Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.
Jesus is calling out the religious leaders: 'You're such hypocrites! You scrub the outside of your cups and plates until they shine, but inside they're still filthy with greed and selfishness.'
Don't just clean up what people can see, fix what's actually broken inside.
📚 Historical Context
In the first century, the scribes and Pharisees were prominent Jewish religious leaders who emphasized strict adherence to the Law of Moses and outward rituals as a sign of piety. Jesus delivered this rebuke during His ministry in Jerusalem, as part of a broader critique in Matthew 23 where He exposed their hypocrisy for prioritizing appearances over genuine holiness. This verse uses the everyday image of cleaning dishes to illustrate how they maintained an external facade of righteousness while ignoring internal corruption.
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