Matthew 23:33 “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?
*Therefore* is an adverb, meaning (according to the dictionary): for that reason; consequently. I find that adverb, that transitional expression at the beginning of verse 34, extraordinary in light of verse 33.
Matthew 23:34 Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town.
Jesus knows that there is no other way for this “brood of vipers” to “escape being condemned to hell.” For that reason, *therefore*, He sends “prophets and sages and teachers” even though He knows how they will be received. This is His tremendous love for His creation in action, His justice coupled with His mercy.
Matthew 23:37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.
Lord, I am fully deserving of Your judgment and not at all deserving of Your mercy, but Your fierce love for me, for all of Your creation, prompts You to be merciful. Thank You. Help me to be merciful and compassionate to others, even when I don’t feel like it and they don’t deserve it. Help me to be more like You. Amen.
Matthew 23:38-39 Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
Have a blessed day.