Matthew 23:1

‘Then spoke Jesus to the crowds and to his disciples,'

Sitting teaching in the crowded Temple courtyard, filled as it would be with pilgrims and worshippers, Jesus directs His first words at the eager crowds who, along with His own disciples, gathered round Him as potential disciples (compare Matthew 5:1; Matthew 7:28; Matthew 8:1; Matthew 9:36 etc), although He will then turn on the Scribes and Pharisees, who are standing there glowering at Him in the foreground and no doubt heckling and using their influence to seek to turn the crowds against Him. We have His words spoken to them from Matthew 23:13 onwards. But in both cases He no doubt said a lot more than we have here.

He was well aware that these were His last days, and one of His purposes in being there was clearly in order to make one last appeal to the Scribes and Pharisees in the sternest words possible, in the same way as Jonah had made such a strong appeal to Nineveh (see Jonah 3:4, and compare Matthew 12:39). Such offerings of a last final chance are typical of the Old Testament (compare Isaiah 6. Jesus was no more severe than Isaiah). But at the same time He would want to ensure that the hovering crowds and the disciples interpreted His words to the Scribes and Pharisees correctly. He does not want them to think that by condemning the Scribes and Pharisees He is condemning the Law of God. He thus first prepares His disciples and would be disciples for what He is about to say, by warning them against similar behaviour. And at the same time He gives them a vitally important and unforgettable object lesson that they would never forget, for His scathing words would not be easily forgotten, and they too would in the future be in equal danger of becoming exactly like the Pharisees (as many Christian leaders did in later centuries), something which He had constantly striven to guard against (Matthew 18:1; Matthew 19:14; Matthew 20:25 compare Luke 22:24). We must not therefore see these as just introductory comments. They are making the position clear and giving a dire warning that they too must take heed not to become like the worst of the Pharisees, as they so easily might, and His words are complete in themselves.