The Promised King: Woe to False Shepherds

Matthew 23 is the most blistering sermon Jesus ever preached.

Seven woes against the scribes and Pharisees. He calls them hypocrites. He calls them blind guides. He calls them whitewashed tombs. He calls them serpents and a brood of vipers.

And then, at the end of this thunderclap of judgment, He weeps over Jerusalem:

"How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!"

The Promised King condemns false shepherds — and grieves over the city that has refused His protection.

Practice and preach

He says to the crowds and to His disciples:

"The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you — but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice."

Their teaching of Moses can be heeded. Their lives cannot be imitated.

"They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger."

False shepherds make life heavier for the people God came to save. Then they refuse to lift a finger to help carry the load they have piled on.

"They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others."

It is religion as costume. Religion as status.

"Call no man rabbi"

"But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ."

"The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted."

The Kingdom does not run on titles. Christ is the Teacher. The Father is in heaven. The disciples are all brothers, all servants of the same Lord.

The seven woes

Then Jesus delivers seven woes — seven prophetic curses on the religious leadership.

1. They shut the Kingdom in people's faces.

"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."

2. They make proselytes worse than themselves.

"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."

3. They swear deceptive oaths.

"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.' You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred?"

4. They tithe spices and neglect justice.

"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. You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!"

This is one of the most famous lines. They were meticulous about the trivial and casual about the essential. They counted seeds of cumin and ignored justice.

5. They clean the outside and not the inside.

"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. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean."

6. Whitewashed tombs.

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness."

7. They build tombs for the prophets.

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, saying, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.' Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers."

Snakes and vipers

"You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?"

The Promised King uses some of the strongest language in Scripture against the religious establishment. They are not merely mistaken. They are snakes. Their teaching does not save — it damns.

"Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town."

He prophesies what the early church will suffer at the hands of the same establishment. Stephen will be stoned. Paul will be flogged. The apostles will be persecuted. The same hand that crucifies the King will go after His followers.

"O Jerusalem"

Then the storm breaks into tears.

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!"

This is one of the most tender pictures in the Bible. The King who has just thundered woes is now weeping over the city that has refused His protection.

He is the hen. The brood is Jerusalem. The wings are open. The chicks refuse to come.

The Promised King's judgment is not cold. It comes from a heart broken by the city's refusal.

"See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'"

The temple — your house, no longer my Father's house — is now desolate. The presence has been withdrawn.

But the door is not finally closed. Until the city says Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, they will not see Him. But the implication is that one day they will. Paul will write about it in Romans 11. The hen's wings are open even now.

Closing prayer

Father, save us from religion that strains gnats and swallows camels, that cleans the outside of the cup and leaves the inside full of greed, that decorates tombs and persecutes the living prophets. Make us those who pursue justice and mercy and faithfulness. Free us from the hypocrisy that wears costumes and the pride that loves titles. Gather us under the wings of Your Son. In Jesus' name, amen.