7 Woes: Encapsulating the condition of the Pharisees

Following Jesus questioning of the religious leaders citizenship in the Kingdom of God, He pronounces seven woes as a “prophetic condemnation of a system of theology that has displaced the interior life for an exterior righteousness” exchanging the Word of God for human religious traditions (Howell, 295).

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1. "But 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.” (Matthew 23:13). The Pharisees were guilty of Misguided Teaching, for they interpreted God's Word for their own benefits theologically and materially. However, by obstinately promoting their false traditions they refused “to surrender allegiance to the King” (Howell, 295) and in so doing persuaded others to follow their misguided lead.
   
   [Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows' houses and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive the greater condemnation.] (Matthew 23:14). The “8th Woe” as it were has been shown by scholars to be an attempt by later copyists to harmonize the synoptic gospels due to “its absence in the earliest and best authorities of the Alexandrian and the Western types of text and from the fact that the witnesses that include the passage have it in different places” (Metzger, 50)1.
   
   
2. “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.” (Matthew 23:15). Just like some teachers today, the Pharisees sought students to carry out their misguided teachings in a Misguided Zeal, for they sought their own glorification in the advance of a “Torah-centric way of righteousness” (Howell, 295). Instead they should have sought students who wouldn't be the “bulldog” of their human teachings, but who would honestly seek to glorify God. 
   
   
3. "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.'” (Matthew 23:16). Jesus denounced the two Jewish concepts of “graded holiness and the possibility of transfer of holiness” (Nolland, 935) by condemning their Misguided Honesty, to slip out of their responsibilities through a 1,000 qualifications. Jesus' disciple James later clarified that Jesus was making the issue of swearing (making promises) a black and white issue by letting our “yes” be yes and our “no” be no (James 5:12).
   
   
4. "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.” (Matthew 23:23). The Pharisees shared some of the same Misguided Priorities we still see today when they decided which parts of scripture they would and would not obey. Oftentimes in theological debates the Church “fuss[es] over trivialities but overlook the essential character qualities that Scripture so forcefully expounds” (Howell, 295).
   
   
5. "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.” (Matthew 23:25). The Pharisees ensured they always met the external standards of culture while neglecting the internal standards that were supposed to have been represented by the external standard. Their Misguided Purity freed them to defile themselves through all selfish and fleshly pursuits while still allowing them to think of themselves as chaste.
   
   
6. "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.” (Matthew 23:27). Confirming the previous “Woe,” Jesus chafed at the religious leader's Misguided Appearance which reflected a faithful and holy walk with God, when their heart condition reflected their true walk with sin. Jesus' warned of wolves in sheeps' clothing and others who merely wear a mask of piety for their own benefit.
   
   
7. "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.' (Matthew 23:29-30). Like most cultures and generations, the Pharisees saw themselves through their Misguided Reality as wiser, and more righteous than their predecessors. Jesus realigned their perspective basically stating the “apple doesn't fall far from the tree” and that they ought to recognize that they are repeating the arrogance and defiance of their forefathers as they prepared to kill not a prophet of God, but God's own Son.

• 1Metzger, Bruce M.. A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament 2nd Edition. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft United Bible Societies. 1998. 
  
• Nolland, John. New International Greek Testament Commentary: The Gospel of Matthew. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. 2005.
  
• Howell Jr., Don N.. The Passion of the Servant. Eugene: Wipf & Stock - Resource Publications. 2009.