It was an epic beatdown. He had just finished answering question and after question, and dodging trap after trap with answers that astonished the crowd and questions of his own that perplexed them. Then he went on offense.
As I read it, Jesus just went off on the religious leaders of the day, dressing them down with such precision, they literally had no response but to sneak away, lick their wounds, and plot ways to take Him out at a later date. Hypocrites, snakes, blind guides, blind fools, and deceivers were just a few of the categorizations he launched at them.
The one that always strikes me the most when I read it is how he calls out the silk on the pig:
"you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy-- full of greed and self-indulgence! You blind Pharisee! First, wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean too." (Matthew 23:25-26)
Shiny on the outside, but dirty on the inside. Truth!
With his responsibility to call out the truth completely, he pivots, grieves for, and prays over all the people, then leaves with his inner circle and spends the next two chapters teaching and preparing them for what's to come. Jesus kept it real.
Churchill leader Matt Ricci gave a masterful teaching on keeping it REAL this week to our team. He taught a framework he developed around the proper mindset to approach most situations in life and business.
R - Responsibility. Take extreme responsibility for the proper outcome. To assess the proper outcome, you need to know the true problem you are trying to solve. To know the right problem, you have to ask the right questions. Don't expect someone to do this for you.
E - Educate. Educate yourself so that you can then educate others. The Bible says in all your searching, seek knowledge and discernment. That's wisdom. Teach, don't just tell.
A - Advocate. Go to battle on behalf of others and the truth. Leaving people better for the encounter means stepping into the gap for them.
L - Leadership. Walk alongside people, bring them with you to a place they wouldn't have gotten to on their own. Don't just point in a direction, clear a path, and hit the trail with them.
The key to keeping it REAL starts with you, not the shiny cup on the outside, but what fills your cup on the inside--your heart, your motives, your love and care for others.
If you are full of greed and self-indulgence, your cup will remain empty.
If you practice "We" over "Me," your cup will never run dry, because others will constantly be filling it up. As Uncle Lou says, it doesn't matter what you do in life; it's how many people you can help. Focus on that, and you're going to need a second cup.
