Woes

I admit that when I hear woe, I hear the phrase, “O woe is me,” in a very whiny petulant voice. Jesus had been correcting the Pharisees, after they were trying to test him and prove him wrong and inaccurate. They were now in that woe is me stage. Have you ever been there? I have! Woe is me, because that didn’t work out, this isn’t what I planned, my day went badly, and it is one of those times you think that you should stay in bed for the rest of the month.


There is another kind of woe – the woe of the heart, the deep down sorrow that is truly hurting and painful. There are woes of another kind, the woes are kind of placed on another – woe to you, like a disparagement on them.


Check out Matthew 23 to read the full passage of what I will refer to when saying, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees.” Why woe to them? They were turning people away from God through the use of laws, brow beating them with imperfections. Woe to them for turning people away from God and to the enemy instead. Woe to them for their blindness and foolishness, losing the forest for the trees and making silly rules which did not make sense nor really benefit the people. Woe to you for neglecting the people, for “straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel,” for focusing on the surface issues and missing the important things. Woe for cleaning the outside, for making what people see appear good, but not taking care of the heart and the hidden sins. Instead, they are called “whitewashed tombs, where everything is beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean.” Woe for false witness, for claiming righteousness against those who lived before.


These woes were serious. The reaction of the Pharisees was not terribly happy at being called to account for their attitudes and hearts that were darkened with pride and arrogance. Instead, it was an angry time.


Imagine what would have been different if the Pharisees had listened to this, turned with great sorrow to God, and asked even begged for forgiveness. What would have happened? What would happen if we do that now? Lord, change me! Fix me! Mold me into the person you want me to be and take care of all of the gnats and camels!