Omar Sanchez
Slave of Our Lord Jesus Christ

Behold, the man whose name is צֶ֤מַח [Tsemach], who will spring up from his roots and build the temple of HaShem.
Zechariah 6:12

MATTHEW-OMAR

CHAPTER 23

The Lord accuses Ministers and Pastors

1 Then the Lord spoke to the people and to his disciples, saying:
2 The Ministers and Pastors sit in the Seminary chair.
3 Therefore, whatever they tell you to observe, observe and do; but do not do according to their works, for they say, but do not practice.
4 For they bind heavy burdens, grievous to be borne, and lay them on the shoulders of men; but they themselves are not willing to move them with one of their fingers.
5 Rather, they do all their works to be seen by men. For they make their displays broad, and spread prayers on their garments;
6 and they love the best seats at feasts, and the best chairs in temples,
7 and greetings in the marketplaces, and men calling them: Teacher, Teacher.
8 But you do not want to be called Teacher, for one is your Teacher, the Messiah, and you are all brothers.
9 And do not call anyone on earth your father, for one is your Father, who is in heaven.
10 Neither are you called teachers; for one is your Teacher, the Messiah, who is called Christ.
11 He who is greatest among you shall be your servant.
12 For he who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.
13 But woe to you, ministers and pastors, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither enter yourselves, nor allow those who are entering to enter.
14 Woe to you, bishops and priests, hypocrites! For you devour the houses of the widows, and for a pretext you make long prayers; for this you will receive greater condemnation.
15 Woe to you, Rabbis and Elders, hypocrites! For you travel over sea and land to make a disciple, and once you have made him, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.
16 Woe to you, blind guides! Who say, 'If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing; but if anyone swears by the money of the temple, he is indebted.'
17 Fools and blind! For which is greater, money, or the temple that sanctifies money?
18 You also say, 'If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing; but if anyone swears by the gift on it, he is bound.'
19 Fools and blind! For which is greater, the offering, or the altar that sanctifies the offering?
20 For he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things upon it;
21 and he who swears by the temple, swears by it and by him who dwells in it;
22 And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of Elohim, whom you call God, and by him who sits on it.
23 Woe to you, Ministers and Pastors, hypocrites! For you tithe the profit, the wages, and the gift, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faith. This was necessary to do, without neglecting the other.
24 Blind guides, who eat the gnat, and swallow the camel!
25 Woe to you, Bishops and Priests, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside you are full of robbery and injustice.
26 Blind Shepherd! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, so that the outside may be clean also.
27 Woe to you, Rabbis and Elders, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of bones of dead men and all uncleanness.
28 Even so you also appear righteous to others outwardly, but within you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
29 Woe to you, Ministers and Pastors, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and adorn the monuments of the righteous,
30 and you say, If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the Lord.
31 So you bear witness against yourselves that you are children of those who killed the Messiah.
32 You also fill up the measure of your fathers!
33 Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?
34 Therefore, behold, I send you prophets and wise men and servants; and some of them you will kill and imprison, and some you will flog in your churches and persecute from city to city;
35 so that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of the first righteous man to the blood of the last righteous man, whom you killed between the temple and the altar.
36 Truly I say to you, all this will come upon this generation.

The Lament of the Lord over the Church

37 Men and women, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you! How often I longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing!
38 Behold, your house is left to you desolate.
39 For I say to you, you will not see me from now on until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'