woe to you, Pharisees

Good morning friends,
Happy Halloween, please be safe tonight. Our reading this morning picks up on Jesus criticizing the scribes and Pharisees for hypocrisy. You can almost picture Jesus moving from calm argument to angry denunciation. He goes after the religious leaders for getting in the way of people coming to God and for imposing traditions that don't have anything to do with faithfulness. I wonder if Jesus has been holding back this kind of fierce talk and finally comes to a point where he doesn't want to hold it in anymore. We can see the conflict between Jesus and the religious leaders becoming more intense as Jesus moves closer to the cross.

Blessings,
Sam

Matthew 23:13-22

¹³“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you lock people out of the kingdom of heaven. For you do not go in yourselves, and when others are going in, you stop them. ¹⁵Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cross sea and land to make a single convert, and you make the new convert twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.

¹⁶“Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the sanctuary is bound by nothing, but whoever swears by the gold of the sanctuary is bound by the oath.’ ¹⁷You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the sanctuary that has made the gold sacred? ¹⁸And you say, ‘Whoever swears by the altar is bound by nothing, but whoever swears by the gift that is on the altar is bound by the oath.’ ¹⁹How blind you are! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? ²⁰So whoever swears by the altar, swears by it and by everything on it; ²¹and whoever swears by the sanctuary, swears by it and by the one who dwells in it; ²²and whoever swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by the one who is seated upon it.

going after the leaders

Good morning friends,
Jesus has faced a lot of criticism from the religious leaders: the scribes, pharisees and teachers of the law, etc. Today the scribes concede that he speaks well, but Jesus goes on the offensive. In particular, he criticizes the scribes for caring about their honor and appearance, but "devouring widows." In other words, they take advantage of the vulnerable for economic gain. It's not exactly clear what Jesus is alleging, though it probably has to do with making money on religious services while not paying attention to the justice for the vulnerable that should be near the heart of faith and religious leadership. We are called to be especially aware of the needs of those who have no one else to speak for them.

God bless,
Sam

Luke 20:39-47

39Then some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, you have spoken well.” 40For they no longer dared to ask him another question. 41Then he said to them, “How can they say that the Messiah is David’s son? 42For David himself says in the book of Psalms, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, 43until I make your enemies your footstool.”’ 44David thus calls him Lord; so how can he be his son?”

45In the hearing of all the people he said to the disciples, 46“Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets. 47They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”