13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. 15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.
16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ 17 You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? 18 And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’ 19 You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20 So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. 21 And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it. 22 And whoever swears by heaven swears 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 cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. 24 You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!
25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.
(ESV)
STOP! Think a little 🤔 What is God saying to you?
- What is the writer saying?
- How do I apply this to my life?
Having warned the people about the hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees, Jesus now turns and addresses them directly with a number of woes.
The first woe is because they prevent people from entering the kingdom of heaven. As the spiritual guides of the nation, they were supposed to lead people to the kingdom. Instead in their own unbelief, they block others from the knowledge of the truth that would allow them to believe and enter.
The next woe was because they were passionate to create proselytes (converts to Judaism) but they just brought those converts under the influence of their corrupt doctrines. In their unbelief, they are destined for hell and then they raised up passionate followers who, trained in error, were also destined for hell.
Another woe was bestowed on them because of how they twisted their teaching about oaths. They taught that some oaths needed to be kept but others could be broken if worded carefully. If you swear by the altar, then that is not as serious as if you swear by the sacrifice on the altar. But Jesus pointed out that it was the altar that made the sacrifice sacred. It’s like a promise with my fingers crossed behind my back isn’t really a promise—no it’s not, it’s a lie, but it doesn’t magically make the promise invalid. Jesus said, “let your yes be yes and your no be no” (Mat 5:37). Mean what you say and say what you mean. Anything else is just manipulation and deserves a woe from Jesus.
The next woe was because their priorities were backwards. They focussed on the minutiae of tithing even the tiniest herbs from their gardens (Lev 27:30) but completely ignored the significant issues of the law like justice and mercy and faithfulness. They should have done both. If you decide you’re going to tithe 10%, then tithe 10%, not 99.9%. But don’t think that by giving exactly the right amount is going to magically cover over other areas of sinfulness. The Pharisees were so focussed on straining out the tiniest of unclean animals (the gnat) but then completely missed the fact that they swallowed a camel. Jesus uses exaggeration to show how they obsessed over avoiding the tiny sins while completely ignoring the large, obvious errors in their lives.
The Pharisees focussed on the external, doing whatever they could to show how spiritual they were. They took great care to follow all the external cleansing acts of religion while ignoring the cleansing of their hearts. Instead, their hearts were full of greed and selfishness. Are you concerned with outward conformity and looking like you’re doing all the right things while your heart remains hard and selfish? Or are you letting God really work on your inner character, to transform you into someone more like Christ, that will naturally flow to better outward behaviour?
I love the analogy of the clean cup and plate. Sometimes it’s easier to put on a mask and say your a good Christian, but on the inside your completely different.
I felt I was forced to think whether I expect others to be perfect when I am not and am determined to change the fact that I do this
Verse 25 is what stood out to me, it shows that they cared to much about what was on the outside that they couldn’t actually realize that they needed to change their hearts