THE STORY OF JESUS: Matthew 23:29-36
“You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?” (Matthew 23:33)
Jesus uses the Jewish word ‘gehenna’ (here translated as hell) to describe the final judgment.
The valley of Hinnon (ge’hinnon) near Jerusalem was used in the past for child sacrifice (2 Kings 23:10).
Jeremiah named it ‘the valley of slaughter’ (Jeremiah 7:30-33).
In Jesus time the valley was used as a burial place for criminals and for burning garbage.
Worms ate the decomposing waste, and there was always smoldering fire there (Mark 9:48).
To be told your body was going there was to be relegated to the worst of human beings.
Jesus is condemning these leaders as offspring of Satan, the worst of criminals.
We may find this harsh, but think for a moment how leaders with power abuse their power.
Think of all the verbal, physical and sexual abuses committed, also by religious leaders.
These were not innocent seminary professors or harmless church deacons.
They wielded their power with cruelty, but then cloaked their crimes with sanctity and piety.
The question ‘how will you escape’ has the same answer for them as for everyone else: REPENT.
Nicodemus was a religious leader, but his heart was changed (John 3:1-21, John 19:38-42).
God condemns hypocrisy, but any hypocrite, any child of Satan, can find mercy, if they repent.
What do you sense the Lord saying to you?
PRAYER
Lord, the church is full of hypocrites, and I’m one of them. Help me to see my sin as a serious concern, and to hate it for what it is. Help me not to cover it up with fake piety and sanctity.