Why Did Jesus Rebuke the Pharisees and Sadducees More Than the Other Sinners?

On Hypocrisy and the Sin of Self-Righteousness

Sometimes I wonder why the Gospels did not give so much attention to Jesus lecturing specific groups of sinners other than the Pharisees and the Sadducees. I can’t remember Jesus giving a sermon to prostitutes about chastity. I can’t recall Him talking to tax collectors about honesty or serving their fellow Jews.

On the other hand, he mentions both prostitutes and tax collectors getting to heaven ahead of self-righteous people. And He used a Samaritan in His parable to show true compassion for one’s neighbor.

It’s not that He tolerated these people’s sins and shortcomings. He often warned about hell and talked about cutting off even the parts of our body that causes us to sin.

But Jesus had to give particular attention to religious leaders and experts of the law:

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and unrighteousness.” — Matthew 23:25, WEBBE

If we try to think about it, are their sins greater than other people’s sins? Why must Jesus give special emphasis to the wrong things that they do?

This verse can probably help us understand more:

“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men; for you don’t enter in yourselves, neither do you allow those who are entering in to enter.”- Matthew 23:14, WEBBE

Perhaps Jesus had to do it because of these people’s great responsibility for the Jews. They are responsible not only for themselves, but for the people that they lead.

Another reason that came to my mind is that self-righteousness is a far more dangerous sin in the end. For isn’t this a manifestation of pride?

At the end of our lives, if we do not have the humility to admit our sins and ask for God’s mercy, how could we receive salvation?

“The Pharisee stood and prayed by himself like this: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of men: extortionists, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get.’” — Luke 18:11–12, WEBBE

The Pharisees saw themselves as holy, but Jesus called them hypocrites. He compared them to whitened tombs that are rotten within.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitened tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but inwardly are full of dead men’s bones and of all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.” — Matthew 23:27–28, WEBBE

Hypocrisy is a serious condition of the heart because it would not admit to one’s faults. Seeing oneself without any fault, it would not seek God who alone can heal one’s soul and take away one’s sins.

This is a very important lessons for us Christians today. We must examine ourselves if we are relying upon our own righteousness and works rather than on God’s grace and mercy.

Are we focusing so much on the other group of sinners we see in the world today that we overlook the sins of our own heart?

“Most certainly I tell you that the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering into God’s Kingdom before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you didn’t believe him; but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. When you saw it, you didn’t even repent afterward, that you might believe him.” — Matthew 21:31–32, WEBBE

Jocelyn Soriano is the author of the devotional “366 Days of Compassion”.
Get the book from Amazon — click here.