We continue with the attack of Jesus on the mentality of the Scribes and Pharisees, a mentality that can also be found among us Christians. Jesus now speaks of seven 'Woes' hurled against corrupt religious leaders and today we see three of them. First, Jesus accuses the leaders of closing the entrance to the Kingdom, preventing others from going in and not going in themselves either. Whether we are parents, or teachers, or priests or religious, we can also by our behaviour and example both block people's access to Jesus and be far from him ourselves also.

Second, these leaders try to prevent people from approaching Jesus while they themselves zealously go to great lengths to make even a single convert, only to make that person even worse than themselves. They do this by corrupting them with false ideas of what true religion is. Parallels can be found in our own days among various Christian groups - often in competition with each other. Third, the Temple leaders interpret the law and tell the people that they are not to swear by the altar but by the gift they have put there. They thereby enrich themselves at the expense of the poor. Daily we see such abuse of authority and power, whether in the Church, in government, in business leading to all kinds of greed and corruption which undermines the very fabric of societies.