Discourse in Condemnation of Scribes and Pharisees

96. Discourse in Condemnation of Scribes and Pharisees

In this section Jesus is addressing two different audiences: The Jewish leadership, and the people those leaders supposedly serve.

For the people, Jesus has a singular message: put no other human being between you and a personal, autonomous relationship with God. Anyone who asks to be called teacher, or master, or father, or in any other way tries to insert themselves as an intermediary, is on a power trip. In contrast, a genuine spiritual guide would present him or herself humbly, without self-aggrandizing interests, desiring only to serve those in need.

Jesus obviously believed the scribes and Pharisees were of the power trip variety, and so made them a target of unrelenting condemnation. Why? Didn’t this just increase their desire to have him arrested and put to death? Why exacerbate the situation with fiery polemics?

One possible explanation is that Jesus felt that exposing the hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees was absolutely necessary if the people were to wake up and take responsibility for their own spiritual journey. Regarded by the people as learned interpreters of Jewish law, the scribes and Pharisees were looked to for instruction and guidance. But as we have seen, their teachings were formal and legalistic, emphasizing form over substance, ritual observance over a genuine connection with truth and spirit….with God.

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye tithe mint and anise and cumin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law, justice, and mercy, and integrity. Ye blind guides, which strain out the gnat and swallow the camel.

Perhaps most egregiously of all, they became corrupted by power --- using their position to gain wealth, status and prestige.

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchers, which outwardly appear beautiful, but inwardly are full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. Ye outwardly appear righteous unto men, but inwardly ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

Ignorant themselves of the requirements to enter the kingdom of God, they demanded people’s compliance to rules and customs that often served only to line their own pockets with gold.