"Blessed Is He"
Chapter 23 contains the last public sermon of Jesus Christ, given just days before His death. One would think this message would be about love and salvation with an invitation to repent but, not so. It was a message of condemnation against the religious hierarchy of the day concerning their hypocrisy.
About three years earlier Jesus began His public ministry by pronouncing eight blessings in the form of the Beatitudes, teaching all (including the Scribes and Pharisees) the meaning of true spiritual leadership. Now, He is ending His public ministry by pronouncing eight woes against the same spiritual leaders who did not apply His teachings with integrity, humility, nor His authority – but added their own legalistic burdens.
In Matthew 5:10 Jesus said in the last of His eight blessings, “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Here (Matt. 23:29-35), in His last sermon, we see the last of the eight woes; “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchers of the righteous.”
In matching up His first sermon with His last, Jesus is saying, “Blessed are the persecuted and woe to the persecutors.” These same religious leaders who claim to be men of peace will secretly plot to kill the Prince of Peace.
Jesus ends His message here in chapter 23 with a promise, “For I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’(v.39)
A time is coming when the Jews will acknowledge Jesus as Lord but for now, blindness is still upon Israel.
The Truth
“For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written.” (Romans 11:25-26)
