Jesus’ Own Generation Rejects Him - Matthew 23:33-39

33 “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?

We always think of Jesus being nice and he was certainly the most loving person who ever lived, but being loving also meant speaking the truth. We see this in the continuing diatribe against the Jewish leaders. 

This phrase has the idea of “family of the devil.” These religious leaders took an unmerited pride in their heritage, thinking they were spiritual sons of Abraham. Instead, they were more like sons of the devil, not of Abraham. (Guzik)

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.

Jesus was prophesying about those who would come after him who would be persecuted for his namesake.  We know, for example, Saul, later to be called the apostle Paul, was treated in this way.

We don’t know if he was crucified, but he was definitely flogged and pursued from town to town.  

“Paul's death are unknown, but tradition holds that he was beheaded in Rome and thus died as a martyr for his faith. His death was perhaps part of the executions of Christians ordered by the Roman emperor Nero following the great fire in the city in 64 CE.” (Brittanica) 

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. 

Jesus here spoke of all the righteous martyrs of the Old Testament. Abel was clearly the first, and in the way that the Hebrew Bible was arranged, Zechariah was the last. 2 Chronicles is the last book of the Hebrew Bible, and Zechariah’s story is found in 2 Chronicles 24. (Guzik)

Though these earthly servants shed blood for a righteous cause, they themselves were not righteous.  Romans 5 tells us that there are none who are righteous no not even one. But in a little while Jesus’ own innocent and righteous blood would be shed for all sinners great and small. 

36 Truly I tell you, all this will come on this generation.

Jesus would die within the generation of those alive in when Matthew’s gospel was written. Though Jesus’ death would happen within this generation, he died for sinners of every age. 

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.

Though Jesus had harsh words for the hypocritical leaders, he shows the us the unfailing love of the Father.  Jesus loved his own people from whom he was born and raised, and one can only imagine how sad he was when they rejected him. 

In Luke’s version it says, “Jesus wept”.  The only other time Jesus cried was when his friend Lazarus died.  These two moments show us Jesus’ true humanity and God’s heart as well. 

“This heartfelt cry is another way to see that Jesus didn’t hate these men He rebuked so strongly. His heart broke for them. When we sin, God does not hate us; He genuinely sorrows for us, knowing that in every way our sin and rebellion only destroys our life. We should hope to share God’s sorrow for lost humanity.” (Guzik)

We read in the New Testament that Jesus is not willing for any to perish but all to come to a knowledge of the truth. 2 Peter 3:9

Note the phrase, “But you were not willing”.  Though God was not willing for them to perish, they were not willing to turn to Him and receive the gift they needed to find eternal life. 

“We hold tenaciously that salvation is all of grace, but we also believe with equal firmness that the ruin of man is entirely the result of his own sin. It is the will of God that saves; it is the will of man that damns.” (Spurgeon)

38 Look, your house is left to you desolate.

The house of Israel was desolate in a couple of ways. One, with their rejection of Jesus they sealed their own fate.  Second, the temple was destroyed by the Roman Empire in A.D. 70.  

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.

This is a clear reference to Jesus’ second coming. 

There is obviously a reference to the fact that the words quoted from Psalm 118:26, had been uttered by the crowd but a few days before on His solemn entry into Jerusalem. Not till those words should be uttered once again—not in a momentary burst of excitement, not with feigned Hosannas, but in spirit and in truth—would they look on Him as they looked now. There can be little doubt that our Lord points to the second Advent, and to the welcome that will then be given Him by all the true Israel of God. For that generation, and for the outward Israel as such, the abandonment was final.

Why do you think Jesus’ own people rejected him?  Do you think Jesus was more angry, sad, or disappointed with the Jewish leaders?  Why do people reject Jesus today?  How can we reflect God’s love for lost people who mean as much to God today?