September 16th, 2023

This Sunday is usually called the Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost, the gospel reading for this Sunday [Matthew 18:21-35] follows after the last week’s reading, and the writing that we will look at this time follows immediately after the last writing.

We will be looking at what is usually called chapter 23 of what is known as the Gospel according to Matthew (but if people are too busy, they just say ‘Matthew’). Jesus has been doing a lot of talking in this account. And the tension between Jesus and his enemies has increased to the point where they were essentially speechless. But Jesus keeps on talking. And you will see some talking that details the tension.

The following is an attempt at a somewhat-literal translation (which is hopefully helpful to understand the various emphases that happen; you may wish to compare it to other translations that may have some study notes, or at least to a translation that is much more understandable; the word ‘woe’ is difficult to translate; you may wish to think of it as involving some intense pain):

Then the Jesus was speaking to the crowds and to the disciples of him, saying, “Upon the, of Moses, seat, they sat, the scribes and the Pharisees. Therefore, all things whatever they tell you, do and keep, now according to the works of them, do not do, for they say and do not do. Now they bind burdens, heavy, and they put on, upon the shoulders of the men, now they, with the finger of them, are not willing to move them. Now all the works of them, they do, in order to be seen by the men, for they broaden the phylacteries of them and lengthen the fringes; now they love the first-place in the banquets and the first-seats in the synagogues, and the greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by the men, ‘Rabbi’.”

“Now you, not to be called ‘Rabbi’, for One, he is, of you, the teacher; now all you, brothers, you are. And father, not you call, of you, on the earth, for One, he is, of you, the Father, the heavenly. And neither of you be called, ‘Teachers’, because teacher of you, he is One, the Christ. Now the greater of you will be your servant. Now whoever will exalt himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

“Now woe to you, scribes and Pharisees—hypocrites, because you shut the kingdom of the heavens before the men, for you, yourselves not you enter, nor the ones entering you let to enter.” [Verse 14 is in some manuscripts.]

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees—hypocrites, because you go around the sea and the dry ground, to make one proselyte, and when he becomes, you make him a son of Gehenna, double-more than you.”

“Woe to you, leaders, blind, the ones saying: ‘Whoever swears in the temple, nothing it is; now whoever swears in the gold of the temple, he owes.’ Fools and blind ones, for which greater is, the gold or the temple, the thing sanctifying the gold? And ‘Whoever swears in the altar, nothing it is; now whoever swears in the gift, the one upon it, he owes.’ Blind ones, for which, greater, the gift or the altar, the thing sanctifying the gift? Therefore, the one having sworn in the altar swears in it, and in everything, the things upon it; and the one having sworn in the temple swears in it and in the one inhabiting it. And the one having sworn in the heaven swears in the throne of the God and in the One sitting upon it.”

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees—hypocrites, because you tithe the mint and the dill and the cumin, and you left the heavier things of the law, the judgment, and the mercy, and the faith; now these things it is necessary to do and those, not to leave. Leaders, blind, the ones straining the gnat, now the camel, swallowing.”

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees—hypocrites, because you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, now within they are full of robbery and intemperance. Pharisees, blind, cleanse first the inside of the cup, that it may become, also the outside of it, clean.”

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees—hypocrites, because you resemble graves having been whitewashed, which outwardly, on the one hand, appear beautiful, on the other hand, within, they are full of bones of dead ones and of all uncleanness. So also you, outwardly, on the one hand, appear to the men, righteous, on the other hand, within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees—hypocrites, because you build the graves of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and you say, ‘If we were in the days of the fathers of us, not we would of them, in koinonia in the blood of the prophets. So you witness to yourselves that sons, you are, of the ones having killed the prophets. And you, yourselves, fulfill the measure of the fathers of you. Serpents, offspring of vipers, how should you escape from the judgment of the Gehenna? On account of this, behold, I, myself, send out to you prophets and sophists and scribes; of them you will kill, and you will crucify, and of them you will scourge in the synagogues of you, and you will persecute from city into city. So that it may come on you, all blood, righteous, being shed upon the earth from the blood of Abel, the righteous, until the blood of Zechariah, son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Amen, I am saying to you, they will come, these things, all, upon the generation, this.”

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one killing the prophets and stoning the ones having been sent out to her; how often I wanted to gather the children of you, which manner a hen gathers the baby birds, her, under the wings, and not you wanted. Behold, it is left to you, the house of you, a wilderness. For I am saying to you, certainly not me, you see, from now until you say, ‘Blessed, the one coming in name of Lord.’