Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!

Matthew 23:13-39

Eight Woes

¹³ “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. ¹⁴ Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive greater condemnation.

¹⁵ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.

¹⁶ “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, that is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple is obligated.’ ¹⁷ You fools and blind men! Which is more important, the gold or the temple that sanctified the gold? ¹⁸ And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, that is nothing, but whoever swears by the offering on it, he is obligated.’ ¹⁹ You blind men, which is more important, the offering, or the altar that sanctifies the offering? ²⁰ Therefore, whoever swears by the altar, swears both by the altar and by everything on it. ²¹ And whoever swears by the temple, swears both by the temple and by Him who dwells within it. ²² And whoever swears by heaven, swears both by the throne of God and by Him who sits upon it.

²³ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. ²⁴ You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!

²⁵ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. ²⁶ You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also.

²⁷ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. ²⁸ So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

²⁹ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, ³⁰ and say, ‘If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ ³¹ So you testify against yourselves, that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. ³² Fill up, then, the measure of the guilt of your fathers. ³³ You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell?

³⁴ “Therefore, behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city, ³⁵ so that upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. ³⁶ Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

Lament over Jerusalem

³⁷ “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. ³⁸ Behold, your house is being left to you desolate! ³⁹ For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’”

As we continue with the daily reading from the One Year Bible, it is important that we keep in mind the timeline of these events and accounts. Jesus has come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. He knows that it is at this time that He will be betrayed and crucified. In these, His last few days on earth as a man Jesus is pouring Himself out, speaking the truth of the kingdom and challenging the false teachings and teachers. In yesterday's text we focused on the greatest commandment, to love the Lord God with all our heart, soul and mind. That commandment is the foundation for everything else we do. In today's text Jesus rebukes the religeous leaders, the  scribes and Pharisees, calling them hypocrites.

Jesus begins the declaration of woes to the Pharisees by saying   woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. Jesus message and preaching from the begining of His ministry on earth was about the kingdom of heaven being here and He taught the way to the kingdom of heaven. In fact Jesus is the way. In John 14:6 Jesus says: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. The Pharisees on the other hand have placed their own confidence on knowledge of the law and scripture, on holding to tradition and to birthright. Jesus says in doing this they have both hindered others from coming into the kingdom and will not enter themselves. 

In verse 15 Jesus says: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves. I have known many churches and church leaders over the years and I would say that most churches and leaders do many things well and  have a desire to serve God and minister to people. I believe though that the condition or circumstance surrounding this woe is something that can happen in churches today. Not to say they are going to hell or leading others there. But, I do believe that it often happens that there is as much or more of a focus on church membership as to being a follower of Christ. Jesus says that we are to "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,"  Far too often membership in a local body or denomination is equated with discipleship. We are to make disciples, followers of Jesus, not followers of ourselves or our doctrines and preferences. Most churches would encourage non-believers to come as they are saying Jesus loves you just as you are. Unfortunately too often after they have come to Jesus as they are we say that if you want to stay you need to be like us. Our emphasis must always be on Jesus. In many ways it begins with the greatest commandment to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind, lived out in our own lives and taught as the foundation of discipleship. 

Much of Jesus rebuke of the religeous leaders centered around the hypocrisy of their actions. They did not walk the talk. Certainly hypocrisy in the church and in Christians is one of the main critcisms unbelievers have regarding both the church and Christians. There is unfortunately a lot of validity to their claims of hypocrisy. Particularly in today's media driven society there is a spotlight on all the failings of churches and Christians. We can't change the world's opinion of all Christians but we must live our own lives with integrity, honesty and love. Jesus was not concerned with what the world thought of Him and neither should we be. Jesus says: “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. ¹⁹ If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.(John 15:18-19) It is not our reputation or the worlds opinion of us that matters. It is our actions lining up with our words. We are to live as light and truth.  If we love God we will love others unconditionaly.  

Jesus ends our text today with these words:     For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’”

That should be our desire, our goal, our focus. If we truly come in the name of the Lord. If we live as Christ, if we love as Christ, if we make disciples of Christ then they will see Jesus. That's what the world needs. It needs to see Jesus and experience a revelation that Jesus is the Christ, their Christ, their savior and Lord.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit work in me to cause me to live my life in such a way that people will see You. Forgive me when people see things in my life that would cause them to stumble. I love You, with all my heart, soul and mind. I desire to love others with Your love.  Amen