What happensPermalink
Jesus pronounces woes against the Pharisees for their failure to live up to Moses, for their pretense, their arrogance, and their hypocrisy. He calls them serpents. He points to all the prophets who have come before who have been martyred instead of heard.
Why it mattersPermalink
In each of these pronouncements, Jesus sees through the surface to the heart of the matter: the Pharisees maintain perfect appearances, but their hearts are as rotten as graves. Jesus points to the entire martyrdom of the Old Testament, and He will be the greatest of them.
Key versePermalink
“You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.”