Matthew
23:13-36
Jesus
Condemns Religious
Leaders
(8
Woes)
Matthew
23:13 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.
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!'"
This
is the Word of the Lord ... It is
meant to change the way that we
think, and the way that we live.
Commentary
by Bob
Pardue
8
Woes to the Scribes and
Pharisees
- In a
nutshell, it's all about
power, money and a lust for
status.
-
- Jesus'
words sound harsh here and
they were meant to
be.
-
- The
Pharisees and scribes were not
just local pastors as we know
them today although there are
ministers who are in the
profession for the wrong
reasons. These were the
leaders of the cities, leaders
people looked to for spiritual
guidance.
-
- A funny
thing about power -- the more
you have of it the more you
seem to want. This was the
case with many of the
religious leaders of Jesus'
day so He called them on it
with His "8 woes".
-
- Jesus
knew that the Pharisees were
totally missing the point and
were focusing on laws and
interpretations of the laws
instead of putting their focus
on God, where it should
be.
-
- Christ
knew that, if the teacher is a
hypocrite then the student
becomes one also... Maybe even
more as they (the students)
are taught hypocritical
values.
-
- Corruption
is also a main player in these
verses. The leaders were
posing as saints on the
outside and corrupt on the
inside as Jesus explained in
verse 25 by saying;
-
- "For
you clean the outside of the
cup and of the dish, but
inside they are full of
robbery and
self-indulgence."
-
- This
could go on and on but the
point is for us to "walk the
walk" of a Christian, not just
on the outside but on the
inside too.
-
- A very
difficult thing to do
sometimes but all God asks is
that we try.
-
-
- Love
in Christ
-
Bob
If you have
never made the commitment to
receive the love and
life-changing experience of Jesus
Christ, please take a moment to
go
here
and take the first
steps
to salvation.
Bob
Pardue
is a member of First
Baptist
Church
in Lancaster, SC. He is ordained
from Rich Hill Baptist in
Lancaster.
Want
to place this passage and
commentary on your website or
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content?
This
article, Jesus and the 8 woes to
the Pharisees, may be freely
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Bob
Verses are from New
American Standard Bible
Comments are welcome.
Please email
me with any questions
or comments you may have.
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