27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, 30 saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 31 Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. 33 You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? 34 Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, 35 so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. 36 Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.
37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! 38 See, your house is left to you desolate. 39 For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
(ESV)
STOP! Think a little 🤔 What is God saying to you?
- What is the writer saying?
- How do I apply this to my life?
Jesus continues to call woes on the Pharisees. He calls them whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but full of dead people’s bones and uncleanness on the inside. The Pharisees were focussed on an outward appearance of holiness through religious practice with hearts that were far from God.
Jesus’ final woe was that the Pharisees and scribes honoured the prophets through building monuments to them and saying that if they had lived in the times of the prophets, they would not have killed them. But Jesus tells them that in reality, they are not sons of the prophets but sons of the people who murdered the prophets. They outwardly show distress at how their ancestors treated the prophets but they are about to murder the One whom the prophets proclaimed. Jesus also predicts that the murder will not end with Him but also with those He will send, the NT prophets and apostles. The judgement laid on that generation was the accumulated guilt of the nation who had killed all the prophets from Abel (Gen 4:8) to Zechariah (2 Chr 24:20-22). Chronicles, as one book, was the last book of the Hebrew Scriptures, so these were the first and last recorded martyrs. Here Jesus was also affirming that the Old Testament Scriptures were correct. Israel was going to be held accountable for the murders of all the righteous from start to finish.
Then Jesus softens and laments, feeling sorry for Israel and how they have rejected all the prophets. He would have loved to have gathered the nation under His wing as a hen gathers her brood but they were not willing. It’s not that they were not able, they were not willing. Their sin was willful and rebellious. Now the temple “your house” was left empty as God removed Himself from the nation. Perhaps Jesus refers to the temple as “your house” (no longer “my Father’s house”) because it was a house of Christ-rejecters. But there is still hope because one day Israel will repent and a day will come when they stop seeing Jesus as the cursed one and see Him as the blessed one. Then He will return and set up His kingdom.
Does the inner condition of your heart match your outward actions? Are you living under the protection of God’s wing or are you out on your own in sin and rebellion. God’s grace is infinite and He stands ready to forgive and return you to the comfort and safety of His wing any time you are willing to repent.