Holy Week: Tuesday

Jesus’ Warnings

Matthew 23:1-5

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 2 “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat, 3 so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. 4 They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. 5 They do all their deeds to be seen by others.

Jesus is not finished exposing what is broken.

After cleansing the temple, He now turns His attention directly to the temple leaders—the scribes and Pharisees. These are the respected voices. The teachers. The examples.

“They preach, but do not practice.”

They know the truth. Often, they even teach the truth.
But their lives do not reflect it.

They place heavy burdens on others—expectations, rules, standards—yet do nothing to help.
They perform their religion, but their motivation is clear: “They do all their deeds to be seen by others.”

Jesus doesn’t soften His words.

In the rest of Matthew 23, He delivers a series of sharp warnings (seven in total). In essence, He says:

• You deny entry to God.

• You lead others—but toward the wrong things.

• You are consumed with gain rather than God

• You major on the minor and ignore the majors.

• You look good on the outside but neglect your inner life

• You appear alive, but are spiritually dead

• You claim to be better than past failures, but you are no different.

Jesus is clear: You are missing what matters.

Reflection

It’s easy to read this and think of them.
But Jesus is inviting us to examine ourselves.

Where has your faith become more about appearance than reality?
Where are you going through the motions without true surrender?