On Holy Tuesday, Jesus spends much of the day teaching, most notably delivering the “seven woes” in Gospel of Matthew 23, where He strongly rebukes the Pharisees and Sadducees for their hypocrisy. While they had mastered the outward appearance of faith—focusing on rules, status, and religious image—they had neglected the heart of God’s law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness. Jesus warns against becoming like “whitewashed tombs,” looking righteous on the outside but being spiritually empty within. This challenges us, especially as we approach Easter, to examine our own faith—not just what we do or how we appear, but why we do it—calling us to move beyond religious optics and live with genuine devotion to God.

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Well, good morning. It’s good to be with you on this Tuesday morning as we continue together through Holy Week. This is Tuesday of Holy Week, and over these next few days we’re just taking a little time each day to look at what specifically happened on each day.

Yesterday—Monday—we talked about the cleansing of the temple. Today we turn to Tuesday, and Tuesday is different. Tuesday is a day of teaching. Jesus spends much of this day teaching, and some of His most significant teaching happens right here. Tomorrow, Wednesday, is when things really begin to move toward the cross. The pace picks up. But today—Tuesday—is about what Jesus says.

There’s a lot we could focus on, but I want us to center in on what’s often called the “seven woes” in Matthew 23. Before we get there, though, let me give you just a little background.

There are two key groups you’ve heard of: the Sadducees and the Pharisees. These were the religious leaders of the people, and together they made up the council known as the Sanhedrin. The Sadducees were the priestly class—they were tied to the temple, to Jerusalem, to the sacrificial system. The Pharisees, on the other hand, were teachers of the law. They were more connected to the synagogues, often out among the people beyond Jerusalem.

Now, while they made up the Sanhedrin together, there was also tension between them. They didn’t always agree. But together, they formed the religious power structure of the day.

On the temple grounds, there was a place where the Sanhedrin would gather, and just below that were what are called the teaching steps. This is where teachers would come to teach, to preach, and, in many ways, to be evaluated by the religious leaders above them. Those steps are still there today. If you ever have the chance to go to the Holy Land, you can stand on those steps—and know that you’re standing where Jesus stood.

So picture this scene: Jesus is on the teaching steps, looking up at the religious leaders, while also speaking to the crowds gathered around Him. That’s the setting for what we read in Matthew 23.

And what Jesus does here is striking. He begins by acknowledging that the scribes and Pharisees “sit on Moses’ seat,” and He tells the people to listen to what they teach—but not to do what they do. Because, He says, they do not practice what they preach.

He goes on to describe them: they place heavy burdens on others but won’t lift a finger to help. They do their deeds to be seen. They love the places of honor, the recognition, the titles.

And then come the woes—these sharp, prophetic warnings. Again and again: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites.”

He says they shut people out of the kingdom. They make converts, but lead them further astray. They focus on the smallest details while neglecting the weightier matters of the law—justice, mercy, and faith.

And then there’s the one that always sticks with me. Jesus says, “You are like whitewashed tombs.” On the outside, they look beautiful. Clean. Impressive. But inside, they’re full of death.

And remember the setting—behind Jesus would have been the Mount of Olives, covered with tombs that had been whitewashed so people could see them and avoid becoming ceremonially unclean. So when Jesus says this, He’s not speaking in abstraction—He’s pointing to something everyone can see.

What He’s exposing is this: they had mastered the optics of religion, but missed the heart of it. They knew how to look the part. They knew how to perform it. But they had lost sight of what it was really about.

And if we’re honest, that’s not just their struggle—it’s ours too.

It’s so easy for us to focus on appearances. So easy to focus on what others think. So easy to reduce our faith to a checklist—to what we do—while missing why we do it. Jesus makes it clear: the heart of the law is justice, mercy, and faith. It’s loving God and loving neighbor. It’s obedience that flows from the heart.

And here we are, moving closer to Good Friday, moving closer to Easter. It’s worth asking: what are we really focused on?

Why are we excited about Easter? Is it the crowd, the energy, the full sanctuary? Or is it the resurrection? Is it the opportunity to worship the risen Christ?

Every Sunday is Easter, really. Every day is a chance to live in the reality of the resurrection.

So as we walk through this week, let’s not make the same mistake as the religious leaders. Let’s not get caught up in the optics and miss the heart. Let’s take time to ask why—why we do what we do, why we follow Jesus.

And then let’s follow Him faithfully. Let’s live in His grace.

Thanks for being with me today. We’ll pick up tomorrow as we move into Holy Wednesday.