Matthew 23:23

Matthew 23:23 says, Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.  Jesus said the scribes and Pharisees paid tithes materially, but omitted the weightier matters of the law, such as mercy, judgment and faith.  He said they should have done these things while still paying their tithes.  Keeping a part of God's law is never enough, and we cannot pride ourselves on keeping part of it if we ignore the rest, especially those things relating to how we treat others.  Verse twenty-four adds, Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.  Jesus called them blind guides once again, and basically said that they condemned others over minor issues of the law while missing the really important parts in their own lives,  Verse twenty-five states, Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.  Again pronouncing woe on the scribes and Pharisees and calling them hypocrites once more, Jesus said that they cleaned the outside of the cup and platter and left the inside full of filth.  They wanted to look good to the world, even if they were full of corruption inside.  Verse twenty-six adds, Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.  Jesus told the blind Pharisees that they should first clean the inside of the cup and platter and then the outside would take care of itself.  In other words, the Pharisees needed to first clean up their spiritual nature, then what occurred in the world would take care of itself.  This is still true for us today.  Verse twenty-seven declares, Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.  Jesus then compared the scribes and Pharisees to someone who cleans the outside of a tomb, but the inside was still full of dead men's bones.  Verse twenty-eight adds, Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.  Jesus said that like the white washed tomb. the scribes and Pharisees looked good to the world, but inwardly they were full of hypocrisy and iniquity.  If we begin to emphasize ritual over a relationship with Christ and a love for our fellow man, then we are guilty of the same thing.  Verse twenty-nine proclaims, Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,  Jesus even pronounced woe on the scribes and Pharisees for the way they treated the prophets, building tombs for them so they could worship them basically, and for adorning the tombs of the righteous.  We can become guilty of the same thing if we begin to hold the graves of the people more important than worshiping God.  Verse thirty adds, And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.  Jesus said that the scribes and Pharisees said if they had been alive in the time of the prophets that they would not have partaken in the shedding of their blood.  We may want to blame the death of Jesus on the people of His day, but we are all equally responsible for His death.  Jesus died for each individual because he or she could not fulfill the law in all its aspects.  Verse thirty-one declares, Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.  Jesus said that the scribes and Pharisees were the children, or descendants, of those who had killed the prophets.  So are we today.  Verse thirty-two concludes. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.  Basically Jesus told the scribes and Pharisees to accept the fact that they were just as responsible as their fathers because they were still doing the same thing, and so are we today.