Matthew 23 - From Woes to Worship
February 5, 2023 • Pastor Jim Thomas • Matthew 23
As we come to study Matthew 23, the context is the Passover week in first century Jerusalem. The hillsides, roads and Temple precincts are jammed with pilgrims who have come to present their sacrifices, and there is mounting tension in the air between the religious leaders of that time and the carpenter turned rabbi and healer, Jesus of Nazareth. We find ourselves drawn in, wondering what will ultimately happen between them.
As we look back through history, sometimes the final public words of a person in a given setting can have the greatest lasting impact. In Matthew 23 Jesus delivers a withering rebuke of the religious leaders for their spiritual corruption and self-aggrandizement.
What was Jesus thinking and what was His purpose in all of this? And what, if anything, of what Jesus had to say to them on that day might also apply to us in our own time, and in our life with God?
Join Pastor Jim as he helps us see the gospel hope placed on offer, even to the hardest hearts, spoken through the sternest words of Jesus on that day.