We are in that part of Matthew's gospel where Jesus is attacking the attitudes of the Pharisees. This does not mean that Jesus condemned every Pharisee. Some of them were good people and Nicodemus, who came to Jesus "by night", was a Pharisee in search of the truth. Nor are the authors of the gospels intent on condemning them. What is much more relevant is to highlight pharisaical attitudes in the Christian community. One can meet Catholics who seem to be obsessed with tiny details of church behaviour, some of them to the point of scrupulosity. They would think it a sin not to get ashes on Ash Wednesday; they only fasted 55 minutes before communion ... and so on.

These are not the things that Jesus is concerned about. He mentions as far more important issues like justice, compassion, and faith as a total commitment to the work of building the Kingdom. It is not acts which are important but relationships. It is not keeping the rules which matters but being one who loves others as Jesus does. As long as I am a truly loving person, nothing - but nothing - else matters. "Love - and do what You like." (St Augustine).