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<DIV align=left>This text has a certain instructive resonance, while serving as
a useful reminder of Jesus' appraisal of hypocrites.</DIV>
<DIV align=left>Rose Huskey</DIV>
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<CENTER>Matthew, chapter 23 11: 33</CENTER>
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<P><I>11:</I> He who is greatest among you shall be your servant; <BR><I>12:</I>
whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be
exalted. <BR><I>13:</I> But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!
because you shut the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither enter
yourselves, nor allow those who would enter to go in. <BR><I>15:</I> Woe to you,
scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you traverse sea and land to make a
single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a
child of hell as yourselves. <BR><I>16:</I> "Woe to you, blind guides, who say,
`If any one swears by the temple, it is nothing; but if any one swears by the
gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.' <BR><I>17:</I> You blind fools!
For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred?
<BR><I>18:</I> And you say, `If any one swears by the altar, it is nothing; but
if any one swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.'
<BR><I>19:</I> You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that
makes the gift sacred? <BR><I>20:</I> So he who swears by the altar, swears by
it and by everything on it; <BR><I>21:</I> and he who swears by the temple,
swears by it and by him who dwells in it; <BR><I>22:</I> and he who swears by
heaven, swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it. <BR><I>23:</I>
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you tithe mint and dill and
cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy
and faith; these you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.
<BR><I>24:</I> You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!
<BR><I>25:</I> "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you cleanse
the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of extortion
and rapacity. <BR><I>26:</I> You blind Pharisee! first cleanse the inside of the
cup and of the plate, that the outside also may be clean. <BR><I>27:</I> "Woe to
you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you are like whitewashed tombs,
which outwardly appear beautiful, but within they are full of dead men's bones
and all uncleanness. <BR><I>28:</I> So you also outwardly appear righteous to
men, but within you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. <BR><I>29:</I> "Woe to
you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you build the tombs of the prophets
and adorn the monuments of the righteous, <BR><I>30:</I> saying, `If we had
lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in
shedding the blood of the prophets.' <BR><I>31:</I> Thus you witness against
yourselves, that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. <BR><I>32:</I>
Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. <BR><I>33:</I> You serpents, you
brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? <BR></P>
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