Woe and Lament to the Misleading Hypocrites

Matthew 23:25-39

25 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.

27 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. 28 Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

29 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, 30 and say, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.'

31 "Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers' guilt. 33 Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? 34 Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, 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 on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

Jesus Laments over Jerusalem

37 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! 38 See! Your house is left to you desolate; 39 for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'"

Jesus called out the hypocrisy of the religious establishment of the scribes and Pharisees for their opposition to God’s word and His people.  He especially condemned those whose predecessors had tortured and killed the messengers of the Lord who brought God’s will in their words to the people.  He began by identifying their two-faced nature of making the outward app and actions appear righteous while brewing ungodliness inside themselves with self-indulgence and plundering others for their own selfish gain.  Such hypocritical behaviors lasted well through the dark ages with the corruption of the church throughout Europe for centuries afterwards due to the sin nature of man wed to religion apart from a transformative work of God in the spiritual leaders.  These Pharisees and scribes of the Law of God misunderstood and misused the word of God for their own benefit while responsible for unclean thoughts and actions outwardly in abuse of their positions.  They built memorial tombs and adorned the monuments of the prophets of days gone by while Jesus revealed that they would have joined in the persecution and murder themselves if they had lived then because that was the position of their hearts set against God’s word and will.  Their great speeches and pompous displays of their outward goodness were all for show like the smiling masks of the plays which quickly were reversed to the frowns of malice soon afterwards.  Jesus called them a brood of poisonous vipers who preyed on God’s people instead of serving them as called to do.  Their guilt preceded their journey to hell due to their thoughts, intentions, and actions which the Lord revealed to them publicly to warn others of their danger.  He predicted that they would revive the evil works of their ancestors by hunting down His disciples and killing or crucifying them along the way into the near future.  This would prove their culpability and bring justice by judgment on their own heads.  Jesus then lamented for all His people who would suffer under their hands by naming Jerusalem as the center of His kingdom for worship of the Father.  He had told them how He had been continuing to call them out to Himself but they followed the destroyers instead.  He gave them hope, however.  If they would acknowledge the Christ who was God Among Them, they would see Him and find salvation from their due judgment.  They needed to say, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!” as Psalm 118:25-26 said that they might confess Him as Lord and Christ-Messiah (Matthew 21:9) come to set them free from the sin of hypocrisy and instead worship Him as Lord in spirit and truth (John 4:23-24) as true servants and priests to their God.  Their is still woe and lament for the religiously misled and those misleading others for selfish gain and control, but their is hope of deliverance in confession, repentance, and receiving Christ as Lord who is our Savior and serving His people humbly and selflessly! This is an ongoing warning to those imitating such proud men seeking control instead of serving the Lord and His people in humility (1 Peter 5:2-3, 5-6) and an invitation to forgiving grace in Jesus the Christ.