Matthew 23:25-39: “Finishing Up The ‘Woes’ Pronounced By Jesus On
The Pharisees And Scribes”
by
1.
INTRO:
1.1.
In our last study, we saw that Jesus had begun to pronounce
7 or 8 ‘woes’ upon the leaders of the nation of Israel, and in fact we’ve seen
that all of chapter 23 deals with Jesus’ condemning of the Pharisees and
Scribes
1.1.1.
In these ‘woes’ we saw that though these prophesied
the harshest of judgments upon the leaders of the nation of
1.1.2.
Warnings are issued in mercy for they give opportunity
for repentance
1.1.3.
We saw how that these ‘woes’ would affect the entire
nation of
1.2.
In today’s study, we will finish up studying these
‘woes’.
2.
VS 23:25-26 -
“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.”” - Jesus pronounces a ‘woe’ upon the Pharisees
and Scribes for cleaning the outside of the cup and of the dish, while the
inside was filthy
2.1.
The cleanliness of the outside of a cup or a dish did not matter as much
as the inside since it is really the inside of the cup or the dish that needs
to be clean since that is the part that a person eats or drinks out of. This symbolizes the fact that the religion of
the Pharisees and Scribes was all on the external of their life, not the
internal, and internal righteousness is of much more value than external
righteousness, in fact it is really the inward part of us that God is most
concerned about.
2.1.1.
Many years ago, I once was eating at Mexican restaurant in
2.1.2.
The ‘internal part’ of the lives of the Pharisees and Scribes describes
the things that filled their hearts, and a person’s heart is either filled with
the goodness of the Lord or it is filled with sin. The internal part of the Pharisees’ and
Scribes’ lives was filled with sin, for their hearts were bent upon robbery and
self-indulgence.
2.1.2.1..The King James translates
this word ‘robbery’ here to be ‘extortion’, for these men used their positions
of authority in the nation for their own purposes and extorted money from
widows and those who were in unfortunate circumstances.
2.1.2.2.This word ‘self-indulgence’
is translated as ‘greed’ or ‘excess’ in some other translations, and it just
speaks of the fact that these men were always looking out only for themselves
and any opportunity that they might be able to find to exalt themselves or to
profit personally either in their monetary status or the lusts of their flesh.
2.2.
In Matthew 5:19-20, Jesus sought to differentiate external righteousness from internal
righteousness when his disciples were accused of eating with unclean hands,
which went against the teachings of the Pharisees, and in those verses He
taught that it was from within out of the heart that all sin originated, “19 “For
out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts,
false witness, slanders. 20 “These are the things which defile the man; but to
eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man.””
2.3.
In Luke 11:39-41, Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for having only external righteousness as He
asked them whether or not the same God created the internal as well as the
external parts of their lives, “39 But the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees
clean the outside of the cup and of the platter; but inside of you, you are
full of robbery and wickedness. 40 “You foolish ones, did not He who made the
outside make the inside also? 41 “But give that which is within as charity, and
then all things are clean for you.”
2.4.
In this chapter, Jesus is teaching that if we will concentrate upon
cleaning the inside of our lives where the attitudes and motives of our lives
are concerned, then the outside of us will automatically fall in line and be
clean also. Cleaning out the inside of
our lives, dealing with where our hearts are really at, is to get at the root
of the sin that is in our lives.
3.
VS 23:27-28 -
“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 “Even so you too outwardly
appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.””
- Jesus pronounces a ‘woe’ upon the
Pharisees and Scribes for appearing like whitewashed tombs which appear
beautiful but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness
3.1.
In Israel, the people knew that if they were to accidentally step on or
touch in any way a tomb or a dead body that they would be ceremonially unclean
for a week, and then they would have to go through the ritual cleaning required
by the Law of Moses before they could again be accepted into the fellowship of
the people and come into the temple.
Thus, yearly they would paint all of the tombs around
3.1.1.
In Numbers 19:16-20, Moses has written down the ordinance to be kept by those who become
defiled by touching a dead person or a grave, “16 ‘Also, anyone who in the open
field touches one who has been slain with a sword or who has died naturally, or
a human bone or a grave, shall be unclean for seven days. 17 ‘Then for the
unclean person they shall take some of the ashes of the burnt purification from
sin and flowing water shall be added to them in a vessel. 18 ‘And a clean
person shall take hyssop and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it on the tent
and on all the furnishings and on the persons who were there, and on the one
who touched the bone or the one slain or the one dying naturally or the grave.
19 ‘Then the clean person shall sprinkle on the unclean on the third day and on
the seventh day; and on the seventh day he shall purify him from uncleanness,
and he shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and shall be clean by
evening. 20 ‘But the man who is unclean
and does not purify himself from uncleanness, that person shall be cut off from
the midst of the assembly, because he has defiled the sanctuary of the Lord;
the water for impurity has not been sprinkled on him, he is unclean.”
3.2.
Jesus tells these Pharisees that they are like whitewashed tombs which
‘on the outside appear beautiful’ due to their being painted yearly with the
bright white paint, but He tells them that just like those tombs, the only
beauty they had was on the outside of the tomb for inside the tomb there was
nothing but ‘dead men’s bones and all uncleanness’.
3.2.1.
Jesus says that it was only on the outside that they ‘appear righteous to
men’, but God who knows also what is on the inside of men knows that on the
inside of their hearts they are ‘full of hypocrisy and lawlessness’.
3.3.
In Luke 11:44, Luke records some of the ‘woes’ which Jesus pronounced upon the
Pharisees and Scribes, and there Luke records that Jesus said that these
leaders in Israel were just like the tombs that people would accidentally step
on and then become unclean, for everyone who came in contact with these men
were defiled by them, “44 “Woe to you! For you are like concealed tombs,
and the people who walk over them are unaware of it.””.
3.4.
My pastor, Wayne Taylor, once taught us about what he called ‘fake
fruit’. He asked if we had ever noticed
that if you go to the store and buy the plastic fruit for the decorative fruit
plates, that every piece of fruit is perfectly concentric and painted without a
flaw. In contrast, real fruit is often
lumpy and has imperfections in it because it is born out of trials and the
fiery crucible of life. Many Christians
act on the external like everything is going well in their lives and the Lord
is blessing them, and they come to church and exhibit ‘fake fruit’ in their
lives that is too real to be true, for it shows that it is manufactured. The real fruit of the Holy Spirit is born out
of real life, and though it is not as shiny and concentric, it tastes really
good and that is what is important.
4.
VS 23:29-31 -
“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 “Consequently you bear
witness against yourselves, that you are sons of those who murdered the
prophets.”” - Jesus pronounces a
‘woe’ against the Pharisees and Scribes for adorning the monuments of the
righteous and saying that if they were alive in the day of those men they would
not have been partners with their murders
4.1.
This is an interesting ‘woe’ because in it Jesus condemns the Pharisees
and Scribes for honoring and venerating the saints and prophets of old while
falsely boasting that they would not have murdered those prophets had they been
alive during the days when they were martyred.
4.2.
These leaders are being condemned because they on the one hand recognize
just how wrong it was to persecute those who lived righteously and honored the
Lord, and yet on the other hand they are doing the same things that the people
who murdered God’s prophets did, towards Jesus and those who lived righteously.
4.2.1.
The hearts of the Pharisees and Scribes were every bit as wicked as the
hearts of the people who murdered the prophets of old.
4.2.2.
It is the Pharisees and Scribes own testimony of how wrong the people of
old who murdered the prophets were that actually condemns themselves, because
they were doing the same things.
5.
VS 23:32-33 -
“32 “Fill up then the measure of the guilt of your fathers. 33 “You
serpents, you brood of vipers, how shall you escape the sentence of hell?””
- Jesus tells the Pharisees and Scribes
to ‘fill up the measure of the guilt of your fathers’
5.1.
Verse 32 is an interesting verse as it appears that Jesus tells the
Pharisees and Scribes to continue in their sinning.
5.1.1.
These men had hardened their hearts to God to the point that He is giving
them over to their sin, or confirming their own decision in a sense. Paul wrote in Romans 1:20-25 about how the Lord gives
people over to a reprobate mind who go too far in hardening the hearts to the
Lord, “20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes,
His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood
through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 21 For even though
they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks; but they became
futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22
Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the
incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and
four-footed animals and crawling creatures.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to
impurity, that their bodies might be dishonored among them. 25 For they
exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature
rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.”
5.1.2.
On the night when Jesus was betrayed, Judas was finally sealed in his
heart by God to be confirmed in his own decision to reject Christ, as at the
last supper Jesus told him, “What thou does, do quickly”(see John 13:27).
5.1.3.
In Rev. 22:10-12, the apostle John writes some similar words to what Jesus says here as
he is wrapping up the revelation of Jesus Christ and sealing up the words of
prophesy which declare God’s soon judgment to come upon the world, “10 And
he *said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the
time is near. 11 “Let the one who does wrong, still do wrong; and let the one
who is filthy, still be filthy; and let the one who is righteous, still
practice righteousness; and let the one who is holy, still keep himself holy.”
12 “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every
man according to what he has done.””
5.2.
Jesus calls these Pharisees and Scribes ‘serpents’ and a ‘brood of
vipers’, words which symbolize many things in the scriptures:
5.2.1.
Satan is called a ‘serpent’ because of his cunning and evil stealthiness.
5.2.1.1.Thus, Jesus taught us to be
‘wise as a serpent’ and gentle as a dove.
5.2.2.
It was as he had taken the form of a ‘serpent’ that Satan came to Eve as
the tempter, and because of his cunning and stealthiness was successful in
tempting her.
5.2.3.
Vipers were very poisonous snakes which were common in
5.2.4.
It was when Paul was upon the
5.3.
Paul asks these Pharisees and Scribes how it is that they think that they
will escape the sentence of hell?
5.3.1.
These verses reveal once again that Jesus taught very clearly that there
was a literal hell that people were going to go who did not come to Christ for
salvation in this life.
6.
VS 23:34-35 -
“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 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.”” - Jesus
tells the Pharisees and Scribes that he is going to send to them prophets, wise
men, and scribes, whom they will scourge and persecute
6.1.
After His resurrection from the dead, Jesus sent to the Pharisees and
Scribes His 12 apostles and many other disciples, and they persecuted them. All of the 12 apostles with the exception of
John, the Son of Thunder, died of martyrs deaths.
6.1.1.
In Acts 7:54, we read that it was the Pharisees and Scribes who killed
Stephen, the first Christian martyr, then next Herod had James, the Son of
Thunder, thrust through with a sword after he saw how much it had pleased the
Jews that Stephen had been murdered.
6.1.2.
On the missionary journeys of Paul in the book of Acts, we see that the
Jewish leaders in all parts of the known world would persecute those who preached
the gospel to them. See 2 Corinthians
chapter 6 for a chronicle of the sufferings which Paul endured during his
missionary journeys, most of which occurred at the hands of the Jews.
6.2.
Interestingly though, Paul tells
the Pharisees and Scribes that they will incur not only their own guilt but
they will also incur the built of ‘all righteous blood shed on earth, from the
blood of righteous Able to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom
you murdered between the temple and the altar’.
6.2.1.
In the scriptures, we read that each person should only incur the guilt
for his own sins, not for the sins of his fathers, however a person’s guilt is
proportional to the amount of light that they have received, and those of
Jesus’ day had received more light than all of the generations before combined,
therefore they should be guilty of all of the sins of the previous generations.
6.2.2.
There are a couple of interesting things about these verses also:
6.2.2.1.Why should the range of
guilt be from ‘Abel’, the first person murdered in human history, to
‘Zechariah’?
6.2.2.1.1.Was this a representative
group then? Did they represent really
all of those who were martyred for their faith in Old Testament times?
6.2.2.2.We do not know who this man
‘Zechariah’ is?
6.2.2.2.1.There is no record of a
murder of the ‘Zechariah’ who was a minor prophet and wrote the book by his own
name?
6.2.2.2.1.1.However, Zechariah 1:1
declares to us that this prophet’s father was named Berachiah?
6.2.2.2.2.There are other Zechariah’s
mentioned in the Old Testament, one in particular in 2 Chron. 22-24, who lived
in the latter part of the Old Testament period may be the man mentioned
here. He was the son of Jehoida the
Priest. Jehoida was a righteous priest,
and he served the Lord all of his days.
He took the young man Joash, age 7, and made him to be king while his
wicked grandmother, Athaliah, had been ruling.
Athaliah reigned after the death of her son Ahaziah, and when she
realized that her son was dead, she went and had all of her grandsons from
Ahaziah murdered so that she could reign as the queen-mother. However, Joash had been stolen away and
protected. Well, when Joash was 7 years
old, Jehoida the priest anointed him as king over
6.2.2.2.2.1.The problem with accepting
this man to be the Zechariah mentioned is that his father was not named
Berachiah, but Jehoida. However, it
could be that when he was called the son of Jehoida, he was really the grandson
of Jehoida and that his father was named Berachiah.
7.
VS 23:36 - “36
“Truly I say to you, all these things shall come upon this generation.””
- Jesus verified that the ‘woes’ that He
had pronounced on these Pharisees and Scribes were judgments that would happen
to them
7.1.
Jesus often in His teachings said, ‘Truly, truly’, in order to emphasize
that He meant what He was saying.
7.2.
The judgments did not fall for 40 years, however in God’s mind they fell
upon that generation. So, this brings us
to a question of what is a generation to God?
This question will again be asked in chapter 24 when Jesus talks about
the generation that will witness the events that He speaks of there.
8.
VS 23:37 - “37
“O
8.1.
In Luke 13:34, Jesus uttered theses same words, including that which is
in verse 38, however Luke has Jesus uttering these words far before this point
in time in the gospel of Matthew, just before Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion.
8.1.1.
It could be that Jesus uttered these words on more than one occasion.
8.2.
There is great sorrow and grief in these words uttered by Jesus, as He
does not enjoy the fact that the Israelites will now be judged by God for
turning away from their God and rejecting their Messiah.
8.3.
Jesus affectionately refers to the Israelites as His little chicks, and
that like a mother hen He greatly desired to gather His chicks and protect them
under the shelter of His able arms, however they were ‘unwilling’ to come to
Him for that protection.
9.
VS 23:38 - “38
“Behold, your house is being left to you desolate!”” - Jesus abandons the House of God
9.1.
When Jesus had come into town at the beginning of this last week of His
life, He had purged the temple of the money changers because zeal for the house
of the Lord had consumed Him, now He rejects the house of God and calls it
‘your house’ (referring to the Pharisees and Scribes).
9.2.
When God leaves our lives we are left ‘desolate’.
10.
VS 23:39 - “39
“For I say to you, from now on you shall not see Me until you say, ‘Blessed
is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’”” - Jesus tells the Pharisees and Scribes that
they will not see Him again until they are hailing Him as the Messiah with the
same chants the people yelled when He arrived at the beginning of the week
during His Triumphal Entry
10.1.
These words were originally written in Ps. 118:26.
10.2.
In Zech. 12:10-12, we read about that future time when all Israel shall turn to the Lord
and receive Jesus as their Messiah, “10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and
on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so
that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him,
as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him, like the
bitter weeping over a first-born. 11 “In that day there will be great mourning
in
11.
CONCLUSION:
11.1.
Remember, when we read the rebukes, ‘woes’, and
judgments uttered against the religious leaders in Israel that they all apply to
any people of any era in time who are false teachers and prophets, leading
God’s people astray rather than onto the path that leads to God, His Son, and
the salvation that was purchased by His blood.