From: Matthew 23:13-22
Jesus Indicts the Scribes and Pharisees
[16] “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If any one swears by the temple, it is
nothing; but if any one swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’
[17] You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made
the gold sacred? [18] And you say, ‘If any one swears by the altar, it is nothing;
but if one swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’ [19]
You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sa-
cred? [20] So he who swears by the altar, swears by it and everything on it; [21]
and he who swears by the temple, swears by it and by him who dwells in it; [22]
and he who swears by Heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who
sits upon it.”
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Commentary:
13. Here comes our Lord’s invective against the behavior of the scribes and Pha-
risees: His “woes” condemn their past conduct and threaten them with punish-
ment if they do not repent and mend their ways.
14. As RSV points out, “other authorities add here (or after verse 12) verse 14,
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses
and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive greater con-
demnation.” Our Lord is not reproaching them for praying long prayers but for
their hypocrisy and cupidity. By going in for a lot of external religious practices,
the Pharisees wanted to be recognized as devout men and then trade on that
reputation particularly with vulnerable people. Widows, for example, would ask
them to say prayers; the Pharisees in turn would ask for alms. What Jesus
means here is that prayer should always come from an upright heart and a ge-
nerous spirit.
15. “Proselyte”: a pagan convert to Judaism. The root of the word means “he
who comes”, he who—coming from idolatry—joins the chosen people in response
to a calling from God. The Pharisees spared no effort to gain converts. Our Lord
reproaches them not for this, but because they were concerned only about hu-
man success, their motivation being vainglory.
The sad thing about these proselytes was that, after receiving the light of Old
Testament revelation, they remained under the influence of scribes and Phari-
sees, who passed on to them their own narrow outlook.
22. Our Lord’s teaching about taking oaths is given in the Sermon on the Mount
(Matthew 5:33-37). Jesus does away with the nitpicking casuistry of the Phari-
sees by focusing directly on the uprightness of the intention of the oath-taker
and by stressing the respect due to God’s majesty and dignity. What Jesus
wants is a pure heart, with no element of deceit.
Our Lord particularly reproves any tendency to undermine the content of an oath,
as the Doctors of the Law tended to do, thereby failing to respect holy things and
especially the holy name of God. He therefore draws attention to the command-
ment of the Law which says, ‘You shall not take the name of the Lord your God
in vain” (Exodus 20:7; Leviticus 19:12; Deuteronomy 5:11).
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.
| First reading | 2 Thessalonians 1:1-5,11-12 © |
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| Psalm | Psalm 95:1-5 © |
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| Gospel Acclamation | Jn17:17 |
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| Or | Jn10:27 |
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| Gospel | Matthew 23:13-22 © |
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