Woe to you, because you are like unmarked graves, which people walk over without knowing it.

I grew up in San Jose and we had a haunted mansion next to us (so they claimed). It was the home of the manufacturer of the Winchester rifle. His widow outlived him and was said to have gone mad, thinking that the ghosts of all those killed by a Winchester rifle were coming back to haunt her in her house. She believed in order to escape them she had to fool them into areas she could lock off. She built staircases to nowhere, secret passageways, and other types of contraptions all to rid herself of these haunting spirits.

Imagine going down a staircase only to get to a wall at the bottom?

I think this is what Jesus is referring to with the Pharisees — the ultimate insult back then may have been an unmarked grave. No one cares enough to pay to put one’s name on it or to fashion a gravestone. Of course, the Pharisees would never let this happen to their own, they held power and were probably buried in the most prominent spaces.

But I think Jesus’ statement has a much deeper reference that holds meaning today too. Everyone must come to grips with this question: At the end of your life, what was the sum of your days worth in eternity? Did what you spent your time, talent, and resources on provide any lasting value for eternity?

Jesus is telling the Pharisees here, very bluntly, that all of their religiosity amounts to nothing in eternity. It is like they are buried in an unmarked grave in the cemetery of eternal value!

And what would he say about me … about you?

It is a very important question to consider. The Pharisees only let people see the outward “perfection” of their lives, but never the inward mess of their hearts. And isn’t that how it works? The more we try to cover up our sin and appear perfect on the outside, the deeper the sin we hide penetrates into our hearts. “For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.” (‭‭I Corinthians‬ ‭13‬:‭9‬-‭10‬)

This is the stark reality, when Jesus comes again and the saints rise to meet him, we will all face a judgment day, with Jesus presiding and God on the throne. Every sin we hid will be laid bare at his feet. Our hidden sins will be hidden no more. And what we have done in our lives will be measured to see if anything of eternal value was produced. I like this verse later in I Corinthians 13:13: “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” When I look at the way I spend my time, my money, my talents, will they fit into the categories of building up my faith and the faith of others, realizing my hope in Jesus and passing this hope on to others, or receiving God’s love for me, and sharing it by loving on those around me? Or will it fit in the categories of the multitude of things I could do for self-benefit?

Lord, teach me to leave much more of a lasting legacy than the Pharisees, who you correctly called out here as having nothing of eternal value, as if they were buried in unmarked graves. I want to serve you well and build eternal legacy with you as the target and focus of my effort. I want to please you first and foremost. Help me to let the approval and accomplishments this world values fade away. I want to be laser focused on you and your ways!