A Grave Mistake (Matthew 22:29, 31)
Jesus replied, “Your mistake is that you don’t know the Scriptures, and you don’t know the power of God...haven’t you ever read about this in the Scriptures? (Matthew 22:29, 31)
If the Gospels had been written like a sitcom, this chapter would be a classic episode. Now that Jesus had gained quite a following and was now a threat to those with the most power to lose, three of the most influential political and religious groups in Jerusalem suddenly descend on Jesus hoping to ambush Him like a bunch of shady reporters in hopes of getting a sound bite they can use against Him.
But like a skilled debater, Jesus single-handedly dismantles their arguments in a matter of seconds and then shifts to the offensive with a few questions of His own by turning the tables back on his opponents (kinda like that angry Temple clearing in John 2 but with more sarcasm and less rage).
But I think the best part of the story is when He shuts down the Saduccees' no-resurrection theory with responses like, "your problem is that you don't know the Scriptures" and, "haven't you guys ever read the Bible?"
You can almost hear clap of His white gloves smacking them clear across the face. To suggest to the Pharisees and Sadducees that they were biblically illiterate, I'm quite sure, had the onlooking crowds rolling with laughter. It was the equivalent of blasting them with an in-your-face "yo-momma" joke from which there was no comeback.
Had they ever read the Scripture? Of course. But there's a large gap between Scripture talk and Scripture walk that they had not yet crossed. These guys were "experts" at conducting Bible studies but at the end of the day their misappropriated knowledge about God was the very thing preventing them from truly knowing God.
The dangerous thing about deception is that it creates the illusion that you're "right" more often than not. They had developed the very dangerous habit of subscribing to biblical without first allowing it to transform their hearts.
The Pharisees and Saduccees had developed a habit of reading God's Word through the filter of their own biases and misconceptions. Consequently, they began applying the truths that reinforced their bad habits while unintentionally ignoring those that directly challenged them.
Jesus' rebuke was not that they hadn't gotten into the Scriptures but that the Scriptures hadn't gotten into them.
Whenever we fail to approach God's Word with a heart that fully embraces it's purpose: "to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. [To] corrects us when we are wrong and teach us to do what is right. (2 Timothy 3:16), we run the risk of becoming more religious without becoming godly (2 Timothy 3:5).
The only way to ensure a healthy relationship to Christ and His Word is to develop the habit of allowing Scripture to do it's sanctifying work of "cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow...expos[ing] our innermost thoughts and desires." (Hebrews 4:12).
By continually exposing every wrong motive and desire of our hearts to the Word of God and consistently responding to its rebuke will it produce the kind of lifestyle that is both biblically literate and morally pure. Any other approach to Scripture only produces more Pharisees and Saduccees, of which Jesus was not a big fan.
If the Gospels had been written like a sitcom, this chapter would be a classic episode. Now that Jesus had gained quite a following and was now a threat to those with the most power to lose, three of the most influential political and religious groups in Jerusalem suddenly descend on Jesus hoping to ambush Him like a bunch of shady reporters in hopes of getting a sound bite they can use against Him.
But like a skilled debater, Jesus single-handedly dismantles their arguments in a matter of seconds and then shifts to the offensive with a few questions of His own by turning the tables back on his opponents (kinda like that angry Temple clearing in John 2 but with more sarcasm and less rage).
But I think the best part of the story is when He shuts down the Saduccees' no-resurrection theory with responses like, "your problem is that you don't know the Scriptures" and, "haven't you guys ever read the Bible?"
You can almost hear clap of His white gloves smacking them clear across the face. To suggest to the Pharisees and Sadducees that they were biblically illiterate, I'm quite sure, had the onlooking crowds rolling with laughter. It was the equivalent of blasting them with an in-your-face "yo-momma" joke from which there was no comeback.
Had they ever read the Scripture? Of course. But there's a large gap between Scripture talk and Scripture walk that they had not yet crossed. These guys were "experts" at conducting Bible studies but at the end of the day their misappropriated knowledge about God was the very thing preventing them from truly knowing God.
The dangerous thing about deception is that it creates the illusion that you're "right" more often than not. They had developed the very dangerous habit of subscribing to biblical without first allowing it to transform their hearts.
The Pharisees and Saduccees had developed a habit of reading God's Word through the filter of their own biases and misconceptions. Consequently, they began applying the truths that reinforced their bad habits while unintentionally ignoring those that directly challenged them.
Jesus' rebuke was not that they hadn't gotten into the Scriptures but that the Scriptures hadn't gotten into them.
Whenever we fail to approach God's Word with a heart that fully embraces it's purpose: "to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. [To] corrects us when we are wrong and teach us to do what is right. (2 Timothy 3:16), we run the risk of becoming more religious without becoming godly (2 Timothy 3:5).
The only way to ensure a healthy relationship to Christ and His Word is to develop the habit of allowing Scripture to do it's sanctifying work of "cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow...expos[ing] our innermost thoughts and desires." (Hebrews 4:12).
By continually exposing every wrong motive and desire of our hearts to the Word of God and consistently responding to its rebuke will it produce the kind of lifestyle that is both biblically literate and morally pure. Any other approach to Scripture only produces more Pharisees and Saduccees, of which Jesus was not a big fan.
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