"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You pay tithes of mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier things of the law: judgment and mercy and fidelity. (But) these you should have done, without neglecting the others. Blind guides, who strain out the gnat and swallow the camel! "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You cleanse the outside of cup and dish, but inside they are full of plunder and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup, so that the outside also may be clean. (Mt 23:23-26)
Jesus sends out his owes on the scribes and Pharisees. The reason for it is that they are hypocrites. They worry about the external things and they try their level best to be very meticulous about the external things and they do not bother about the law, mercy, fidelity etc. Their primary concern should have been fulfilling the laws and then they should worry about the traditions.
The continued criticism of Jesus against the scribes and Pharisees has been that they neglected the basics and got attached to the peripheries. They were worried about the externals and were not concerned about the internals and the essentials. In life the important things were fidelity, justice and mercy. These were the things which helped them regarding their relationship with God and with the others and themselves. But these leaders were worried about the minor things
Jesus criticized the Pharisees and the scribes. He also conveyed message about the basics of life for his followers. The things that matter are the internals, the basics, the essentials, the laws and not the traditions, the externals, the peripheries..
