"'A curse is on you, Pharisees! To the temple you give a tenth of all, including mint and rue and other herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of GOD. These ought to be practiced, without neglecting the other obligations. A curse is on you, Pharisees, for you love the best seats in the synagogues and to be greeted in the marketplace. A curse is on you, for you are like tombstones of the dead which can hardly be seen; people don't notice them, and make themselves unclean by stepping on them.'
Then a teacher of the law spoke up and said, 'Master, when YOU speak like this, YOU insult us, too.' And JESUS answered, 'A curse is on you also, teachers of the law. For you prepare unbearable burdens and load them on the people, while you yourselves do not move a finger to help them.'" - Luke 11:42-46
(Then we read about the reproaches JESUS addressed to the Pharisees on various occasions. If Luke like Matthew has kept these very hard words of JESUS, it was perhaps a reminder that the Gospel goes much further than the vision of the Pharisees, so concerned, as they claimed, for the service of GOD. Some of them were part of the first Christian community, and were influential [Acts 15:5]. Doubtless, the hostile attitude adopted by the party of the Pharisees in the following years accounts for the remembrance of these reproaches. There are surely others and deeper reasons for the many warnings we read in Scripture about Pharisees.
Entering the New Covenant is a free gift from GOD. It is also a gift from GOD to possess a good knowledge of Christian doctrine, or exercise a special ministry in the Church, or belong to a Christian group committed for their faith. Nevertheless there is always the danger to behave as an elite group, thus losing the true humility that should lead us to occupy the last places, where we really should be.)
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