"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You lock the kingdom of heaven before human beings. You do not enter yourselves, nor do you allow entrance to those trying to enter. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You traverse sea and land to make one convert, and when that happens you make him a child of Gehenna twice as much as yourselves. "Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'If one swears by the temple, it means nothing, but if one swears by the gold of the temple, one is obligated.' Blind fools, which is greater, the gold, or the temple that made the gold sacred? And you say, 'If one swears by the altar, it means nothing, but if one swears by the gift on the altar, one is obligated.' You blind ones, which is greater, the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? One who swears by the altar swears by it and all that is upon it; one who swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it; one who swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who is seated on it. (Mt 23:13-22)
Jesus is quite strong in condemning the leaders of his time. He called the hypocrites, blind guides, blind fools and so on. Hypocrite would mean a pretender or an actor or an interpreter. Jesus here would have meant the interpreters; because these leaders were interested in interpreting the rules to the people. They were not only interpreting but they were also pretenders. They pretended to practice it but did not do it.
Jesus also criticised them for their activities. They took pride in working for the kingdom but in fact they did not. Their interpretations were such that no one could enter the kingdom and certainly they themselves did not enter into it. They were saying one but doing just the opposite of what they were saying.
Secondly they were not worried about the temple, altar which were of greater importance. Instead, they were worried about the offerings and gold. In fact they were more materialistic then anyone. They were not much interested in God and Godly things. That is why Jesus called them blind and fools (Fool says in the secret of his heart that there is not God). These leaders are, in fact, practical atheists.
