# Wednesday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time - Jesus’ Final Public Sermon

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/catholic-daily-reflections-334651/wednesday-of-the-twenty-first-week-in-ordinary-time-jesus-final-public-sermon
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/catholic-daily-reflections-334651/wednesday-of-the-twenty-first-week-in-ordinary-time-jesus-final-public-sermon.md
Podcast: [Catholic Daily Reflections](https://stenobird.com/podcast/catholic-daily-reflections-334651)
Published: 2026-08-25T09:00:02+00:00
Episode link: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/wednesday-of-the-twenty-first-week-in-ordinary-time-jesus-final-public-sermon--72719109
Audio file: https://api.spreaker.com/download/episode/72719109/wednesday_of_the_twenty_first_week_in_ordinary_time_jesus_final_public_sermon_1.mp3
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Duration seconds: 419

## Resource

Read Online Jesus’ Final Public Sermon Jesus said, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of filth. Even so, on the outside you appear righteous, but inside you are filled with hypocrisy and evildoing.” Matthew 23:27–28 For the third day in a row, we read from Jesus’ fierce denunciation of the scribes and Pharisees. His words are exactly what these religious leaders needed to hear—strong medicine meant to awaken them from their self-righteousness, so that they might repent and receive the superabundant grace that would soon pour forth from His Cross. Though His rebukes may sound shocking—especially to those who heard them for the first time—we must receive them not with shock, but with humility and openness, applying them to our own spiritual journey. Immediately after this lengthy denunciation, Jesus turns inward and offers a heart-wrenching lament over Jerusalem, especially over the hardened hearts of the very leaders He had just addressed. Though not included in today’s Gospel, the very next verse reveals His sorrow: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how many times I yearned to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her young under her wings, but you were unwilling!” (Matthew 23:37). This tender image opens a window into Jesus’ Sacred Heart—the same heart that had just delivered such relentless rebukes. Consider that image: a hen gathering her young under her wings. By natural instinct, a mother hen shields her chicks, even risking her life to protect them. In placing that instinct within creation, God reveals something of His own divine love. He, too, longs to gather, shield,…

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