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SearchJesus Denounces Leaders as Hypocrites
"Furthermore, these self-centered rulers delight in doing their good works so that they will be
seen by men. They make broad their phylacteries and enlarge the borders of their official robes.
They crave the chief places at the feasts and demand the chief seats in the synagogues. They
covet laudatory salutations in the market places and desire to be called rabbi by all men. And
even while they seek all this honor from men, they secretly lay hold of widows' houses and take
profit from the services of the sacred temple. For a pretense these hypocrites make long prayers
in public and give alms to attract the notice of their fellows.
"While you should honor your rulers and reverence your teachers, you should call no man Father
in the spiritual sense, for there is one who is your Father, even God. Neither should you seek to
lord it over your brethren in the kingdom. Remember, I have taught you that he who would be
greatest among you should become the server of all. If you presume to exalt yourselves before
God, you will certainly be humbled; but whoso truly humbles himself will surely be exalted.
Seek in your daily lives, not self-glorification, but the glory of God. Intelligently subordinate
your own wills to the will of the Father in heaven.
"Mistake not my words. I bear no malice toward these chief priests and rulers who even now
seek my destruction; I have no ill will for these scribes and Pharisees who reject my teachings. I
know that many of you believe in secret, and I know you will openly profess your allegiance to
the kingdom when my hour comes. But how will your rabbis justify themselves since they
profess to talk with God and then presume to reject and destroy him who comes to reveal the
Father to the world?
"Woe upon you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You would shut the doors of the kingdom of
heaven against sincere men because they happen to be unlearned in the ways of your teaching.
You refuse to enter the kingdom and at the same time do everything within your power to
prevent all others from entering. You stand with your backs to the doors of salvation and fight
with all who would enter therein.
"But even now I offer you in my Father's name mercy and forgiveness; even now I proffer the
loving hand of eternal fellowship. My Father has sent you the wise men and the prophets; some
you have persecuted and others you have killed. Then appeared John proclaiming the coming of
the Son of Man, and him you destroyed after many had believed his teaching. And now you
make ready to shed more innocent blood. Do you not comprehend that a terrible day of
reckoning will come when the Judge of all the earth shall require of this people an accounting for
the way they have rejected, persecuted, and destroyed these messengers of heaven? Do you not
understand that you must account for all of this righteous blood, from the first prophet killed
down to the times of Zechariah, who was slain between the sanctuary and the altar? And if you
go on in your evil ways, this accounting may be required of this very generation.
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"O Jerusalem and the children of Abraham, you who have stoned the prophets and killed the
teachers that were sent to you, even now would I gather your children together as a hen gathers
her chickens under her wings, but you will not!
"And now I take leave of you. You have heard my message and have made your decision. Those
who have believed my gospel are even now safe within the kingdom of God. To you who have
chosen to reject the gift of God, I say that you will no more see me teaching in the temple. My
work for you is done. Behold, I now go forth with my children, and your house is left to you
desolate!"
And then the Master beckoned his followers to depart from the temple.