Catholic Commentary on Matthew 23

"The greatest among you will be your servant. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted." (Matthew 23:11-12)

The Seven Woes

Matthew 23 is the most confrontational chapter in this Gospel. Jesus delivers seven woes against the teachers of the law and the Pharisees, each exposing a specific form of religious corruption. He is not attacking the Law itself. He is attacking its distortion by those who use religion as a vehicle for status, control, and self-congratulation. They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. The seven woes are: locking the Kingdom against those who seek it; making converts twice as fit for hell by teaching them the same corruption; making fine distinctions about which oaths are binding; tithing meticulously while neglecting justice, mercy, and faithfulness; cleaning the outside of the cup while inside is full of greed; appearing righteous while inside is full of hypocrisy; and building tombs for the prophets while preparing to kill those now sent.

The Catechism teaches that religious hypocrisy is peculiarly resistant to grace because it disguises itself as virtue (CCC 2482). These woes are not peripheral to the Gospel. They are a mirror held up to every generation of religious people. The Pharisees were sincere, knowledgeable, and committed. Their failure was not ignorance but pride: the use of religion to secure their own standing before God and before others.

The Lament over Jerusalem

The chapter ends not with triumphant condemnation but with grief: Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. The woes are not the last word. The last word is always love: the tender, persistent, undefeated love of the one who keeps sending messengers and keeps being refused, and keeps coming back. The Cross, now days away, is the final act of this refusal to give up on the city that will kill him.

Living the Word

Brothers and sisters, Matthew 23 is a mirror. Ask yourself honestly today: do I practise what I preach? Do I carry the loads I place on others? Am I cleaning the inside of the cup or only the outside? These are not comfortable questions. They are necessary ones, and only honest answers to them keep the religious life alive.

Prayer

Lord Jesus, you wept over Jerusalem and you weep over us when we use your name for our own glory. Humble us. Cleanse the inside of our cups. Make us servants rather than lords, practisers rather than preachers, and let us hear in your woes not condemnation but the voice of the one who longs to gather us under his wings. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

23
Woes to Scribes and Pharisees
(Luke 11:37–54)
1 Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples: 2 “The scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 So practice and observe everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 4 They tie up heavy, burdensome loads * 23:4 SBL, NE, and WH They tie up heavy loads and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
 
5 All their deeds are done for men to see. They broaden their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels. 6 They love the places of honor at banquets, the chief seats in the synagogues, 7 the greetings in the marketplaces, and the title of ‘Rabbi’ by which they are addressed.† 23:7 Literally and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by men
 
8 But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. 9 And do not call anyone on earth your father, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. 10 Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Christ. 11 The greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
 
13 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let in those who wish to enter.‡ 23:13 BYZ and TR include 14 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You defraud widows of their houses, and for a show make lengthy prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation. See Mark 12:40 and Luke 20:47.
 
15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You traverse land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell § 23:15 Greek Gehenna; also in verse 33 as you are.
 
16 Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ 17 You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes it sacred? 18 And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gift on it, he is bound by his oath.’ 19 You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes it sacred? 20 So then, he who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. 21 And he who swears by the temple swears by it and by the One who dwells in it. 22 And he who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the One who sits on it.
 
23 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You pay tithes of mint, dill, and cumin. But you have disregarded the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. 24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.* 23:24 See Leviticus 11:4 and Leviticus 11:23, where camels and gnats are both forbidden as food.
 
25 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish,† 23:26 NA does not include and dish. so that the outside may become clean as well.
 
27 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside, but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of impurity. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to be righteous, but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
 
29 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous. 30 And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 31 So you testify against yourselves that you are the sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then,‡ 23:32 Or Go ahead, then, and complete the measure of the sin of your fathers. 33 You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape the sentence of hell?
 
34 Because of this, I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify, and others you will flog in your synagogues and persecute in town after town. 35 And so upon you will come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 Truly I tell you, all these things will come upon this generation.
Lament over Jerusalem
(Luke 13:31–35)
 
37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling! 38 Look, your house is left to you desolate.§ 23:38 NE and WH do not include desolate. 39 For I tell you that you will not see Me again until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.’* 23:39 Psalms 118:26”

*23:4 23:4 SBL, NE, and WH They tie up heavy loads

†23:7 23:7 Literally and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by men

‡23:13 23:13 BYZ and TR include 14 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You defraud widows of their houses, and for a show make lengthy prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation. See Mark 12:40 and Luke 20:47.

§23:15 23:15 Greek Gehenna; also in verse 33

*23:24 23:24 See Leviticus 11:4 and Leviticus 11:23, where camels and gnats are both forbidden as food.

†23:26 23:26 NA does not include and dish.

‡23:32 23:32 Or Go ahead, then, and complete

§23:38 23:38 NE and WH do not include desolate.

*23:39 23:39 Psalms 118:26

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