No Pretense

The Pharisees of Jesus’ day specialized in looking good. Sin was defined by them in terms of visible transgressions, and as long as they did nothing to violate the standards which they so carefully defined, they regarded themselves as being free from sin. And there can be little doubt about it—they were good performers. Their level of disciplined conformity to external expectations was very high. They impressed many by their performance, but there was someone they failed to impress—Jesus. He told them that they were nothing more than “whitewashed tombs” and called them “blind guides” (Mt 15:14).

In His rebuke to the Pharisees, our Lord established a principle that must guide us in our effort to become the people He wants us to be, and that principle is this—there must be no pretense. Christ’s teaching seems to be that we can’t make it as His followers unless we are willing to take an honest and straightforward look at what is going on beneath the surface of our lives. To look honestly at those parts of our being which we would rather not know about is not, as some would have it, a sign of morbid introspection but a sign of healthy spirituality.

Always remember, our Lord reserved His harshest criticism for those who, like the Pharisees, made pretense and denial into a trademark.

Further Study

Col 2:1-20; Isa 1:11-17; Gal 4:10

What did Paul bring to the Colossians’ attention?

How similar was it to Isaiah’s word centuries before?