"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to."
Gospel of Matthew
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus issues a series of woes against the Scribes and Pharisees. Pronouncing a woe on someone or some group expresses grief at their sorry state, and warning them of the bad consequences to follow. Why is Jesus so hard hitting to this particular group, using language that is not normally associated with Him.
In order to gain some understanding of Jesus' critical side, it is good to step back and listen to Jesus' more gentle side, which is far more common in the Gospels.
Jesus has a mission. That mission is to reveal to others the Kingdom of God. In Matthew chapter six or Luke chapter twelve, Jesus is telling His disciples and those gathered with Him: "Do not worry about your life and what your are to eat, and your body and how you are to cloth it. For life is more than food and the body more than clothing." Evidence of God's presence can be found in His care for the birds of the air, who need no storehouses or barns, or the lilies of the field that neither toil or spin. This passage is about many things.
The first is faith. Have faith in God. He is near and will take care of your needs.
The second is trust. There are things in life that are important, and there are things in life that have lessor importance. The Kingdom of God is revealed to those who have placed these things in their right priority. Unfortunately, we do not always have things in the right priority. But through our trust in God, we can begin to see properly the right order of things.
The third is surrender. Surrender has to do with releasing our tight grip on all those things we are inclined to cling too. Our clinging or grasping after things, whether it be material or otherwise, are the very things that separate us from the Kingdom that Jesus wants to reveal to us. When we loosen our tight grip, and surrender the things we cling too as an act of trust, then the Kingdom of God is revealed to us. It's not that it wasn't there before. It's just that now we are able to see it.
What the Scribes and Pharisees taught and lived prevented the Kingdom of God from being revealed. What they were teaching and living opposed the very thing that Jesus came to reveal. And they lacked the humility to acknowledge and see that they were wrong. You might say they were inordinately attached to their rules and standards of behaviors. They lacked faith and trust in God. They were unable to let go and surrender those things they saw as justifying themselves.
Whenever we use our own sacred practices as a measure of how well we are doing in relation to someone else, we fall into the same trap.
The revelation of God's Kingdom is not based on how well we are doing in relation to another in following sacred practices, precepts and laws. God's Kingdom is revealed as we dare to surrender such notions, and place ourselves at the mercy, love, and trust of God.
Faith, trust, surrender: "Let the little children come to me and do not stop them. For it is such as these that the Kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the Kingdom as a little child, will not enter into it."
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