Okay, so today I’m gonna share my dive into understanding the “7 Woes” in Matthew 23. It was a bit of a deep dive, lemme tell ya.
First things first, I needed to actually read Matthew 23. No kidding, right? I grabbed my Bible (yeah, the physical one, felt more authentic) and just sat down and read the whole chapter. Highlighting stuff that seemed important, especially anything related to the woes.
Then, I started unpacking each “woe” individually. Like, what was Jesus actually saying? I started listing them out, each one getting its own little section in my notes. It looked something like this:
- Woe 1: Shutting the Kingdom of Heaven
- Woe 2: Devouring widows’ houses
- Woe 3: Proselytizing then making converts worse
- Woe 4: Blind guides
- Woe 5: Focusing on trivialities while neglecting justice, mercy, and faithfulness
- Woe 6: Hypocrisy – outward appearance vs. inward reality
- Woe 7: Building tombs for prophets while acting like their ancestors
After that, things got interesting, I decided to compare different translations of the Bible. Sometimes the wording can make a huge difference. The New International Version (NIV) and the English Standard Version (ESV) were my go-to’s, seeing how each one phrased each woe. Noticed some subtle, but important, differences in emphasis.
Time for some digging! I hit up some commentaries online (carefully, avoiding the super biased ones). Just wanted to get some different perspectives on what each woe meant in its historical context. What were the Pharisees actually doing? What kind of audience was Jesus talking to? This part took a while, lots of reading and note-taking.
I really wanted to put myself in the shoes of someone listening to Jesus back then. If I were a regular person hearing this for the first time, what would stand out to me? What would be confusing? This helped me understand the impact these “woes” would have had.
To really solidify my understanding, I started writing down my own interpretations of each woe. Just simple, plain language. No fancy theological stuff. I wanted to explain it like I was talking to a friend who knew nothing about the Bible.
Reflecting on it personally was key! I asked myself: How do these “woes” apply to me? Am I, in any way, exhibiting any of these behaviors? Not a fun question, but necessary. It’s about seeing how these ancient warnings are still relevant today.
Finally, I created a summary table of the 7 Woes. It included the specific verse, a brief explanation, and a modern-day application. It was a nice, concise way to keep all the info organized.
So, yeah, that’s pretty much it. It was a pretty interesting experience! Gave me a lot to think about.