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Today's Little Lift
by Jim Bullington
Jesus Loved Truth (2/5)
Truth, like water, comes in more than one form. Water does not cease being water when it becomes ice nor does it cease being water when it becomes steam. Ice and steam are still water. Truth translated into action is still truth even though it is non-verbal in form. This installment has to do with Jesus' reaction to those who failed miserably in translating truth into action. His love for truth caused Him to forcefully and forthrightly oppose some whose lives were walking contradictions of truth!
The word "hypocrite" or its plural form appears 21 times in the New Testament. Of these 21 occurrences, all but one of them issued from the mouth of Jesus Christ. Of course some of these occurrences are parallel accounts in the gospel records. However, all in all, one can accurately say that on at least 15 occasions Jesus referred to others as hypocritical. Jesus' love for truth was directly behind these multiple rebukes. Those who found themselves on the receiving end of these epithets were people who knew the truth on a matter but who willfully acted contrary to their knowledge. We will take a closer look at a couple of these events and from this, see how Jesus loved truth by His use of the word "hypocrite."
Matthew 15 contains one particular incident that actually helps us to understand the meaning of the word "hypocrite." Speaking to certain scribes and Pharisees Jesus said, "These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me." (Matthew 15.8). They were, in this regards, stage players and that is the definition of "hypocrite." Their actions were designed to be contrary to their convictions; they lived a lie. Jesus' love for truth would not be silent in as much as these people were actually leading others astray by their deceitful practices!
Jesus' love for truth was connected to the fact that truth saves while the absence of truth condemns. Without a doubt, the most scathing rebuke by Jesus was the one recorded in Matthew 23. This event occurred in Jerusalem during the final week of His ministry. His mission was to deliver truth by which men could be saved, however not every one shared His devotion to truth. Some willfully deceived others because they were agents of the wicked one. Note a few of Jesus' statements to these hardened hypocrites: "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves." (Matthew 23.13-15). Truth suffered much at the hands of these play actors and Jesus could not but condemn their hypocritical actions.
Truth may be spoken, written, and exhibited in life. Jesus loved truth and by definition, hated error. His actions opposing the hypocritical actions of others demonstrated His unswerving and uncompromising devotion to saving truth. He has not changed! He still loves truth!
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