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Matthew 23:1. Then Jesus began to speak to the people and His disciples Matthew 23:2. and said: The scribes and Pharisees sat on Moses’ seat; Matthew 23:3. So whatever they tell you to observe, observe and do; But do not act according to their deeds, for they say and do not: When the Lord brought the Pharisees into silence and discovered their incurable illness, then He begins to speak about them, about their life and behavior. He instructs his listeners not to neglect lawful teachers, even if they were of a vicious life. At the same time, the Lord also shows that He is not only not an opponent of the law of Moses, but, on the contrary, wants the requirements of this law to be fulfilled, although the teachers are unworthy people. He says: take the words of the teachers as the words of Moses, or rather, of God Himself. You ask: is it really necessary to fulfill everything they say, even the bad ones? To this I will say: firstly, a teacher will never dare to incline another person to evil. And then, even if we assume that some teacher decides to incline people to a vicious life, then such a one will begin to teach this, of course, not from the “Seat of Moses,” that is, not in the name of the law. But the Lord is speaking about those who sit in Moses’ seat, that is, about those who teach the law. So, we must listen to those who teach the law of God, although they themselves do not act according to it. Matthew 23:4. they bind heavy and unbearable burdens and place them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves do not want to lift them with a finger; Matthew 23:5. yet they do their deeds so that people can see them: they expand their storehouses and increase the length of their clothes. The Pharisees imposed heavy burdens in that they forced people to fulfill petty and difficult-to-fulfill regulations of the law, and they also increased the severity of legal decrees with some of their own traditions that were not in the law. They themselves “did not move a finger,” that is, they did not do anything themselves, they did not even come close to these heavy burdens. When the teacher himself does what he teaches, then at the same time he is also a student: he bears the burden along with those being taught. But when the teacher, imposing a burden on the student, does not act himself, then he thereby further aggravates the burden for the student, by his inaction showing the impossibility of fulfilling what he says. So, the Lord convicts the Pharisees that they do not want to take part in bearing the burden, that is, they do not want to act themselves. But, without doing good, they at the same time pretend to do it. Since everything they ever did was done for show, the reward was taken away from them. What are they doing? They “enlarge their storehouses and increase the cost of their garments.” It was as follows. The law prescribed: “impose... on your hand, and let it be steadfast in your sight” (Deut. 11:18). According to this, the Jews engraved the ten commandments of the law on two charters, and one of these charters was attached to the forehead, and the other was hung on the right hand. Voskriliya was the name given to embroidery made of dark red or crimson threads in the form of a pattern, which was arranged on the edges of outer clothing. The Pharisees did this because it was prescribed in the law. It was prescribed so that, seeing this, the Jews would not deviate from the commandments of God. But God did not want such a literal fulfillment: no, having a storehouse meant fulfilling the commandments; and the red stripes symbolized that we, people, should one day be sealed with the blood of Christ. The Pharisees made large storehouses and vaults, so that they would appear to everyone to whom they would be noticed as guardians of the law. Matthew 23:6. they also love to sit at banquets and preside over synagogues Matthew 23:7. and greetings in public assemblies, and for people to call them: teacher! teacher! Alas! What does the Lord say! They are subject to condemnation for the mere fact that they love to sit at the table at feasts and preside in the synagogues. What is worthy of someone who does everything bad beyond this? “They love the chairs in the synagogues.” Where the Pharisees should have taught others humility, there they show their depravity: they do everything for glory and, doing it with such motives, are not ashamed, but, on the contrary, want to be called: rabbi, rabbi, that is, teachers! Matthew 23:8. But do not call yourself teachers, for you have only one Teacher - Christ, yet you are brothers; Matthew 23:9. And do not call anyone on earth your father, for you have one Father, who is in heaven; Matthew 23:10. and do not be called instructors, for you have only one Teacher—Christ. Matthew 23:11. The greatest of you shall be your servant: Matthew 23:12. for whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. Christ does not forbid being called teachers, but he forbids passionately desiring this title and trying in every possible way to acquire it. The dignity of a teacher in the proper sense belongs only to God. Also, the words: “don’t call me father” do not prohibit honoring your parents; on the contrary, He wants us to honor our parents and especially our spiritual fathers. With these words, Christ leads us to the knowledge of the true Father, that is, God, since the Father in the proper sense is God, while carnal parents are not the culprits of our existence, but only co-conspirators and instruments of God. Showing the benefits of humility, Christ says that the greatest of us should be a servant and last. Whoever exalts himself, considering himself something great, will be abandoned by God and humiliated. Matthew 23:14. *********** Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour the houses of widows and hypocritically pray for a long time: for this you will receive all the more condemnation. Calls the Pharisees hypocrites, since they showed piety, and yet did not do anything consistent with piety; on the contrary, while performing long prayers, they at the same time “devour the houses of widows.” They were deceivers who mocked and robbed the simpletons. They will accept the heaviest condemnation for eating the houses of widows, who, on the contrary, should be supported and helped in their poverty. Or in other words: they will accept the gravest condemnation for the fact that they do evil, eat the property of widows under the pretext of a good deed - prayer; It is the one who deceives under the guise of goodness who deserves the greatest condemnation. Matthew 23:13. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you close the Kingdom of Heaven to men, for you yourself do not enter and you do not allow those who want to enter. Not only that, says the Lord, but you yourself do not believe and are vicious, but you also turn others away from faith in Me and destroy by your example. People usually imitate their leaders, especially when they see them as prone to evil. Therefore, every mentor and teacher should observe what benefit it brings. Woe to him if by his life he prevents others from succeeding in goodness. Matthew 23:15. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you go around sea and land to convert even one; and when this happens, you make him a son of Gehenna, twice as bad as you. You corrupt not only the Jews, but also those who turn from idolatry to the Jewish faith - the so-called proselytes. You try to convert someone to the Jewish way of life and circumcision, and when someone becomes a Jew, he perishes, becoming infected with your depravity. “Son of Gehenna” is a person worthy of being burned in Gehenna, who has some kind of spiritual affinity with Gehenna. Matthew 23:16. Woe to you, blind leaders, who say: if anyone swears by the church, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the church, he is guilty. Matthew 23:17. Mad and blind! What is greater: gold or the church consecrating gold? Matthew 23:18. Also: if anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on it, he is guilty. Matthew 23:19. Mad and blind! What is greater: the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift? Matthew 23:20. So he who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything that is on it; Matthew 23:21. and he who swears by the church swears by it and by Him who dwells in it; Matthew 23:22. and he who swears by heaven swears by the Throne of God and Him who sits on it. Calls the Pharisees blind because they do not want to teach what they should; preferring the unimportant, they neglect the most important. They prefer gold, cherubim and a golden statue in the church to the church itself. That is why they taught the people that it is not very important to swear by the church, but what is important is to swear by the gold that adorns the church. Meanwhile, this gold is venerable only because it is in the church. Likewise, they said: the gifts laid on the altar are more honorable than the altar itself. As a result, according to the teaching of the Pharisees, whoever swore by a golden utensil, a bull or a sheep sacrificed, and then broke the oath, is obliged to pay the value of what he swore with. And they preferred the gift to the altar because of the benefits received from the sacrifices. But whoever, having sworn by the church, broke the oath, could no longer create anything equal to the church, and therefore was freed from the oath. Thus, because of the greed of the Pharisees, the oath by the church was considered more insignificant. Christ does not allow the Old Testament sacrifice to be considered higher than the altar. And among us Christians, the altar is consecrated with gifts; By divine grace, the bread is transformed into the very Body of the Lord, with which the altar or altar is consecrated. Matthew 23:23. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you tithe mint, anise and caraway seeds and forsake the most important things in the law: judgment, mercy and faith; this had to be done, and this should not be abandoned. Matthew 23:24. Blind leaders, straining out a mosquito and devouring a camel! And here he condemns the Pharisees as crazy because they, neglecting the most important things in the law, tried to be precise in small things, not even missing out on donating tithes from the caraway plant. If anyone reproached them for such pettiness, they pretended that the law required it. But it would be better and more pleasing to God if they demanded judgment, mercy and faith from the people. What is a court? To observe justice means not to do anything unjustly or recklessly, but to do everything with fair judgment. Mercy flows directly from such judgment. He who acts justly in everything knows who needs to have mercy. Faith follows mercy. A merciful person, of course, believes that he will not lose anything for nothing, but will receive a reward for everything. Being merciful, we must at the same time believe in the true God. And many of the pagans were merciful, but, not believing in the living God, they did not have true mercy, characteristic of faith, and therefore their mercy was fruitless. So, every teacher must demand tithes from the people, that is, demand from the ten senses (five bodily and five mental) judgment, mercy and faith. “This ought to be done,” says the Lord, not thereby commanding the tithing of vegetables, but eliminating the pretext for the accusation that He teaches contrary to the law of Moses. He calls them blind leaders because they, boasting of learning and knowledge of everything, were useless to everyone, even destroying people, plunging them into the ditch of unbelief. They, according to the Lord, “strained out the mosquito,” that is, they noticed small errors, and at the same time “swallowed the camel,” that is, they lost sight of all kinds of crimes. Matthew 23:25. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you cleanse the outside of the cup and platter, while inside they are full of robbery and unrighteousness. Matthew 23:26. Blind Pharisee! First cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, so that the outside of them may also be clean. Observing the traditions of the elders, the Pharisees took care of washing the cups and dishes in which food was served. However, the foods and wines that they ate and drank were acquired by carnivore and spiritually desecrated them. Do not, the Lord teaches, acquire wine through unrighteousness, then the vessel will also be clean. Allegorically understanding, the Savior is not talking about cups and dishes, but about the outer - bodily and inner - spiritual sides of the human being. You, as if the Lord were saying so, are trying to make your outer state splendid, but your insides, your soul, are full of filth, for you steal and offend. The inner, that is, the soul, must be washed, and together with the purity of the soul, the outer, bodily state will also shine. Matthew 23:27. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of the bones of the dead and all uncleanness; Matthew 23:28. So, on the outside, you seem righteous to people, but inside you are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness. And this comparison makes the same sense as the previous one. The Pharisees tried to appear decent in their outward behavior, like painted tombs, that is, whitewashed with lime and alabaster, but inside they were full of uncleanness, dead and rotten deeds. Matthew 23:29. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, who build tombs for the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, Matthew 23:30. and say: If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been their accomplices in shedding the blood of the prophets. Matthew 23:31. Thus, you testify against yourself that you are the sons of those who beat the prophets; He proclaims woe to them not because they build tombs for the prophets, since this pleases God, but because they do this with hypocrisy, because, condemning their fathers, they did worse than them, surpassed them in wickedness and clearly lied, saying: if we were in the days of our fathers, we would not have killed the prophets, and yet they wanted to kill the Lord of the prophets Himself. Therefore Christ adds: Matthew 23:32. complete the measure of your fathers. Matthew 23:33. Serpents, spawn of vipers! How will you escape from condemnation to Gehenna? With the words: “complement the measure of your fathers,” he does not command, does not encourage them to kill Him, but expresses the following thought: since you are serpents and children of similar fathers, since you, due to your depravity, are not healed, then try to quickly surpass your fathers, you will do this when you kill Me. You will fulfill the full measure of evil by murder, which your fathers lacked. But if you are so evil, how can you avoid punishment? Matthew 23:34. Therefore, behold, I send you prophets and wise men and scribes; and some you will kill and crucify, and others you will beat in your synagogues and drive from city to city. The lie of their words is exposed: “If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have killed the prophets.” Behold, he says, I am sending prophets, wise men and scribes, but you will kill them too. We are talking about the apostles; The Holy Spirit made them teachers, prophets, filled with all wisdom. With the words: “I send” he reveals the power of His Divinity. Matthew 23:35. May all the righteous blood shed on earth come upon you, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Barachi, whom you killed between the church and the altar. Matthew 23:36. Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. All the blood unrighteously shed, according to the Lord, should come precisely to the Jews of that time. They will be punished more severely than the fathers, since they did not come to their senses after so many examples; so once Lamech, who lived after Cain, was punished more than him, although he did not kill his brother; He was punished more severely because he did not understand the example of Cain’s punishment. According to the words of the Lord, all the blood will come from Abel to Zechariah. It is not without reason that Abel is mentioned here: he, like Christ, was killed, suffering from envy. But which Zechariah is being mentioned here? Some say that this Zechariah is one of the twelve minor prophets, and according to others, this is the father of the Forerunner. A legend has reached us that there was a special place in the church where the virgins stood. Zechariah, being the high priest, placed the Mother of God here with the virgins after the birth of Christ from her; The Jews, indignant that he placed the woman who gave birth with the virgins, killed him. It is not surprising that the father of the Forerunner was also called Varakhiya, just as Zechariah, one of the twelve prophets, had his father’s name also Varakhiya. It could happen that just as they were the same names, so were their fathers. Matthew 23:37. Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to you! How often have I wanted to gather your children together, as a bird gathers its chicks under its wings, and you did not want to. Matthew 23:38. Behold, your house is left to you empty. Matthew 23:39. For I say to you, you will not see Me from now on until you cry: Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Repeats the name of Jerusalem, regretting it and calling on it with compassion. By threatening punishment, the Lord justifies Himself before him, as if before a beloved who neglects her lover; and Jerusalem is accused of murder, because when He Himself repeatedly wanted to have mercy on him, he did not want to. Jerusalem listened to the devil, who distracted him from the truth, and not to the Lord, who called him to heaven, for sin removes sin from God, but integrity of conscience unites with Him. The Lord expresses His love in the image of a bird. But, He says, since you did not want to, I will leave the church empty. From this we understand that God also dwells in churches for our sake, and when we become hopeless sinners, He leaves the churches too. So, says Christ, you will not see Me until the second coming. Then the Jews will worship Him against their will and say: “Blessed is He who comes.” “From now on” should be understood: from the time of the crucifixion, and not from the hour when this was said. For after this hour the Jews saw Him many more times, but after the crucifixion they no longer saw Him and will not see Him until the time of His second coming comes. Bandages on the forehead and hands with words from the law. Verses 13-14 have been rearranged from the Greek text.