When love rebukes

 Matthew 23:37

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me.

We encounter a side of Jesus here in Matthew 23 that does not fit well into our modern theology of “Love all people into the Kingdom and do not judge”. Especially when you consider the fact that He is addressing the religious leaders of His day.

The issues Jesus points out here were not said in polite, soft-spoken words, intended not to offend. Oh no, we see many of His accusations given with exclamation marks, boldly pointing out that they were leading the flock astray with their own sinful and completely wrong applications of what the words of God intended.

We see Jesus accusing them of shutting the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces because they are pretenders (teaching one law and then not keeping it themselves). They are doing all their works only to be seen of men. He calls them blind fools because they make distinctions between different objects people swear by, giving them a corrupt way to opt out of keeping their word. They are blind guides, leading people to concentrate on keeping outward minor details of religious rituals instead of tending to their inside holiness. He even refers to them as serpents and children of vipers, to my mind referring to the fact that they were led by the Kundalini spirit (a curled up snake at the base of the spine imitating the Holy Spirit), which was empowered and given access to them through their dabbling into the occultic practices of the mystical teachings of Kabbalah. (These teachings were orally transmitted down through the centuries). This is why He said in John 8:44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires.

 Finally, He accuses them of murdering all the prophets who came before and even those who would still come. Jesus ends off His emotional speech by declaring their righteous punishment in verse 36 - I assure you and most solemnly say to you, [the judgment for] all these things [these vile and murderous deeds] will come on this generation.

But Jesus has not finished speaking yet. In tears, He utters the words quoted above, about His desire to gather His people under His wings, showing that the reason for His rebuke against the leaders was because of His deep love for them, a love that wanted them to repent and turn back towards God!

Pearls to ponder:

Think about the picture of a hen gathering her chicks: They feel safe and happy; part of a blessed community. They know love and grow in a healthy way; all the while being taught the correct way to go about life. This is what Jesus wants to do for you – are you willing?

Jerusalem