In this compelling episode, dive into Matthew chapter 23, often referred to as the ‘Ouch Chapter’ because of its direct and impactful teachings. Listen as we explore the intense critiques Jesus makes against the scribes and Pharisees, focusing on their hypocrisy and the profound lessons that can still be applied to our own lives today. Alongside reflections from personal Bible journals, this episode brings us face-to-face with the importance of aligning one’s private life with their public persona. Witness the power of scripture as we examine the notable ‘Seven Woes’ and their significance to Christian doctrine and personal conduct.
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Welcome to Add Bible, an audio daily devotion from the Ezra Project. We join Alan J. Huth as he shares Bible passages and comments from over 30 years of his personal Bible reading journals.
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Today we are in Matthew chapter 23. Watch out. I call this the ouch chapter. So let’s listen in to the 39 verses of Matthew 23 and we’ll understand why.
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Matthew 23 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, “‘The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat.
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So practice and observe whatever they tell you, but not what they do. For they preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens hard to bear and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.’ They do all their deeds to be seen by others, for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts, and the best seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the marketplaces, and being called rabbi by others. But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father who is in heaven. Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. 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. 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. 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. You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? And you say, If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing. But if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath. You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it. And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it. 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. You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel? 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. You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean. 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. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. 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.” Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up then the measure of your fathers. You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of innocent Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it. How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not. See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
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Now you know why I called it the Ouch Chapter. My English Standard Version Study Bible is more sophisticated, of course, than calling it the Ouch Chapter, but it does title it Seven Woes to the Scribes and Pharisees. I’m going to use a couple of journals to go through some of these woes. I’m going to start with my journal in 2007, when I wrote, Jesus jumps all over the scribes and Pharisees in this maybe the roughest chapter in the New Testament. He is all over religious piety and hypocrisy. For example, do what they say and not what they do, according to verse 3. Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. whitewashed tombs, pretty on the outside but dead on the inside, according to verse 27. You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell? Harsh words for religious leaders. As if that wasn’t enough, let’s turn to my journal in 2016. Jesus gets after the scribes and Pharisees for religious hypocrisy. They preach but do not practice, according to verse 3. And then this tough verse, 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. Terrible, I wrote. I continued, don’t get lost in the little things. Stay focused on the big picture. And then I wrote, my private life needs to be consistent with my public image. And then I continued, condemnation? How about this? You make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. And again, you serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape being sentenced to hell? Remember the scene. Just a couple of days ago, Jesus comes riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. People shouting, Hosanna in the highest. The next day, he cleans out the temple and reminds them that the temple should be a house of prayer. Now he is absolutely lighting up the religious leaders in Jerusalem. None of us would want to be described with words like Jesus is using in this chapter. Even after all those tough words, Jesus closes out the chapter with his compassion. He says, And you would not. Lord Jesus, help me experience your compassion rather than your wrath. As you reach down and try to gather me under your wings, help me reach for your embrace, not scorn your embrace. And Lord, if I have any hypocrisy in me as a Christian, cast it out. Forgive me. Straighten me out, Lord. Help me live a consistent life for you. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. AdBible is brought to you by the Ezra Project, connecting God’s people to God’s Word. I encourage you to visit EzraProject.net to learn more about AdBible, to learn more about Club 365, how you can financially support what you’re listening to. AdBible is supported by monthly contributors and annual contributors. Your choice. Visit EzraProject.net to learn more. Thanks for listening to AdBible today. You might wonder how I became a daily Bible reader. When I was 15 years old, a buddy and me stole his father’s car. We could steal his father’s car because his father was in Vietnam, serving in the war. so he was never home. So we took the car that day, neither one of us with a driver’s license, and we took off out east of Colorado Springs on a dirt road. We were flying down this dirt road at 60 miles an hour, and he lost control of the car. We began to spin, and we were going down the road, fishtailing, and he spun the wheel of the car 60 miles an hour. The car tumbled, crushed the top, tucked the wheels under, totaled the car. I was on a dirt road. I don’t know if I was thrown out of the car or crawled out of the car, but I looked at that car, and I thought, am I even alive? Am I broken? Am I bleeding everywhere? And I began to pat myself down, and I felt like I was okay. So I stood up, and I was uninjured, amazingly. The sheriff came to draw up the accident. He said, it’s a miracle you guys are alive. I got home that night, went down into my bedroom. My mother came to me and said, you ought to thank God you’re alive. I was laying on my bed, and I was thinking about the day’s activities, and I just thought, wow, I could have been dead today. I wasn’t the driver. I was the passenger. I wasn’t in control, but God was. At that moment, I figured out at 15 years old, God could take my life any time. He could have that day. So as I laid there, I thought, okay, you could take my life any day. So you saved my life today for a reason. For whatever reason that is, I’m going to live for you and that reason. As I said that, I heard a voice say to me, there’s a Bible on your bookshelf. Get it down and read it. I must have heard something, because I got up, I went over to the bookshelf, and I pulled down a Bible. I opened it to the first page, just like I would any other book, and I began to read God’s Word. I read Genesis chapter 1. The next day I read Genesis chapter 2. The next day I read Genesis chapter 3. And a chapter a day, I began to read God’s Word at 15 years old. If you do that, by the way, it’ll take you about three and a half years to finish reading the Bible a chapter a day. And that’s a good plan. So that’s how I became a daily Bible reader. And when I finished going through the Bible the first time, at 18 years or so, I just started over because I thought that’s what Christians did was read their Bibles every day. So that’s how I became a daily Bible reader.
In this compelling episode, dive into Matthew chapter 23, often referred to as the ‘Ouch Chapter’ because of its direct and impactful teachings. Listen as we explore the intense critiques Jesus makes against the scribes and Pharisees, focusing on their hypocrisy and the profound lessons that can still be applied to our own lives today. Alongside reflections from personal Bible journals, this episode brings us face-to-face with the importance of aligning one’s private life with their public persona. Witness the power of scripture as we examine the notable ‘Seven Woes’ and their significance to Christian doctrine and personal conduct.
