Woes / Beatitudes vs. Woes

Last week we started Matthew 23 and it is all about the scribes and Pharisees and the way they live. They have mistreated and misled those who have been entrusted to them by God.

We need to understand that each of us have been entrusted to lead certain people around us as well by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Last Sunday I gave you a lot of information and might of over loaded you just a wee bit. So this morning I am planning on hitting all the woes through the lenses of the Beatitudes.

Each Beatitude lines up with each woe, in the Beatitudes we are given encouragement to live a life that is pleasing to God. That life is ones that is loving God and loving others, learning to be kind and uplifting those around us who may be hurting.

The Woes are the warning shot that has been given across the bow of the boat.

Woes are the negative way that the scribes and Pharisees were living their lives and Jesus pronouncement is what they were doing wrong.

The woes should serve as a warning to us as well, we are all responsible for the way we live and treat other as well.

Woes are not just for the scribes and Pharisees they are for all who hold on the the name of Jesus and serves Him.

Remember “True greatness is a matter of service, not title!”

Matthew 23:13-36

Beatitude #1 is “Blessed are the poor in spirit” which opens up the Kingdom to the poor. Woe #1 is against the leaders who have shut the poor out of the Kingdom:13 But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.

The scribes and Pharisees would hold down the poor and hurting and try to keep them from entering the kingdom of God.

Beatitude #2 is “Blessed are those who mourn” for they will be comforted. Woe #2 is against the leaders who distressed the mourners rather than comforting them:14 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore, you will receive greater condemnation.

The scribes and Pharisees should be helping and comforting those who are mourning and not taking advantage of them.

Beatitude #3 is “Blessed are the meek” for they will inherit the earth. Woe #3 is against the leaders who were not meek, but pompous fanatics who encompass the earth with their show: 15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.”

The scribes and Pharisees are not to mislead the new converts, but are too equip and train them up meek in their heart and attitude.

Beatitude #4 is “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness” for complete satisfaction. Woe #4 is against the leaders who make up a false righteousness by trickery: 16 Woe to you, blind guides, who say, `Whoever, swears by the temple, that is nothing; but whoever, swears by the gold of the temple is obligated.’ 17 You fools and blind men! Which is more important, the gold or the temple that sanctified the gold? 18 And, `Whoever swears by the altar, that is nothing, but whoever swears by the offering on it, he is obligated.’ 19 You blind men, which is more important, the offering, or the altar that sanctifies the offering ? 20 Therefore, whoever swears by the altar, swears both by the altar and by everything on it. 21 And whoever swears by the temple, swears both by it and Him who dwells in it. And he who swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it.”

The scribes and Pharisees shouldn’t have been making any vows, but when they did they should have honored their commitment. When we don’t it hurts our character and integrity, along with who we represent our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

James 5:12 ESV

But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.

Beatitude #5 is “Blessed are the merciful” for they will receive mercy. Woe #5 is against the leaders for omitting mercy altogether for things of lesser importance:23 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. 24 You blind guides who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!

The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 2 The Lost Sense of Proportion (Matthew 23:23–4)

That is precisely what the Pharisees were like. They were so absolutely meticulous about tithes that they would tithe even one clump of mint; and yet these same men could be guilty of injustice; could be hard and arrogant and cruel, forgetting the claims of mercy; could take oaths and pledges and promises with the deliberate intention of evading them, forgetting fidelity. In other words, many of them kept the trifles of the law and forgot the things which really matter.

The scribes and Pharisees were set the example so generosity with they were to show justice, mercy and faithfulness, and yet they were ruthless!

Beatitude #6 is “Blessed are the pure in heart”. Woe #6 is against the leaders who were spotless on the outside and without purity on the inside: 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.

The scribes and Pharisees were to be pure of heart and not just a show of their outward appearance.

The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 2 The Real Cleanness (Matthew 23:25–6)

An earthen vessel which is hollow becomes unclean only on the inside and not on the outside; and it can be cleansed only by being broken. The following cannot become unclean at all—a flat plate without a rim, an open coal-shovel, a grid-iron with holes in it for roasting grains of wheat. On the other hand, a plate with a rim, or an earthen spice box, or a writing case can become unclean. Of vessels made of leather, bone, wood and glass, flat ones do not become unclean; deep ones do.

I love what Barclay says here that an unclean vessel can only be cleaned is by being broken!

Why are we so consumed about the way we look on the outside, when it is the inside that matters?

You see the vessel is already clean on the outside!

Beatitude #7 is “Blessed are the peacemakers”. Woe #7 is against the leaders who are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness: 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 So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

The scribes and Pharisees were again all nice on the outside but they were full hypocrisy and lawlessness on the inside.

The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 2 Disguised Decay (Matthew 23:27–8)

It can still happen. As Shakespeare in Hamlet had it, one may smile and smile and be a villain. People may walk with bowed heads and reverent steps and folded hands in the posture of humility, and all the time be looking down with cold contempt on those whom they regard as sinners. Their very humility may be the pose of pride; and, as they walk so humbly, they may be thinking with relish of the picture of piety which they present to those who are watching them.

The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 2 Disguised Decay (Matthew 23:27–8)

There is nothing harder than for good people not to know that they are good; and once they know they are good, that goodness is gone, in spite of all appearances to the contrary.

This is really good, why because no one is good but God!

Mark 10:18 ESV

And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.

Beatitude #8 is “Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness”. Woe #8 is against the leaders because of their actions of being the persecutors against Kingdom people: 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 So you testify against yourselves, that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of the guilt of your fathers. 33 You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell?

The scribes and Pharisees didn’t understand the fact if they suffered for the kingdoms sakes they would be blessed. They were too busy killing those who want to serve the one true God and His son Jesus.

The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 2 The Taint of Murder (Matthew 23:29–36)

JESUS is charging the Jews that the taint of murder is in their history and that that taint has not even yet worked itself out. The scribes and Pharisees tend the tombs of the martyrs and beautify their memorials, and claim that, if they had lived in the old days, they would not have killed the prophets and the men of God. But that is precisely what they would have done, and precisely what they are going to do.

The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 2 The Taint of Murder (Matthew 23:29–36)

Jesus is quite clear that the murder taint is still there. He knows that now he must die, and that in the days to come his messengers will be persecuted and ill-treated and rejected and killed.

The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 2 The Taint of Murder (Matthew 23:29–36)

Here indeed is tragedy; the people of the nation which God chose and loved had turned their hands against him; and the day of reckoning was to come.

It makes us think. When history judges us, will its verdict be that we were the hinderers or the helpers of God? That is a question which every individual, and every nation, must answer.

What will be said about us on that day, if Jesus was here today would be called a brood of vipers would we be call hypocrites for living a false life?

In light of the woes and the beatitudes I hope that we can see were we fall short and where we are starting to measure up!