Matthew 23:4 Commentary and Bible Study

The description of the Pharisees in this chapter is Christ’s exposition of hypocrisy. What he exposes of their character and behaviour, is all they would like to keep hidden. Even before the great day when all secrets will be revealed, he brings them out into the open. Hypocrisy spreads and is corrosive, and Christ strikes a blow against it, even before the great final judgment. This of course is what he will do to all who gather before his throne of judgment, for he will not simply assign a punishment, but prove that they were without excuse and knew what sin was. But for now, they are not fully dragged out into the open, but are allowed to retreat back into the darkness for a little longer. From within that darkness, they will hatch the cockatrice egg of a plot to put him to death.First, he says, they are not afraid to be pretenders. They know what they do and they know it is not honest or just or equitable. Self-deceit and self-justification are powerful forces within human beings, but no man can be fully ignorant of what he does. They bind heavy burdens on other, but they do not carry them themselves. These are not physical burdens which a master might be in his rights to make his slave carry, without carrying himself; these are moral burdens, and religious burdens which all are equally subject to.They are no examples, for they are not afraid to burden other with enormous loads, while not bearing any of it themselves. It does not worry them that they press others to do so much more than they do. It does not occur to them that God may have retribution for such false behaviour, and that his retribution will be more terrible than anything they have done to others. Indeed they do not fear God at all. For all their boasting about keeping his commandments, they are further from him than all those that they conveniently regard as beneath them.They pile up burdens not so much on men’s shoulders – that is a metaphor – but on their consciences. They overload the consciences of others with arguments, which, if they were true, would apply equally to themselves. It does not worry them to play such games with other men’s souls. They do not care about the sense of guilt that others feel in struggling to keep up with this impossible load. Of course, this is Christ’s exposure of their deceit. They do not tell the world that they are carrying no burden themselves, indeed, the strong implication is that they are carrying the same burden which they load on others, for, among all the other praise they seek, they would not miss out this – the admiration of those who assume that they are deeply pious men. However, the truth is that they will not lift one of their fingers to shift such a burden. Christ’s teaching is always so graphic. They have no intention of doing anything like what they demand of others. The whole of their life and doctrine is a sham. Falseness is seen through and through in everything about them. This of course is the opposite of what every true teacher should be, and renders their instruction powerless. It is all part of their great act of pretence. They know that high standards ought to come from holy men, and so they issue such standards, while leaving out all that goes with them.