Woe To You Scribes And Pharisees - Part 2

Woe To You Scribes And Pharisees - Part 2

In Matthew 23, Jesus laid out exactly what the problem was that He had been facing in bringing the people to God. The religious leaders - the Scribes and the Pharisees - were supposed to be helping people live better lives and learn about God. But they had lost track of their mission. They had become political and corrupt.

Being a religious leader had become a means to wealth and power which came at the expense of the common people. The teachers who were supposed to be a doorway to God had, instead, become a wall.

Jesus was about to come down hard on them. They were hindering the spiritual lives of those trying to reach God. They had made up rules and laws that were so burdensome and difficult to follow that the pathway to God was virtually impossible to walk.

Matthew 23:4

“They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger.”

Jesus was ready to pronounce woe upon them. He was ready to bring the hammer down and call them out for their hypocrisy and corruption. The road to God was paved with love and righteousness but these hypocrites were demanding money and using fear to build their own wealth and power.

When the religious leaders put themselves first, they steal what God has set apart for Himself. In the process, they destroy His work and His people. A church that does that is a temple to man, not God.

Matthew 23:5-7

“But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men ... They love the place of honor at banquets and the chief seats in the synagogues, and respectful greetings in the market places...”

Tomorrow: Jesus levels the first salvo of condemnation against these hypocrites and self-promoters.