This chapter begins with Jesus’ warning against the Scribes and Pharisees that dictated heavy burdens on the people without doing those deeds themselves. It was the instruction of Jesus to obey the tenants of the law but not follow their unholy example. Originally the concept of the law was respect for life, possessions, a man’s personality, his good name and reputation, and for himself as a person. These Jesus supported. However, he declared that their rules and regulations were intolerable, meaning that not even they could obey them completely. This raises the question whether or not a man’s religion helps him or haunts him. Does it take him forward? Were such a religion to be a problem, it stops real religion as in the worship of the Almighty.
Their religion was one of show and self-aggrandization. Their desire was to sit in principal places at meals; they liked to sit in the front seat so everyone could see them. This was opposite of the Christian way which taught humility. The word WOE is a combined meaning of anger and sorrow. The word hypocrite is repeated several times in this chapter that means pretender. To Jesus these false leaders were only acting out a part as if in a play. He looked in their hearts beyond their elaborate displays of godliness into their concealed godlessness.
Characteristics of the Pharisees was to display the reputation of purity and goodness as seen by men. The behavior of some Pharisees was such that they could always offer an excuse for delaying some type of good deed. There were some who were so obsessed with not looking at a woman that they tried to walk with their eyes closed. Then there were those who walked as if they had a humpback because of humility. The attitude of some was that they actually believed their good deeds obligated God to them. Another concept of Pharisees was the dread of God’s punishment because they saw their religion in terms of judgment and fear. Out of all of those Pharisees there was only one that we could call God-fearing who delighted in obeying God. All in all, the heavy weight of additional rules created by the Pharisees made it intolerable to obey even by them.
These are the men Jesus confronted by declaring WOES against them. The mild-mannered Christ burst into righteous anger against those who redefined good and evil by their own personal standards. These were men identified by the first WOE who would not enter the kingdom of heaven themselves while interfering with those who might consider entering. They had no desire to be truly holy and had no real faith. The second WOE was against men who may profit off of the vulnerable. Identified by Jesus were those who sought proselytes into the Jewish religion, but who themselves became even greater hypocrites. The fourth WOE was based on Jesus’ accusation that they may have been teachers but themselves were ignorant and did not understand the rituals they supported. The golden furnishings and sacrifices of the temple were only sacred because they were associated with the temple. These were those who paid tithes but did not observe the weightier matters of life. These people gave excessive weight to minor issues and grace and judgment and faith. The next WOE was to declare they were not cleaning the filthiness inside their lives yet presented their exterior to the public as righteousness. Jesus compared them also in the seventh WOE to those who would scrub the outside of the sepulchers clean while within the grave was rotting flesh. The last WOE was an accusation against those who said that they looked back at the time prophets were murdered years ago saying they would not have done so, but Jesus said they were witnessing against themselves for they truly would have been murderers then and even currently.
From these WOES we must remember that Christ is the judge as well as the loving Savior. It is wise for anyone who claims to be righteous to take heed of himself knowing that whoever opposes the divine work of God in fact or deed will experience God’s wrath. The true servant of the Lord will do everything possible that he can to be real and genuine because self-defined religion is not real religion at all. We cannot allow our reputations displayed to the public to be a substitute for the salvation of souls.
Christian Writer 