Reading to reflect: Matthew 23.
Jesus always took care to protect his followers, advised them dramatically and gave him instructions about how his behavior should be, as well as how to take care of the false "friends", especially the "Pharisees".
In this passage we can see that Jesus vigorously refutes the Pharisees after having put his followers on guard against them. The Lord condemns hypocritical self-sufficiency, full of external manifestations, but devoid of spiritual content.
The Pharisees were the most recognized teachers of the law of Moses, although they failed to observe their own precepts. Many of his teachings were profound, but Jesus examined those aspects in which his hypocrisy nullified the validity of his doctrines.
On several occasions, Jesus warned his disciples to take care of the leaven of the Pharisees
Jesus refers to the innumerable provisions and regulations that reduced religion to a heavy and confusing system of ritual observances that kept people in permanent servitude.
The Pharisees did not understand that Jesus was not religion, but salvation and new life, they did not understand that Jesus had come to give freedom to man not through the law, but through grace.
The Pharisees never tired of displaying their piety in public to receive praise from men under supposed humility.
That is why Jesus warns against the proud pursuit of public praise, as happens when one aspires to prominent positions and titles that confer a certain superiority.
As believers we are all equal and we should only revere Christ, for the only one who deserves all the glory and all the honor is Jesus Christ.
We must keep in mind that we live in a world where man always wants to take glory.
The Pharisees always want to take the glory and make judgments about others, because Jesus tells us that they are habitual liars, violating their own moral code through an elaborate and absurd system of oaths, because they were totally unconscious, having completely lost the sense of proportions in spiritual matters, but scrupulously jealous of the most trivial external things, such as everything related to the tithe of small seeds and plants, they forgot the most important moral principles.
As Christians we must take care to be or do like the Pharisees.
Jesus Christ is our guide, he loves us and urges us to remain faithful in his word.
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