Woe to You
“Woe” is a little word that packs a big punch. It has its roots in the Old Testament prophets and is used as a pronouncement of judgment. It can also signify an exclamation of grief or deep sorrow over some calamity or trouble. Isaiah uses it when he is convicted of his sinfulness. He exclaims, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips…” (Isaiah 6:5).
In Matthew chapter 23 Jesus uses “woe” like verbal hammer blows on the hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees. Seven times he says, “Woe to you,” and almost all of those are followed with the one-word condemnation, “hypocrites!”
As John MacArthur pointed out, “Jesus used “woe,” not as an exclamation but as a declaration, a divine pronouncement of judgment from God.”
“Woe” is a fitting word because as I already mentioned it is a word that expresses grief as well as judgment. Jesus took no pleasure in making this harsh declaration of judgment on these men. He was and is a perfect mixture of love and justice, wrath and mercy.
Chapter 23 ends with the lament of Jesus:
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem…How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing…
God's words of woe come to us, not only to pronounce His judgment but to call us to repentance so that we might escape that judgment under the wings of Jesus.
Thanks for sharing this relevant message, much needed in our culture!