Matthew 23:13 - 39

 

We are reading through the Gospel According to Matthew and we have reached the point in the life of Jesus where He is counting down His last days on earth. He has entered Jerusalem, during Passover to become the final Passover for all of humanity, the perfect sacrifice. He has proclaimed Himself as the Messiah that the Israelite nation has been praying for, but the religious leaders weren’t buying it. The disciples and followers were completely confused because their view of the Messiah was to be one who took control and brought the Jewish nation out of bondage from Roman control. Both groups would be surprised at the end of the week. 

 

Today, we are reading about the second day of Passover and Jesus has been in the temple teaching. He has also been interrogated by the religious leaders to no avail. 

In fact, Jesus has managed to stump them or at least shut them up at every turn. Today’s Scripture is where Jesus provides a divine warning and condemnation for how the religious leaders have been doing their jobs. He has presented a set of eight woes which stand in contrast to the eight beatitudes Jesus presented at the Sermon on the Mount. This series of eight is also reminiscent of the Old Testament prophets Isaiah and Habakkuk. They are meant to be condemning.   

 

Woe #1

Woe to those who shut up the kingdom. 

 

The word “hypocrites” used in this verse refers to an actor, or someone acting a part. The Scribes and Pharisees were performing a spiritual image but in actuality they were keeping people from the kingdom of heaven. 

For example, their opposition and rejection of Jesus demonstrated how they were unwilling to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. For them, individually, they could make their own choice, however, as priests, they were called to lead others and by not following Jesus they were in fact leading the people away from the Kingdom.  

 

Woe #2

The religious leaders steal from the vulnerable. 

 

You may have noticed that the NIV translation has only seven woes. This is the eighth woe that is not included in many of the translations. However, you can bet if you go to the King James Version it will be there. Its absence doesn’t mean it wasn’t said, it just means that in the early transcripts of Matthew it was not found so it has been interpolated from the gospels of Mark and Luke, where it is written. 

If you look at your NIV translation there is a reference mark, b, directing you to the bottom of the page explaining this detail.  

 

Verse 14, reads, 

 

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widow’s houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.”

 

Here He goes, calling them actors again. In their pretense of taking care of God’s temple, the scribes and Pharisees used clever and dishonest dealings and in the process stole the very houses of widows. Then, to top it all off, they gave a verbal rhetoric that made the decisions sound financially stable and spiritual. All for the sake of large donations. 

 

You don’t have to watch many television evangelists to see this happen. 

 

However, with this criticism Jesus presents a consequence. The greatness of this sin would account for their receiving a greater condemnation. Contrary to popular belief, no one will have it good in Hell. In fact, based on this statement some will have it worse than others. 

 

Woe #3

The religious leaders led their converts on the wrong path. 

 

The religious leaders demonstrated a zeal in evangelism but that didn’t prove they were right with God. Apparently the religious leaders worked hard to win a proselyte. 

Which in Biblical terms was someone who had fully converted and had accepted ceremonial law and circumcision and had become in the fullest sense a Jew. 

But that didn’t mean they were turning men from sin unto God. Instead, they were converting them to an opinion. 

 

Today we would say they had convinced others to 

“drink the kool-aid.”

 

Woe #4

The religious leaders made false and deceptive oaths. 

 

An oath for the Jewish leaders was considered absolutely binding, if it were a “binding oath.” Meaning, if you swore by the name of God, you were bound to keep it, no matter what. If you made an oath without attaching God to it, it could be legitimately broken. 

In order to ensure that this system existed, out of obedience to God’s Word, the religious leaders refused to swear by the name of God, as commanded in Exodus 20:7. So, they created an elaborate system of oaths that were considered either “binding” or “not binding,” so they could make a promise and not have to keep it. It was like making a promise while keeping your fingers crossed behind one’s back. 

 

Jesus also addressed the religious leaders' emphasis on the sacrifice and not the altar. 

The purpose of the altar is significant, 

not the sacrifice laid upon it. 

It was the altar that made the sacrifice holy.  

The altar was considered the meeting place between God and humans. 

Our alter is Jesus Himself and His work on the cross. 

 

Basically, Jesus reminded them that every oath is binding with God. God listens and calls us to account, even if we think we have come up with an excuse. 

 

Woe #5

The religious leaders were obsessed with trivial matters and ignoring what was important. 

 

The religious leaders were meticulous in their tithing, down to the amount of mint, anise and cummin. Yet, they neglected the things that really mattered to God, which we find back in Micah 6:8,

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
    And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
    and to walk humbly with your God.

Jesus continues with a bit of sense of humor. 

He describes the religious leaders as so committed to the kosher diet that they would carefully strain their wine through gauze to avoid swallowing a microscopic insect and yet cheerfully swallow a camel. Basically, Jesus was stating they had completely lost their sense of proportion. 

Woe #6

The religious leaders were impure both inside and out.

Jesus called it like it was. The scribes and Pharisees had the appearance of righteousness but inside were full of sin and corruption. 

Notice Jesus did not call them to choose between outer righteousness and inner righteousness. He called them to take care of the inside “first” and by doing so, the “outside” would be covered. 

Woe #7

The religious leaders looked good from the outside, but inside, their spiritual life was hurting. 

This statement was a direct correlation to a custom of the Jews at that time. In the city of Jerusalem, the tombs were all whitewashed before Passover so that no one would touch one accidentally and make themselves unclean. Jesus was comparing the religious leaders to the whitewashed tombs, pretty on the outside, but dead on the inside. 

God is not fooled. He sees what we actually are, not what we appear to be. 

 

Woe #5

The religious leaders honor dead prophets, but murder the living prophets. 

Jesus’ words in this section are full of wrath. This is where we see just how serious Jesus was and the reality of just how bad the religious leaders were. 

Jesus prophesied with these words how the religious leaders would complete the rejection of the prophets that their forefathers began when they would persecute His disciples after He had risen from the dead. 

To make matters worse, Jesus calls the scribes and Pharisees, “serpents, a brood of vipers.” This phrase represents the idea of them belonging to the “family of the devil.” The religious leaders took an unmerited sense of pride in their heritage as spiritual sons of Abraham, but in the eyes of Jesus, they were more like the sons of the devil. 

The harsh words of Jesus demonstrate two things:

1. He did not want others to be deceived by them.
2. He actually loved these men. Think about it. These men were as far away from God as one could get. And what was worse, they didn’t realize it. Jesus was warning them so they would repent. 

You can tell how much He cared because His woes merge into a cry, like a mother, over her lost child. 

In verses 37-39 Jesus laments for Jerusalem. It is claimed that Jesus wept two times. Here, at the pain of knowing that those who claimed to be leaders of the temple would reject Him, lead others astray and therefore receive condemnation, He cried also at the tomb of Lazurus. Both incidents expressed deep sorrow at the power and pain of death.

As Jesus laments we hear in His words a desire to protect them from the terrible judgment that would eventually follow their rejection of the Messiah. Jesus rebuked these men so strongly because His heart was broken for them. 

Bring it home, 

When we sin, God does not hate us, He aches for us. 

He knows that in every way our sin and rebellion only destroys our life. We should not only feel this for ourselves but we should share God’s sorrow for the lost and those around us. 

What a beautiful picture of God gathering, protecting and nourishing His people, like a mother bird protects her young chicks. 

But there is a problem. They were not willing. 

It is the will of God that saves.

It is the will of man that can choose not to be saved.

Jesus ends this conversation with, 

“For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

We are not without hope. Jesus reveals some of the conditions surrounding His Second Coming. When He returns again, the Jewish people will welcome His as the Messiah saying, 

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”

After listening to these “woes” it would be difficult to change the hearts of the scribes and Pharisees and all those who followed them. 

But God can do it. 

It is a promise that Israel will welcome Jesus back, Paul said so in Romans 11:26, 

“And so all Israel will be saved.”

Here we are 2000 years later, still waiting for that to be revealed. And while we wait, we continue to remember Jesus’ work on the cross. We no longer need to bring a sacrifice to the altar to receive forgiveness for our sins. Our alter is Jesus Himself and His work on the cross. 

We do, however, need to recognize our sins and seek forgiveness for them. Today we offer that time to remember by participating in the Lord’s Supper. 

Lord’s Supper