Matthew 23, Woe

This chapter collects a series of final teachings of Jesus, presumably occurring during the last week of Jesus's ministry.

Matt 23:1-12
Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: "The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

"Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them `Rabbi.'

"But you are not to be called `Rabbi,' for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth `father,' for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called `teacher,' for you have one Teacher, the Christ.

"The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted."

This is Jesus's clearest teaching against the religious practices of the teachers of the law. The passage confronts the hypocrisy and dishonesty of the religious leaders.  In place of the religious hypocrisy, Jesus emphasizes that we are all "brothers" (and sisters); his universe seems fairly flat, without hierarchy.

Phylacteries are "boxes containing Scripture verses, worn on forehead and arm" (NIV footnotes).

Matt 23:13-22
"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you  hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.

"Woe to you, blind guides! You say, `If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold  of the temple, he is bound by his oath.' You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? 

You also say, `If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gift on it, he is bound by his oath.' You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 

Therefore, he who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And he who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. And he who swears by heaven swears by God's throne and by the one who sits on it.

This sequence of "Woe" passages is a sequence of harsh warnings about the religious games of the times.  We practice different games in our modern culture, but the underlying hypocrisy is unchanged.

The hypocrites shut up the kingdom of heaven....  They count converts and then mislead them.  They play games with a sequence of oaths; some they call important, some they say are not.

Some ancient Greek manuscripts include, after verse 13, "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You devour widows' houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Therefore you will be  punished more severely."  The NIV presumably does not include this verse as it is not in all of the ancient manuscripts.

Matt 23:23-28
"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices--mint, dill and cummin. 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. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

"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. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.

"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 dead  men's bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness."

The hypocrites, claim to tithe but care little for justice.  They "strain out a gnat but swallow a camel", an accurate metaphor for the absurdities of legalism.  They ignore the truly important parts of man, the soul, the heart.

23:29-35

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. And you say, `If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.  So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets.

"Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your forefathers! You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. 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.

These hypocrites claim to be righteous and willing to be persecuted, yet they would have killed the prophets (and will kill Jesus.)

23:36-39
"I tell you the truth, all this will come upon this generation. O 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, but you were not willing.   Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say,  `Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'"

The quote in verse 39 is from Psalm 118:26.

The sequence of warnings ends with a statement that these persecutions and accompanying desolation will occur soon, "upon this generation."  If Matthew was written after 70 CE, the reader would have recognized the destruction of Jerusalem that had recently occurred.

The warnings in this passage lead to a more detailed discussion of the "end times", as Jesus leaves the temple, in the next chapter.