Jesus is the word-picture Jedi. No one commanded communication so colorfully. But he didn’t do it to merely entertain. There is substance; an eternally-mattering goal. Often that goal was piercing.

The seven woes, recorded in Matthew 23, are no exception. “White-washed tombs.” “Serpents, brood of vipers.” “Twice as much a son of hell.” “Blind guides.” But one of the more tragically comedic is verse 24: “You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!”

continue reading