In today’s Gospel Jesus continues to pronounce a sevenfold woe against the scribes and Pharisees: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites….” Today he again accuses them of hypocrisy because they neglect “the weightier things of the law: judgment and mercy and fidelity.” They appear to be pious because they are scrupulous in tithing of “mint and dill and cumin” but in fact this is all for show. They are like whitewashed tombs, looking nice and clean on the outside but inside are filled with decaying bones. These series of woes are warnings more directed at Christians and their leaders rather than the Jewish teachers. Jesus warns that religious teachers, Jewish or Christian, can place a heavy burden of guilt on people by overemphasizing the less important and neglecting the weightier things of God, love, humility, mercy and compassion. Jesus warns against such teachers.
“The scribes and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses. Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example. For they preach but they do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens hard to carry and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them.” (Matthew 23:4)
Jesus, the true teacher, shows the true way of God through his invitation to all:
“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.” (Matthew 11:28-30).
Prophets throughout the Scriptures use “woes” to call people to repentance: to change their ways and recognize their hypocrisy. Jesus addresses these seven woes to Jewish and Christian religious leaders to call them to repent. Jesus and the prophets use not only woes but also weals or beatitudes to teach people what is the will of God and what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. Thus, counterposed to these woes we have a series of beatitudes at the beginning of the Sermon of the Mount: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, they who mourn, the humble, the merciful, the peacemakers.” (Matthew 5:1-11). These beatitudes give us our identity as baptized Christians.
Image: “Christ teaching in the Temple” by Possum1500 is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.