What comes to mind when you think about someone living “the good life”?

Commercials portray the good life as a pristine lawn, a full retirement account, and a new car whisking you away on fresh adventures. On social media, the good life is beautiful people doing interesting things to entertain adoring fans. And the headlines would suggest that the good life is for those on top, the people calling the shots and reaping the rewards.

Jesus paints a different picture. In Matthew chapter 5, Jesus describes a life of blessing. But he does not describe it as a life of ladders climbed, accounts filled, or ovations received. Instead, Jesus says that a blessed life is marked by things like meekness, a hunger and thirst for righteousness, poverty of spirit, and persecution for lives of faithfulness. He says it is these qualities that create enduring goodness.

In contrast to this challenging, yet beautiful vision of the good life, in Matthew 23, we find Jesus confronting a group of religious leaders. These leaders are confident in the goodness of their lives, when they look in the mirror they see good work, good character, and good reputations. But that is not what Jesus sees.

Speaking to these religious elites, Jesus issues a series of scathing rebukes, or woes, revealing their twisted hearts, prideful lives, and hypocritical leadership. They have been looking for blessing in all the wrong places. 

One Biblical commenter sums up their hypocrisy this way:

“The ‘hypocrisy’ which is alleged is not so much conscious insincerity as a distorted perspective which makes them think that they are doing the will of God when they are missing the main point.” “Two more specific charges are developed, their lack of consideration for the problems their teaching generates for ordinary people, and their concern for appearances and reputation.”

In other words, Jesus tells them, you have missed the good life, and you don’t even know it. 

What does this have to do with us? 

Every day we’re confronted with the question, what will make my life good? How should I spend my days? What should I value? Who should I be? 

Jesus’ teaching is as relevant to those questions today as it was to his first hearers. In Matthew 5 he invites us to live lives that value what matters most. And in Matthew 23 he warns against wasting your life in a cycle of performance and hypocrisy.

In this series we will spend time in Jesus’ invitations and warnings, seeking to put on those qualities he esteems and take off those that he rejects as we pursue the good life together.