looking us in the eye and saying, “If you want to live, then love. Love the Father by surrendering your heart to Him, and love others by treating them the way you wish to be treated. . . . So, why are you still sitting there?”