Last week in our reading, Jesus explained the greatest commandment to “love your neighbor as yourself.” In Matthew 23 He follows up by criticizing the Pharisees for their hypocrisy in focusing on their outward religious activity while neglecting mercy, justice, and faithfulness. Jesus is clear that the problem is not with the law that is taught by the Pharisees but with their actions. He states that they sit on Moses’ seat and so have authority; therefore, people should do what they say but not what they do. We see these allusions to Moses often in the gospels as the life of Christ is in some ways a reflection of the life of Moses. Moses led the people from slavery to freedom, across the Jordan river into the Promise Land. Jesus was now leading the people from slavery to sin to salvation.
Jesus rebukes the Pharisees, offering seven “woes” as a warning about what is coming for the whole religious system in Israel. Jesus says in no uncertain terms that the way that the religious teachers are acting is at odds with his commandment to love our neighbor and is doing harm to the kingdom of God. As he says, they “shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces.” This chapter is building toward his description in chapter 24 of the destruction that will come upon Jerusalem in A.D. 70. The chapter ends with a lament for Jerusalem and grief over its long history of ignoring and persecuting the prophets who called the people to repentance: “I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings and you were not willing.” Jesus’ criticism of the hypocrisy of the pharisees should cause us all to reflect on our own lives and find the ways that our actions fail to live up to what we say that we believe.