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Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, “The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses. So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don’t follow their example. For they don’t practice what they teach. They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden. Everything they do is for show. On their arms they wear extra wide prayer boxes with Scripture verses inside, and they wear robes with extra long tassels. And they love to sit at the head table at banquets and in the seats of honor in the synagogues. They love to receive respectful greetings as they walk in the marketplaces, and to be called ‘Rabbi.’ Don’t let anyone call you ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one teacher, and all of you are equal as brothers and sisters. And don’t address anyone here on earth as ‘Father,’ for only God in heaven is your Father. And don’t let anyone call you ‘Teacher,’ for you have only one teacher, the Messiah. The greatest among you must be a servant. But those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in people’s faces. You won’t go in yourselves, and you don’t let others enter either. What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you cross land and sea to make one convert, and then you turn that person into twice the child of hell you yourselves are! Blind guides! What sorrow awaits you! For you say that it means nothing to swear ‘by God’s Temple,’ but that it is binding to swear ‘by the gold in the Temple.’ Blind fools! Which is more important—the gold or the Temple that makes the gold sacred? 1And you say that to swear ‘by the altar’ is not binding, but to swear ‘by the gifts on the altar’ is binding. How blind! For which is more important—the gift on the altar or the altar that makes the gift sacred? When you swear ‘by the altar,’ you are swearing by it and by everything on it. And when you swear ‘by the Temple,’ you are swearing by it and by God, who lives in it. And when you swear ‘by heaven,’ you are swearing by the throne of God and by God, who sits on the throne. What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things. Blind guides! You strain your water so you won’t accidentally swallow a gnat, but you swallow a camel! What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and self-indulgence! You blind Pharisee! First wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean, too. What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity. Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness. What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you build tombs for the prophets your ancestors killed, and you decorate the monuments of the godly people your ancestors destroyed. Then you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would never have joined them in killing the prophets.’ But in saying that, you testify against yourselves that you are indeed the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Go ahead and finish what your ancestors started. Snakes! Sons of vipers! How will you escape the judgment of hell? Therefore, I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers of religious law. But you will kill some by crucifixion, and you will flog others with whips in your synagogues, chasing them from city to city. As a result, you will be held responsible for the murder of all godly people of all time—from the murder of righteous Abel to the murder of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you killed in the Temple between the sanctuary and the altar. I tell you the truth, this judgment will fall on this very generation. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me. And now, look, your house is abandoned and desolate. For I tell you this, you will never see me again until you say, ‘Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord!’

The Kingdom of God is at its best with its COMMUNITY IS FIGHTING FOR UNITY.

Overall Commentary: 🌎

This begins Jesus' final public discourse. He comes out with "guns blazing." He has little time left, so He gives us the warning we need.

The Church unifies in paying attention to God's warnings.

Commentary

Verse 1-4: Jesus tells them to avoid all that's coming.

Obey what they say, not do: Jesus opens the discussion by telling us how to avoid it all. We avoid all the "ditches" coming if we obey His Word. There is no evidence that the Pharisees were openly twisting God's principles. However, when we keep reading, they often twist God's Word in the practicals of their lives. Therefore, Jesus says that as long as their teaching is in line with His Word, obey it. It will keep us out of a lot of trouble.

Verse 5-12: Jesus Tells Why They Don't want to follow the Pharisee's Lifestyle.

v5- prayer boxes: In Deuteronomy, Moses instructs the nation of Israel to keep God's Word always on their minds so they will be careful to obey everything it says. He says they are to tie it to their hands and heads. Many argue whether Moses was literal or figurative. The Pharisees took it literally. They would do this so they appeared extra holy.
v5- extra long tassels: The Jewish people were required to wear tassels on the edges of certain clothes to remind them of God's Law. They would have several knots to represent the laws in God's Word. The Pharisees would make these extra long, so they appeared to care more than everyone else. Once again, Jesus is criticizing that it was all for show.
v8– 10—Don't let anyone call you a teacher or rabbi?: This was not a universal principle at all times. We know this because there are several places in the Book of Acts and beyond where titles are used. The problem was the way the Pharisees used them. They used their titles as a status symbol and pride. The goal of being a teacher is to point others to Jesus.
v11-12- Servant Leadership: The goal not attained by the Pharisees. In contrast to the preceding verses, Jesus is saying they should have been in the posture of a servant when leading.

Verse 13-36: Wrecking Their Lives and Others.

"What Sorrow": Other translations say, "Woe." I love how the Message paraphrase says, "You're all hopeless." Jesus is pronouncing coming judgment much like an Old Testament prophet would do. They would have recognized what He was doing.
"Shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven": They did not always teach God's Word, so they denied people the knowledge of God.
Should they not try to convert people?: The problem was not converting people. The problem was converting them to their traditions, not God's Word. The goal of the Great Commission is not to add people to our churches but to add people to the Kingdom of Heaven.
v16-22: Jesus's point is that they were twisting God's Word to suit various situations.
v23- Jesus is not saying that tithing is terrible. He is not even saying how specific they were being was a bad thing. He is saying they forgot why they were doing it. Tithing is supposed to be a joyful act of worship, and they had made it into bondage and legalism.
v24- Hyperbole but true. Jesus is using hyperbole when He mentions the camel. Still, the Pharisees really did strain their water with a cloth to avoid accidentally swallowing a gnat because it was considered unclean.
v27-28: White Washed Tombs?: In the culture of the time, touching a tomb or grave was considered a bad thing. According to Jewish law, it made you unclean. Therefore, they painted the graves and tombs white to distinguish them, even at night. Jesus is saying they clearly distinguish themselves to be God's on the outside, but they are dead on the inside.
v29- 36: no better than their ancestors. This is possibly the most scathing remark Jesus made.

Verse 37-39. The Relentless Love of God.

Jesus claims Deity again: Jesus constantly speaks of Himself as God. This is good to know because some from Isalm say that Jesus never claimed to be God. They must have skipped this section.
His Heart of Longing: You can hear the longing in Jesus' heart. He does not want judgment to come upon the Jewish nation, and the same is true for us.
Verse 39- Controversial verse: What does this verse mean? It has been part of a debate for a while. Some say it means that all Jewish people will eventually be saved. Others believe it references Jesus' second coming at the end of the Age. I lean toward the second.