Seven Woes on the Teachers of the Law and the Pharisees - Matthew 23:13-39
Seven Woes on the Teachers of the Law and the Pharisees
13 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. [14]15 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are. 16 “Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.’ 17 You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? 18 You also say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gift on the altar is bound by that oath.’ 19 You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20 Therefore, anyone who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. 21 And anyone who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. 22 And anyone who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it. 23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. 24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.
25 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean. 27 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. 29 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. 30 And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 31 So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Go ahead, then, and complete what your ancestors started! 33 “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? 34 Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. 35 And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 Truly I tell you, all this will come on this generation. 37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. 38 Look, your house is left to you desolate. 39 For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’"
Reflection: While Jesus had compassion for all types of sinners who were willing to repent and come to Him, he had no tolerance as we can see in the passage, for hypocrisy and self righteousness. Jesus is almost scathing in his rebuke of the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees. What is he most angry about? Well it is really two things. First, he calls them blind guides, who are leading the people astray. They are so caught in the external obedience of the Law that they have completely missed the inner significance and greater meaning. They worry about tithing on mint, dill and their spices, yet neglect mercy, true justice and faithfulness. They have neglected the transformation of the heart which longs for the things God wants, not just legalistic adherence to rules.
Secondly is their hypocrisy, which is spelled out in two vivid metaphors. One he is says they keep the outside of the cup squeaky and shiny clean, yet the inside is full of the stains of greed and self-indulgence. Second, he says you are like whitewashed tombs! Clean on the outside, but full of dead bones and everything unclean on the inside(the latter could mean a lot of things not appropriate to mention here). Finally, as if that were not clear enough he says, "You brood of vipers, you snakes!" Remember in those days snakes were even more dangerous than our day, and to be bitten could be fatal. Jesus is not mincing words here.
So what can this mean for us? As I mentioned yesterday, it can be easy to judge these leaders, but what about us today? Surveys continue to show that one of the biggest deterrents to people coming to church is hypocrisy. Now on one hand this can be a lame excuse for people to justify and rationalize their own bad behavior. Yet, in another sense, it is a reminder that we need to "lead lives worthy of our calling"' as Paul says to the Ephesians in the beginning of chapter 4. The only way we can avoid the error of the Pharisees is to be honest about our own sin, confess it, receive forgiveness, and seek to be led by the Holy Spirit in deeper ways. The only true way we can avoid being hypocrites is to acknowledge that we are not in ourselves righteous, but need to completely and utterly rely on the grace of God that is in Christ Jesus. Jesus is the only one that can clean the inside of the cup and the inside of the tomb as we are brought from death to life. Amen.
13 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. [14]15 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are. 16 “Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.’ 17 You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? 18 You also say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gift on the altar is bound by that oath.’ 19 You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20 Therefore, anyone who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. 21 And anyone who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. 22 And anyone who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it. 23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. 24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.
25 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean. 27 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. 29 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. 30 And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 31 So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Go ahead, then, and complete what your ancestors started! 33 “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? 34 Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. 35 And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 Truly I tell you, all this will come on this generation. 37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. 38 Look, your house is left to you desolate. 39 For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’"
Reflection: While Jesus had compassion for all types of sinners who were willing to repent and come to Him, he had no tolerance as we can see in the passage, for hypocrisy and self righteousness. Jesus is almost scathing in his rebuke of the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees. What is he most angry about? Well it is really two things. First, he calls them blind guides, who are leading the people astray. They are so caught in the external obedience of the Law that they have completely missed the inner significance and greater meaning. They worry about tithing on mint, dill and their spices, yet neglect mercy, true justice and faithfulness. They have neglected the transformation of the heart which longs for the things God wants, not just legalistic adherence to rules.
Secondly is their hypocrisy, which is spelled out in two vivid metaphors. One he is says they keep the outside of the cup squeaky and shiny clean, yet the inside is full of the stains of greed and self-indulgence. Second, he says you are like whitewashed tombs! Clean on the outside, but full of dead bones and everything unclean on the inside(the latter could mean a lot of things not appropriate to mention here). Finally, as if that were not clear enough he says, "You brood of vipers, you snakes!" Remember in those days snakes were even more dangerous than our day, and to be bitten could be fatal. Jesus is not mincing words here.
So what can this mean for us? As I mentioned yesterday, it can be easy to judge these leaders, but what about us today? Surveys continue to show that one of the biggest deterrents to people coming to church is hypocrisy. Now on one hand this can be a lame excuse for people to justify and rationalize their own bad behavior. Yet, in another sense, it is a reminder that we need to "lead lives worthy of our calling"' as Paul says to the Ephesians in the beginning of chapter 4. The only way we can avoid the error of the Pharisees is to be honest about our own sin, confess it, receive forgiveness, and seek to be led by the Holy Spirit in deeper ways. The only true way we can avoid being hypocrites is to acknowledge that we are not in ourselves righteous, but need to completely and utterly rely on the grace of God that is in Christ Jesus. Jesus is the only one that can clean the inside of the cup and the inside of the tomb as we are brought from death to life. Amen.
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