Woe!

Blind guides. Hypocrites. White washed tombs! Brood of vipers!  Over and over again, Jesus uses these words to describe the religious rulers of his day.  Then he looks them in the eyes, and from the depths of his knowledgable heart, emphatically declares, "Woe!"  (Not once, but seven times...we'll come back to that word.)

If we've ever thought that Jesus only spoke in niceties, we need to get back into the gospels.  I believe Jesus was always kind (a Greek word that referred to the mellowness of wine); he was always gentle (see Sunday's entry about gentleness); and he was always good (his desire was to give that which would always benefit the people); but that didn't mean that he wasn't truthful.  At one point (see Matthew 15:12-14), the disciples came to Jesus worried, "Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard what you told them?"  Jesus' response basically was this: "Let them alone. Don't be concerned about what they think. They are blind guides leading blind men...and both will fall into a pit!" Ouch!  Truth is always out of love; always desires the best for The Other; always speaks with goodness, tempered by a mellow-mouth; and truth is always gentle (which means that if there's a reason to be angry, that anger is not withheld for all the above reasons).  That was Jesus. No matter what they thought about him, he gave them what they needed to hear.  What they needed to hear wasn't always NICE.  It wasn't always received the way he intended it to be received.  He ruffled feathers. He stirred pots. He forced men (& women) into corners.  I don't know many people who are OK with that...myself included.

That little three-letter-word, woe, is highly important in this passage. In our English language it is spoken as a warning. As we read it in this passage, it appears from the surface, that Jesus is saying..."Listen, you jerks, bad days are ahead of you. This is your warning..." Reading what Jesus has just said, with the choice words he picked to portray the Pharisees in his hearing, we get the feeling he is condemning them to hell right there and then. So, we have to go deeper to see what he meant when he spoke the word, "Woe!" In old Greek writings, the word was an exclamation of grief, of intense mournfulness.  Let that soak in just a minute...

Jesus had healed blind men. He'd been vulnerable and, well, human, setting a whole new paradigm that excluded religion and brought in relationship with the Father.  He'd raised dead men to life...and soon, he'd be lifted up on a cross, as the serpent was lifted up on a pole in the wilderness, to bring complete healing to sin-weary souls (Numbers 29).  However, the Pharisees just didn't get it. They stayed blind, hypocritical, spiritually dead, and covered in spiritual leprosy. With their inability to get beyond their hard-heartedness, and be open to a different kind of Savior, they were condemning themselves to the pit of hell....and Jesus was grieving for them.  He grieved because he knew where he was headed, in just a few days.  He grieved because he knew they'd be the very ones to send him to the cross.  Mostly, he grieved because the salvation he was about to bring to the world, would not be embraced by these leaders.  Woe!  Deep grief.  On this last day of intense teaching, that Tuesday of Holy Week, from dawn to dusk, Jesus was holding onto the hope that one last day of intense training would take root in their hearts and bring them salvation.  Unfortunately, he saw the inside of their hearts (those white washed tombs that looked good on the outside, but inwardly there was decay). What he saw, caused him to lose some hope, and he grieved for them... Yet, even to the end, he kept inviting all who would to be with him in paradise.

I'm reminded this morning of Paul's words about the Lord:

The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).

At the core of my onion-like heart, I recognize I quickly go to the first meaning of the word "woe".  I pronounce judgment, when someone doesn't seem to want to open their eyes or their hearts to Jesus.  My heart isn't a heart so full of love, that I keep presenting the truth to them, even if it becomes offensive. I don't hold out truth, in kindness, goodness, and gentleness, no matter what their response to me might be.  Oh that I would have a Jesus-heart, patient, not wanting any to perish, but for all to come to repentance!