Matthew 23:1-3

Fill in the blanks using the New King James Version of the Bible.

Then _________ spoke to the _________ and

 to His disciples, saying: “The _________ and

the _________ sit in Moses’ _________ . 

Therefore _________ they tell you to

_________ , that _________ and do, but do

not do _________ to their _________ ; for

they _________ , and do not _________ .

 "Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson,
   Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved."

The Pharisees and the Sadducees

When Jesus was on earth, He was generally kind and loving toward people. But there were some people who were not recipients of his kindness, but of his anger. These people pretended to be religious, but they were very unloving and unmerciful to other people.
He spoke harsh words to the Jewish religious leaders known as the Pharisees
(. These men were very careful to tithe, or give one-tenth of all their income as an offering to God, but sometimes they would call attention to themselves so that people could watch them put their money in the collection . They were very proud of the fact that they were observing the law of Moses, but they were uncaring and even cruel to their neighbors and even their families.
Jesus compared them to tombs that had been painted with whitewash and looked very beautiful on the outside, but in reality they were like graves full of dead men's bones, not beautiful at all.

These men would even kill the prophets that God had sent, if they didn't want to hear the message they brought. When John the Baptist came preaching and telling them to repent, they did not listen to him and they refused to be baptized.
 They were very proud of themselves and wore long robes with broad borders, or fringes on them to show their importance. They wanted to get the best seats in the synagogues, the places of worship. They loved for people to call them "Rabbi", or teacher, and they would pray long prayers out in public just for people to see them.
The  Sadducees   were Jewish religious leaders who were from the wealthy families. This group did not believe that people would be resurrected, or raised from the dead. They also did not believe  angels existed.