0 Chapters0 Books0 People0 Places

Jesus Went Full Scorched Earth on the Religious Elite.

Q: Do Christians Have to Tithe?

The Old Testament commands 10%. The New Testament raises the bar — and changes the motivation.

Q: What Does the Bible Say About Tithing?

The Old Testament commands 10%. The New Testament shifts to 'give generously and cheerfully.' Here's how the two connect.

Q: What's the Difference Between Pharisees and Sadducees?

Pharisees believed in resurrection, angels, and the oral law. Sadducees rejected all three. Jesus took on both groups — but for different reasons.

Q: Who Were the Pharisees?

The Pharisees were the most devout, scripture-memorizing, rule-following religious leaders of Jesus' day — and he clashed with them constantly. Here's why.

Q: Who Were the Scribes?

Scribes were professional copiers and interpreters of the Law — the theologians and lawyers of the ancient world. Some were humble scholars. Others Jesus publicly rebuked.

Matthew 23 — Jesus stopped being subtle and went full scorched earth

9 min read

Key Takeaways

Jesus called the Pharisees a 'brood of vipers' — the same word used for Satan in the garden — and asked how they'd escape Hell. Most savage callout in all of Scripture.

They were tithing their spice rack while ignoring justice, mercy, and faithfulness — straining out a gnat and swallowing a whole camel.

📢 Chapter 23 — The Receipts ⚡

This is the chapter where stopped being subtle. He'd been going back and forth with the and for a while now — , trick questions, theological debates. But in 23, He turned to the crowds and His and laid it all out in public. No riddles. No stories. Just straight, unfiltered truth about the religious leaders who were supposed to be guiding people to God but were doing the exact opposite.

Inside this Chapter

Anger Shame Justice Integrity Leadership People-Pleasing

Questions about this Chapter

theology

Do Christians Have to Tithe?

theology

What Does the Bible Say About Tithing?

culture

What's the Difference Between Pharisees and Sadducees?

history

Who Were the Pharisees?

culture

Who Were the Scribes?

Share this chapter

Link copied!

What follows is the most devastating public takedown in all of . Seven "woes" — seven direct, pointed against the Pharisees and Scribes, exposing the gap between what they preached and how they lived. This isn't Jesus losing His temper. This is a surgeon cutting out a cancer. Every word is precise, and every single one lands.

They Talk the Talk but Don't Walk the Walk 🎭

started by acknowledging something surprising — the and actually had real authority. They sat in seat, meaning they were the ones responsible for teaching . So Jesus told the crowds to listen to their teaching. But then came the catch:

Jesus said: "Do what they tell you. Observe what they teach. But do not do what they do. Because they preach but they do not practice. They pile heavy burdens on people's backs — rules that are hard to carry — and they won't lift a single finger to help. Everything they do is for show. They make their religious accessories extra visible, they want the VIP seats at every dinner, the front row at the Synagogue, and they love being called 'Rabbi' in public."

Jesus was calling out the oldest problem in religion: leaders who use as a platform instead of a practice. The teaching might be right, but if the life behind it is all performance, that's the definition of a . Caught in 4K. 📸

Stop Chasing Titles 👑

Then turned to His own people and set a completely different standard for how they should operate:

Jesus said: "Don't let anyone call you 'Rabbi,' because you have one Teacher, and you're all equals — brothers and sisters. And don't call anyone on earth 'father' in that ultimate sense, because you have one Father, and He's in Heaven. Don't chase the title of 'instructor' either, because you have one Instructor — the Christ.

Jesus said: The greatest among you will be the one who serves. Whoever lifts themselves up will be brought low. And whoever humbles themselves will be lifted up."

This is the economy flipped upside down. The world says climb the ladder, stack the titles, build the brand. Jesus says the real flex is serving people who can't do anything for you in return. Greatness in God's kingdom looks nothing like greatness in the world. 💯

Woe #1: Gatekeeping Heaven 🚪

Now the woes begin. And the first one is devastating:

Jesus said: "Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, Hypocrites! You slam the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in people's faces. You don't go in yourselves, and you won't let anyone else in either."

Think about how heavy that is. The people who were supposed to be guiding others toward God were actually blocking the way. They turned faith into an obstacle course so complicated that nobody could finish it — including themselves. That's not leadership. That's a hostage situation. ⚡

Woe #2: Making Converts Worse 🌍

Next up — goes after their missionary efforts:

Jesus said: "Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, Hypocrites! You'll cross oceans and travel entire continents to win a single convert. And when you get one? You make them twice the child of Hell that you are."

The effort was real. The hustle was real. But what they were converting people to wasn't actual relationship with God — it was their own system of rule-following and performance. All that energy, and the end result was making people worse. The and had the zeal but pointed it in the completely wrong direction.

Woe #3: Loophole Experts 🤥

shifts to expose how the had built an entire system of loopholes:

Jesus said: "Woe to you, blind guides! You say, 'If someone swears by the Temple, it doesn't count. But if they swear by the gold of the Temple? Oh, then they're locked in.' You fools! Which is greater — the gold, or the Temple that made the gold sacred in the first place?

Jesus said: You say, 'Swearing by the altar means nothing, but swearing by the gift on the altar? That's binding.' Think about it — which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred?

Jesus said: Whoever swears by the altar swears by everything on it. Whoever swears by the Temple swears by God who dwells in it. And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and the One who sits on it."

They'd created a whole system where certain "counted" and others didn't — basically building in escape routes for dishonesty. Jesus demolished the whole framework. You can't separate the oath from the One behind it. Every promise carries weight because God is behind all of it. 🧠

Woe #4: Majoring in the Minors ⚖️

Justice

This is one of the most quoted woes, and it's devastating in its simplicity:

Jesus said: "Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, Hypocrites! You tithe your mint and dill and cumin — down to the last herb in your garden. But you've completely ignored the things that actually matter in The Law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness. You should've done those without neglecting the small stuff.

Jesus said: You blind guides — you strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!"

That last image is almost funny if it weren't so tragic. They were obsessing over giving God exactly ten percent of their spice rack while people around them were suffering from injustice and cruelty. The details of matter, yes — but not when you're using them to ignore the whole point. Mid priorities, catastrophic consequences.

Woe #5: Clean on the Outside, Filthy on the Inside 🍽️

uses an everyday image everyone would understand:

Jesus said: "Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, Hypocrites! You scrub the outside of the cup and the plate until they shine, but inside? They're full of greed and self-indulgence.

Jesus said: You blind Pharisee — clean the inside of the cup first, and then the outside will be clean too."

This is the core problem with performance-based religion. You can look spotless to everyone around you while being completely rotten on the inside. But God doesn't scroll your highlight reel — He sees the drafts folder. Real transformation starts from the inside out, not outside in. 🪞

Woe #6: Beautiful Graves 💀

Integrity

The imagery gets darker:

Jesus said: "Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, Hypocrites! You're like whitewashed tombs — beautiful on the outside, but inside, full of dead people's bones and everything unclean. That's exactly what you are. On the outside you look righteous to everyone. But on the inside? Full of hypocrisy and lawlessness."

In that culture, touching a tomb made you ceremonially . So they'd paint tombs white so people could see them and avoid them. is saying: you look enough that people come close to you — but contact with you actually defiles them. The outside is a lie. What's underneath is decay.

This isn't a roast for laughs. This is a warning with real weight behind it.

Woe #7: You're Just Like Your Ancestors 🩸

The final woe is the heaviest. connects the to a bloodline of violence against God's messengers:

Jesus said: "Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, Hypocrites! You build fancy tombs for the Prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, and you say, 'If we had lived back then, we never would've been part of killing them.' But by saying that, you're admitting you're the sons of the people who murdered them. So go ahead — finish what your ancestors started.

Jesus said: You serpents. You brood of vipers. How are you going to escape being sentenced to Hell?

Jesus said: That's why I'm sending you Prophets and wise men and Scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify. Some you will flog in your Synagogues and chase from town to town."

This is Jesus at His most intense. He called them snakes — the same word used for in the garden. They claimed they would never do what their ancestors did, but Jesus knew they were about to prove they were exactly the same. Within days, they'd be plotting His execution. The very and messengers He promised to send? The early would face exactly the persecution He described.

Some passages in the Bible comfort you. This one confronts you. Jesus isn't just talking to first-century religious leaders — He's warning anyone in any era who wraps themselves in religious performance while their heart is far from God. The question isn't whether you look right on the outside. The question is: what's actually inside? ⚡