Matthew 23:16-39

The first two woes were related to how they treated other people. The next three are about the worship of God. The last two are about who they themselves were.

Woe. You think the gold and gifts are more important than the temple and altar. A pastor friend once told me about hearing a sermon at a large denominational gathering called “Seven Signs of a Dying Denomination.” It kind of sound like Matthew 23. I asked what they signs were and he could only remember one: When outward symbols become more important than inward reality. That’s what this woe is about.

Woe. You tithe but you don’t show mercy or desire justice. Some use this passage to say, “See, we don’t have to tithe anymore.” Wrong. They totally miss the point. Jesus clearly says, “You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.” Again, doing the outward things and ignoring the inward things bring woe.

Woe. You teach people to do the outward things but don’t touch on greed and self indulgence. Greed and self indulgence are very popular topics that have been “redeemed” by modern teaching in the Western church. Not.

Woe. The truth is that if you deal with things by only making an outward show then that is what becomes of the real you as well.

Woe. It’s not that the acorn can’t fall very far from the tree. A strong wind or forgetful squirrel or friendly bird, God has lots of ways to get the acorn away from the tree. But in truth it usually stays close by.

Fill up the sins of your fathers. They killed the prophets and you will kill the Christ. But even then Jesus did not speak condemnation. He asked how they would escape hell but He didn’t condemn them there. Luke tells us that Jesus wept over Jerusalem, and while the words are different from those used here it is not hard to imagine that He wept over it more than once during Passion week. I can see tears mingled with His words here as He expresses His longing for Jerusalem to repent and be saved.