JESUS now begins a devastating exposure of the sin and hypocrisy of the Teachers of the Law and the Pharisees. Jesus is very direct and and forceful in his exposing of the evil and falseness of their lives and ministry. In this we see a different aspect of the character of Jesus. We see him here much more in his divine nature than his human. Up to this time Jesus had dealt patiently with the hate and opposition of the Pharisees. He told parables to them, which they could not fail to understand, with the hope that they would repent and turn from their falseness to the Lord. Now just before his humiliation and death, Jesus acts in judgement upon them. Make no mistake, here we see clearly something of what it will be like for all sinners who have rejected the Saviour, as it will happen for them on the day of judgement at the last day.

Jesus showed that he knew all about the sins and hypocrisy of the Teachers of the Law and the Pharisees. He showed that though they may have been able to show a good face before men, and deceive them, before God everything was open and they could not hide. The fact is that all sin and evil of humanity will be open to view to the all seeing eye of God when we stand before the judgement seat of Christ. On that day there will be no safety or escape from the just wrath of God, except for those who have confessed their sins, and have trusted in Christ alone, and received justification through faith in him, and received the blotting out of all their sins for Christ's sake.

The severity of Christ seen here towards the Pharisees is only a pale reflection of the severity he will show to all unrepentant sinners when we stand before his throne when he returns to judge the world.

The opening sentence in verse 5 is horrific in its clarity and evaluation of the lives of the Pharisees. All they were concerned with was gaining kudos and praise and the honour from human beings. They were supposed to be servants of God, but in fact they served themselves in order to gain honour and praise in this life. They had no concern for God whatsoever. Outwardly they presented to the world actions which appeared to be concerned with honouring God and his word. Outwardly they sought to appear before men as people who were diligent in obeying God, and reverencing his word and commandment, but in reality they had no concern for honouring God but only themselves. Outwardly they could deceive other human beings, and they could even make themselves believe they were honouring God, but in reality God and his glory never entered into their living.

We need to learn from this exposure. It is easy to see the evil of the Pharisees and nod our heads in agreement that they were evil sinners in reality, but we must not allow ourselves to preen ourselves by saying we are not like them. In fact the sin of the Pharisees is the very essence of sin in every human being all over the world, and Christians are not immune from this evil. Nor can Christian ministers escape from the challenge of Christ's teaching in his rebuke of the Pharisees. The fact is self and self glory creep into all our living, and mar our Christian lives, and pride and seeking praise of men needs to be guarded against, and repented of all the time. We should live to the glory of God alone, and live to please Jesus in all we do, but how often we find we take glory to ourselves and glory in success, forgetting that all our abilities come from God, and that we can take no credit for any of them. We are not immune from self deception, imagining we are honouring God, when in reality we are seeking our own glory. How easy we find it to seek honour and preferment in our chosen work or profession, and leave the honour of God out of our minds. The fact is that we store up treasure on earth, but forget the seeking of heavenly treasure.

Religious and moral boasting is a danger every Christian has to guard against. Jesus exposes this evil in the lives of the Pharisees. The Phylactery was a small leather box containing a verse of the law (Exodus 13:3-10, 11-16). This was bound around the forehead. The Pharisees made these as large as possible in order that all could see they were wearing them. The Tassel was of a similar kind, but worn on the left arm near the heart, and these Tassels were made as large as possible so as to be seen. By this the Pharisees sought to be seen as very holy and obedient to the word of God. The wearing of the Phylactery and the Tassel was based on Exodus 13:9, 16 and Deuteronomy 11:18 and it showed how the Pharisees had turned the spirituality of God's word into an outward act which had lost the spiritual message God had pressed on his people. The binding of the word of God on the head and heart was to be the remembering God's word and living it out from the heart. The Pharisees thought and taught that the outward action of wearing a Phylactery and a Tassel was all that God wanted, and the state of the heart, and obedience of God's word from the heart was not required.

Here is a common fault in religion. People seem to suppose that if our outward behaviour follows some outward rules, it does not matter about our thoughts or intents of our hearts. Christ teaches that this is not so. The Pharisees aggravated their sinful foolishness by seeking to get people to think they were very holy people so that they could claim honour from people.