The Indictment
The Longest Lie — Part 9 of 11 eFireTemple.com Matthew chapter 23 is the most uncomfortable passage in the Gospels for anyone invested in the authority of the Pharisaic tradition. It is the moment where Jesus turns directly to the religious leaders of his community and, in public, delivers a series of condemnations so specific and so devastating that two thousand years of commentary have not been able to soften them. Seven woes. Seven indictments.
What this resource contributes
The Longest Lie — Part 9 of 11 eFireTemple.com Matthew chapter 23 is the most uncomfortable passage in the Gospels for anyone invested in the authority of the Pharisaic tradition. It is the moment where Jesus turns directly to the religious leaders of his community and, in public, delivers a series of condemnations so specific and so devastating that two thousand years of commentary have not been able to soften them. Seven woes. Seven indictments. Addressed to the scribes and Pharisees — the faction that had championed the imported theology, built their authority on it, and established themselves as the gatekeepers of a system they did not design. Read in isolation, the Seven Woes are a moral critique of religious hypocrisy. Read in the context of this series — in the light of the download, the laundering, the betrayal, and the faction that won — they become something else entirely.
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