Jesus continues his attacks on the Pharisees and Scribes. We should really see this as a criticism of the legalistic mind. Not all the Pharisees and Scribes were hypocrites and we can find their like in our own Christian communities and it is likely that Matthew is thinking of Christian Pharisees rather than those who criticised Jesus. In today's reading Jesus makes two points. First, he accuses Pharisees of being scrupulous about the tiniest regulations while being neglectful of much more important issues such as judgement, compassion and faithfulness to God's will. They strain out tiny insects (which were regarded as 'unclean') from their drinking water but then "swallow the camel", that is, ignore the really important things like loving all our brothers and sisters, practising forgiveness and taking care of the poor and needy.

In the second part, he criticises them for focusing only on the externals, on their image, what people could see so that they could be admired for their observance of the Law. But they are like whitewashed tombs, lovely on the outside but inside are full of stench and corruption. There is no real similarity between what appears on the outside and what they really are inside.

How many of us have perfect integrity, so that what people see is also what really is going on inside us?