You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

Matthew 7:5

During Jesus’ earthly ministry, He had many run-ins with the elites of the day, the Scribes, Pharisees, merchants and businesspeople. These men were well versed in the Scriptures and zealous about following every letter of the work rules.

What would Jesus say today?

• In adhering to the letter of rules, they actively sought loopholes that allowed them to violate the spirit of why we have the rule.
• The elitesdisplayed a lack of compassion toward their fellow man and were often overly demonstrative of their so-called spirituality to garner praise.
• Jesus denounced their behaviordirectly, pointing out that “justice, mercy, and faithfulness” are more important than pursuing a perfection based on faulty work standards.
• Jesus made it clearthat the problem was not with the rules and policies but the way in which the elite leaders implemented them.

Today, the word pharisee has become synonymous with hypocrite. Translate it to the current religious and business elites. Some current day leaders (but not all by any means) are hypocrites. Warning! Beware!

• The prophet Isaiah condemned the hypocrisy of his day: “The Master says, ‘These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men’” (Isaiah 29:13).
• Centuries later, Jesus quoted this verse, aiming the same condemnation at the religious leaders of His day (Matthew 15:8-9).
• John the Baptist refused to give hypocrites a pass, telling them to produce “fruits worthy of repentance” (Luke 3:8).

Jesus took an equally staunch stand against sanctimony.

He called religious leaders’ hypocrites

• “wolves in sheep’s clothing” (Matthew 7:15)
• “whitewashed tombs” (Matthew 23:27)
• “snakes,” and “brood of vipers” (Matthew 23:33).