Matthew 23:1-39
A Warning Against Hypocrisy
1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2 “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 4They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
5 “Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; 6 they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; 7 they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.
8 “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. 9 And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. 10 Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. 11 The greatest among you will be your servant. 12 For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
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.’”
Jesus talks about the Seven Woes of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law...The woes are all woes of hypocrisy...Jesus hates hypocrisy...He does not want anyone of us to be hypocrites...Jesus wants us believe in the right things, the eternal things, and for these to be the inner foundation of our lives...And when other men and women ask why we have so much hope, we can and will answer truthfully...We will answer from our hearts...This inner foundation needs to be strong...Man cannot see what is in another's heart...Man can only judge by what we see, read, and what we hear, but Jesus knows our innermost thoughts...
When a man with a temper gets angry again, he often is not even listened to...One who knows they have a hot temper, and might say or think something like, there he goes again...But when a humble man, with no temper gets angry, people listen...They want to hear what He has got to say...Jesus seems to be fed up with the Pharisees and the teachers of the law and their opposition...He critiques them as only He can...That is truthfully...Let us hope that some of them listened and learned from His teachings about hypocrisy...Let us also pray, we can learn from this and all His teachings...
These two groups, the teachers of the law and the Pharisees opposed our Messiah...There are seven woes woes of hypocrisy that these two groups were practicing...The first woe, was that they were keeping some believers out of the kingdom of heaven...We have only One Grand Father, and He is our Father in heaven...We have only One Grand Teacher, and He is the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of the Father in Heaven...Even the greatest man and teacher on earth, is still a servant...
The second woe of the Pharisees is that they preached and recruited believers and then made them sons of hell...They were not getting them ready for the kingdom of God..The Pharisees were blatant sinners, who bragged about being righteous...There teachings were not done in a proper way to those converts, they were trying to win and supposedly helping to get into heaven...
The third woe is that the Pharisees were swearing by the temple, and it meant nothing...But when they swore by the gold in the temple, one then was bound by that oath...Or if one swears by the altar, that meant nothing...But if they swore by the sacrifice we make at the altar...The altar and temple are more important than the gold and the gift of sacrifice...
The fourth woe is that the Pharisees went into detail knowing the law...But there are things more important in the law than other things...The minutiae detail of giving and tithing, were being obeyed, but the teachings of love, justice, forgiving, and mercy, the cornerstone teachings of our Father, were being overlooked...They were straining out gnats, and swallowing camels...
The fifth woe is that the mature teacher of the Father must understand what who He is...He is alive...His Son is alive...Teachers cannot be shallow in their foundation of the Bible...Those who follow God and the Bible are not to be full of greed and self indulgence...They do not wear the biggest fringes and hems on their clothes to draw attention, to show others they are followers of God...These outwardly appearances get looked at in detail by men, and man learns from their teachers...True men of God set the example, the right example....
The sixth woe is similar to the fifth woe...We must clean ourselves up on the inside, the outside gets cleaned up too...Teachers must clean up their acts on the inside of their lives with compassion, graciousness, and mercy, so the way they live will be the true example, and not a hypocritical one...When we follow the foundation of the Father and Son first in our hearts, then we will be automatically be clean on the outside...
The seventh woe is that it is so easy to say, if I lived in the time of the prophets, I would have listened to them...Yes, of course, I would have followed them..The Pharisees did not live back then...They really did not know how they would have done and reacted to things in that time...They say they would have behaved better than their forefathers in following the prophets...Yet, One greater than the prophets was now here, and look how they rejected and opposed Him...
Our Father is living...Let us never forget this...He is watching us...He is in control...He allows us to do all the things we do, because of His love, mercy, and grace...Let us learn from these Seven Woes of the Pharisees...Let us be sure we are always helping people to enter the kingdom of God...Let us not take advantage of others, no matter what our reasons are...Let us not mislead or mis-teach people about the Bible...Jesus wants us to be "heart focused"...We are to be inwardly full of love, mercy, compassion, grace, forgiveness, and justice...When our heart is full of these attributes of God, our outward appearance, will take care of itself...And let us not make ourselves to be more righteous than we really are...I have always wondered if I was on earth at the time of Jesus, would I have been a follower or a Pharisee...Our focus should be on God, His Son, and heaven, and not only our getting there, but helping our neighbors to get there also...What we learn from the Bible, from the church, and from others, and how we live, is either helping ourselves and others each day in getting to heaven or it is not...