13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. 14 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive greater condemnation. 15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.”
Jesus now turned to the most prominent religious leaders, the scribes and Pharisees; He called them hypocrites! There was a time for gentle persuasion when people were open to His message. However, sufficient time had come and gone to separate out those who showed themselves by their hardened rejection of Jesus to be self-justified and self-condemned! Their duplicity was obvious.
He lays out a series of seven or eight woes to indicate the dire consequences of their actions (Bible scholars debate whether verse 14 is original or was added by later copyists). This was not a message of repentance anymore, but a message of judgment! What was coming for them would be overwhelmingly horrible! They not only kept others from the kingdom of heaven but they themselves failed to enter in as well. They oppressed the disadvantaged while pretending to be religious. They went to great lengths to bring people under their power and then “make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.” Acerbic! Their man-made religious system was proven to be a complete failure.
Many today have found it easy pickings to blast away at church leaders, using Jesus’ actions here as precedence. True, there is much hypocrisy in leadership as evidenced in the popular media reports of failed pastors. However, which of us can so glibly level that accusation against Christian leaders or anyone else for that matter—without making ourselves hypocrites in the process? The fact of the matter is that as Christians we have subscribed to a standard of living that we have not yet reached (see Phil 3:12). Anyone who attempts to lead or teach has an inherent difficulty, for one cannot teach only what he himself has mastered, or there is forever a barrier in the way of those he teaches. Rather a teacher ought to call others to mutually reach toward a higher standard. The hypocrisy comes when the leader acts like he has arrived. Nowhere is that more evident than when we judge others of hypocrisy! Only Jesus can make that judgment without being stained with the same sin.
Lord, I know that I fall short of the righteous standard to which I aspire. Help me live a life that inspires others to join me in reaching forward.
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