Jesus warned the Pharisees that they were impeding the flock on their spiritual journeys.
Jesus has this to say about how the Pharisees were more in love with their power and authority and popularity than they were with God.
And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.
10 Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.
11 But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.
12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.
13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.
15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
16 Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor!
17 Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?
18 And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty.
19 Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?
20 Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon.
21 And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein.
22 And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon.
23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
24 Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.
25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.
26 Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.
27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.
28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
29 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,
30 And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
31 Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Matthew 23:9-31
Many leaders in our church value their authority and popularity and power than their spiritual life or that of their brothers and sisters.
It's not merely the fault of the leadership but of our church culture as a whole. We have all been raised to revere our leaders and trust in the arm of the flesh more than the iron rod of scripture.
I've routinely heard someone at church make a comment and the first question is always "well who said that?"
When what is more important is, is that statement true?
If the person behind the quote is supposed to be a general authority it is accepted without question and accepting anything without questioning it or praying for guidance and clarity is a major problem as I see it.
Jesus makes the case that appearances can be deceiving by saying that the Pharisees only care about cleaning the outside of a cup(appearances) but give no thought to the inside of the cup(what's on our hearts).
He also says if the inside is clean so will the outside be, like when Jesus said "it is not what goes into your mouth that defiles you but what comes out."
Our spiritual path is an inward journey because the kingdom of God is within us and what's on our hearts is the measure by which we will be judged.
And Jesus said "wherever your treasure is your heart will be also."
If we truly treasure the spirit our hearts will be filled with it. And that you can't show off or brag about because it will remain unseen.
Actions speak louder than words but again as Jesus said in John 7 "Judge not according to appearance."
Maybe because appearances can be deceiving we are told in John 7 to "judge not according to appearances but judge with righteous judgment."
Righteous judgment has meant in Judaism and in writing since before Christ, giving the benefit of the doubt or judging favorably.
But the larger point is that we are warned in scripture to not rely on the arm of the flesh we are to hold to the iron rod which is the word of God Himself.
And we are told that where our treasure is our heart will be so we should treasure the spirit and let go of our love of power and hero worship. God alone deserves worship.
When the power of love overcomes the love of power we will know peace and live in Zion.
And I think hero worship and love of power and authority is what is impeding our development both individually and as a people.
