Luke shows us that the Pharisees were not evil men and that at least some of them were sympathetic to Jesus and warned him of danger. No doubt, not every single Pharisee was a saint, but earlier in this chapter 13 of Luke's gospel we heard Jesus' teaching: "Do not judge and you will not be judged yourselves" (Lk.6:36).

The Pharisees were very religious people. Their fault was that they were too religious and scrupulous, but that did not of itself merit Jesus' criticism of them. Their greatest fault was that they fell into the trap frequently facing such over-religious and scrupulous people: their zeal easily become intolerance. They easily imposed on others their own strict fidelity to the Law of God, forgetting that God is merciful and kind since not all of us can always in every single detail attain to the ideal of holiness.

Today's passage from Ephesians urges us to use truth, justice and zeal to propagate the Gospel of peace. We may be as zealous as the Pharisees, but our zeal must be animated by truth and justice, for we serve the Gospel of peace.