Matthew 21:45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them.
One of the politenesses that our culture used to have was a very simple one: If you wouldn’t say something about a person if they were present, then don’t say it when they are absent. Say it to their face or not at all. We have the right to face our accuser.
This has been all but lost in this day with all our virtual talking. We write and post and BLOG and Tweet and Instapot just about everything. Our inner world is put out there for all to see. There is no longer the filter that helps make societies civilized. We choose to speak the best, even when our thoughts are not so aligned.
I know that there are many who have deleted their online presence because of this lack of propriety in speech. They would rather hear nothing than hear the onslaught of hatred and shallow thinking that gets promulgated today online. So they unplug and are happier for it.
Our text today holds a curious twist. As I read the previous section of Scripture which contained two parables, the religious leaders hear a direct assault on them. But as you read them, there is no direct mention of them. There are only two hypothetical bad guys.
So how do they hear this direct attack as recorded in our text? They hear it in connect with Jesus’ answer to a probing question that they raised: By what authority are you doing these things? Jesus doesn’t answer, but turns the table on them. He probes their motives for asking. He cuts right to their hearts.
What is our normal reaction to having the mask torn off our face? We generally don’t like for our weaknesses and vulnerability to be exposed to the public. We all have things about which we are not proud. We have have some hidden ‘us.’
Jesus messes with those most secret places of the religious leaders. He pulls the curtain back and exposes their hearts, their attitudes, their actions. And no one likes what He finds. Despite all their effort to be all that the LORD has called them to be, they fall miserably short of the goal.
And Jesus messes with our most secret places. When we read the Scriptures, they cut to the deepest parts of us. That is why so many avoid reading the Scriptures. They don’t want Jesus to expose their innermost secrets. They want to keep them hidden.
So as we face the Scriptures today, what hidden is Jesus making plain about you?
The Arnold Journey 