Matthew 23

Matthew 23: 13-22  Jesus has laid out the charges against the Pharisees and scribes.  Here, He expresses His grief.. 7 "woes" for what they have done that will lead to their destruction. "You serpents, you brood of vipers, how shall you escape the sentence of hell?"(v33) 

Woe #1 "because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from men; for you do not enter yourselves nor do you allow those who are entering to go in."    Jesus came to bring good news.. the Kingdom of heaven is near... in fact, He had cast out  demons by "the Spirit of God" .. showing that the Kingdom was in their midst..  He has overcome darkness and brought the Light;  He has given the kingdom to the poor in spirit.. to the children.. to all who would come to Him. But, the Pharisees refused to enter, they reputed all that Jesus said, and they kept others from following Jesus.  Because of this they would be condemned and sentenced to hell. 

Woe#2 ".. because you devour widows houses, even while for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you shall receive greater condemnation."   God has always given special consideration to widows and orphans.. those without help, without resources, and in need of love and compassion.  Yet, the Pharisees did not care about the people who were hurting.. they were more interested in taking than giving... all the while putting on a show of piety.  For this they were condemned. 

Woe#3 ".. because you travel about 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."  Unfortunately, when the Jews did reach out to others to convert them to Judaism they did it to their standards.. not to the Truth.  They were propagating more and more fruitless, vain, worthless religion in their own name.. not for the glory of God.  For this, they would be condemned. 

Woe#4  Three times Jesus calls the Pharisees and scribes blind.. "blind guides" (v16); "fools and blind men"; (v17) and "blind men" (v19).  This all has to do with swearing oaths.  Jesus clearly taught that  men should NOT make oaths.. but "let your statement be, 'Yes, yes' or 'No, no'" ( Matthew 5:33-37)  Worse yet, they devalued the temple, the altar, and the throne of God.  Jesus condemned them because they put more value on the gold in the temple than the temple "that sanctified the gold.."  They valued the offerings.. more than the sacred altar on which it was offered.   The temple belonged to God- not to them.  When they devalued the temple, they devalued God "who dwells in it."  They would swear "by heaven" yet not acknowledge that it is "the throne of God". 

Father in heaven, help us to hear clearly what Your Shepherd is saying to us today.  Examine our hearts, our motives, our religious activities.. our values..  Open our eyes to see, that we might not be fools or blind men.  Father, may we never close the door so others cannot enter the Kingdom of our God.  May we not neglect those in need because we are too busy trying to look like we are godly.  May we never lead others in our own ways.. but always in the Truth.  May we know the holiness and greatness of who You are.  Father, let Your will be done in us today.. even as it is done in heaven, to the glory and praise of Your Holy Name.  Let Jesus be our Master and guide today. Fill us Spirit of God.  Amen.