Lord warned His disciples not to follow the hypocritic trends set by the Scribes. (Luke 20:45-47) Disciples are warned about the yeast of Pharisees. (Matthew 16:6) They are like plastic trees, glamorous without fruitfulness, not like planted trees. (Psalms 1:1-3)
Long robes: Common people including business people will wear simple robes but the religious leaders to show that they are above them in the spiritual hierarchy wear long robes. Sadly, these religious leaders considered dress style as a marker of their spirituality, rather than their holiness. “For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long” (Matthew 23:5)
Longing for greetings: The scribes longed for respect and honour. Hence, they preferred high seats of honour and expected people to pay obeisance to them. They taught that they should be respected more or above the parents. The reverence they demanded was that of equality with God. The Jewish people were directed to address them as ‘Rabbi.’
Long hand: In fact, they have long-hand to steal from the unsuspecting individuals. Filled with covetousness and oppressive mindset, they wear religion as cloak and under cover are involved in crime. They earned the trust of the rich widows and looted their wealth or demanded gifts. Rabbis are not allowed to charge for their teaching. Hence, these leaders indirectly appealed or demanded gifts from rich widows.
Long prayers: They had the habit of reciting long prayers in public with flowery language to impress upon others. Instead, the Lord taught his disciples to pray in private or secret. (Matthew 6: 5,6) It is not possible to impress God with multiplicity of words, the Pharisee prayer was rejected. (Luke 18:9-14) God knows what is in heart and knows the words before it is spoken. (Psalms 139:4)
Lord’s condemnation: First, they will be condemned as they are hypocrites. They are like white-washed tombs. (Matthew 23:27) Second, they are blind guides of blind, misleading others. They fall into the pit and make others also fall. (Matthew 15:14) Third, they are teachers and thus will be given harsher punishment by stricter standards. (James 3:1)
Am I an authentic disciple or a hypocrite?