This is the week of “woes” as we listen to the reading of Matthew’s 23rd chapter. In English woe means sadness or distress. Seven times Jesus judges and rebukes the pharisees by saying sadness on you. In Spanish the translation is simply an emotional exclamation, not really a word: Ay! It implies exasperation. We can just imagine Jesus saying: Ayyyy you pharisees. We seldom see Jesus in the Gospel so upset or disturbed. What is happening here.
The pharisees had set up a rigid system of religious laws and customs that made them important and made it impossible for everyone else to achieve a good relationship with God and neighbor. These are the woes:
1 – they shut the doors of kingdom of heaven
2 – they lead their disciple into hell
3 – blind guides
4 – keep the external rules but neglect justice, mercy, and faithfulness
5 – false exterior that hides, greed and self-indulgence
6 – beautiful exterior, but are dead and have an internal lawlessness
7 – they are sons of those who murdered the prophets and wise
Overall, Jesus is angry for their lack of compassion, their false piety, and oppression of others. They perpetuated this system or form of life for centuries. Their mission as educated, religious leaders was to lead the people to a true piety and holiness of life. Yet they made it impossible for folks to have a good relationship with God and with others.
The Word of God and the Holy Spirit give us discernment so that we can judge the teachings we hear and also to judge ourselves. It is so easy to develop hypocrisy as a way of life rather than true piety. We must be careful with teachers and groups that have rigidness and external rules as the basis of their charism, the ones that lack justice, mercy and true faithfulness. And of course, we must be careful to insure that within ourselves we are developing a true piety, a true internal conversion.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
Image: https://follow-god.medium.com/jesus-judgment-7db01c507ee4