You should have done these things without neglecting the others.
Blind guides! You strain out a mosquito, but swallow a camel.
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You fill the plate and the cup,
with theft and violence, and then pronounce a blessing over them. Blind Pharisee! Purify the inside first,
then the outside, too, will be purified.
REFLECTION:
An insecure person of authority habitually asks, “What hides behind someone’s good work?”
Is it an election campaign? Is it a way of projecting good image? Sometimes,
the question is not really about deceptive motives. It is about fear of losing authority.
The Jewish leaders look at Jesus and John’s deeds as threats to their hold of the community.
God gave them that hold and power. They understand that power as exclusive to them for the purpose of unity.
Therefore, it would be impossible for God to re-distribute such authority to others like Jesus and John.
God would never cause disunity. God, however, is not sowing disunity through Jesus and John.
He is showing to the Jewish leaders how authority is genuinely exercised.
Jesus’ authority does not come from another source against that of the Jewish leaders.
His is just closer or one with the end source.
© Copyright Bible Diary 2020