Today's passage is Matthew 23:13-22. Athought Jesus is talking to the crowd and his disciples, he hurls three Woes at the Pharisees. The first is for blocking people from heaven. The second is for turning their converts into sons of hell. The third is for being willfully blind to what makes anything sacred to swear by.
"Dog in the manger" is an old expression in Western culture. A manger is a food trough for animals such as cows and donkeys. The food is usually hay. A dog can't eat hay. But when a dog sits in the manger he growls at the animals who want to eat the hay he is sitting on. He can't eat it and he won't let others eat it.
In verses 13 and 14, Jesus accuses the Pharisees of being dogs in mangers.
I'm one too.
I'm one because I'm envious and insecure. I want to win all the time. If I can't win, I try to stop others from winning. If I can't compete fairly, I try to change the rules so I will win.
When I was a boy, I was a swimming racer. I won a lot. I hated losing.
Being better than others was more important than being my best.
I only cheered other swimmers when they were members of my relay team because I wanted to win. I hated winners shaking my hand and telling me I'd swum a good race.
I was a poor sportsman, a poor student and a poor friend because I had no real confidence in myself as a person. I had no sense of a bigger picture into which I comfortably fitted.
This continued into my university days when I had to be better at writing essays than my friends. Even my girlfriend! I never helped them even when they asked me because I didn't want to share any of my ideas! I was the one who had to get As, not my friends. That was one of the reasons I lost that girlfriend.
When I first become a Christian and was a Sunday School teacher, I played soccer with the little kids and a couple of the teachers.
The other teachers always passed the ball to the kids so they could score. I never did.
I had to score the goal. Once I even lifted a little guy off the ground and held him while I took the ball away from him so I could score! The other teachers were rightly shocked.
I understand what the Pharisees did all too well because I'm so much like them.
Part of me approves of Jesus' condemnation of them.
But another part of me cringes because I'm just like them and deserve the same Woe.
The Pharisees didn't believe there was room for everyone in God's heavenly kingdom.
They looked at their world and saw limits everywhere.
Their insecurity about getting a share of heaven blinded them and made them recreate the rules of the world so that they and they alone could win.
Although I have changed my attitude towards much in life, there's still a scared little part of me that wants to climb into the manger and bark and growl at the bigger, better people and try to stop them achieving when I can't.
Lord, help me trust you, help me see myself as beloved of you and rest confident in your love. Let that trust and confidence flow out of me into my life with others. Help me to love my neighbour as myself and give kindness, care and respect.
