Matthew 23.  Jesus pronounces judgment upon the religious professionals in Jerusalem and warns his disciples not to follow their hypocrisy.  With seven prophetic woes, he condemns them for seven sins:

1. They shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces (13-14),
2. They make their converts children of hell (15),
3. They are blind guides (16-22),
4. They major in the minor things, and neglect the weightier matters (23-24),
5. They appear clean on the outside, but are inwardly defiled (25-26),
6. Their outward beauty covers deadness (27-28),
7. They celebrate the righteous of the past but do not live it in the present (29-31).

He concludes his prophetic condemnation by predicting three things that he will elaborate on in the next chapter: the persecution of Christians, the destruction of the Jerusalem temple, and his second coming.

LORD, grant us the courage to be genuine in a world of counterfeits.  We want to be servants of heaven’s king, not children of hell.

“Woe to you”  (23:13)