There is no accusation like an accusation.

We know from our own lives that the same thing can serve to benefit us, but it can also be detrimental to us. The crucial thing is whether we need it and whether we accept it. Medicine can harm, but it can also help. The remedy can also be a warning that is done sensitively and tactfully. The accusation can also bring harm if one does not receive it as it is due.

The Evangelist Luke describes Jesus’ admonition of the Pharisees, “But woe to you, Pharisees, for you tithe mint, rue, and every herb, but you pass over the righteousness and love of God! This ought to have been done, and that ought not to have been neglected” (Luke 11:42).

These were harsh words of the Lord Jesus to the pious and learned theologians, the experts of the Law. They are, however, accurate and justified words because they touch on prevarication. We know that this Jewish group considered themselves perfect, and they showed it through their conduct. They used to sit in the first seats in the synagogues; they liked to receive greetings in the street, and they gave themselves the address: teacher. Jesus addresses these words: “Woe to you, for you, are like unmarked graves, and people do not even know where they are walking” (Lk 11:44).

Godliness is not just tithing when they have something to tithe when it is out of their abundance and costs them nothing. Piety is a matter of love, which must come from within a person, from their convictions, and this must serve to glorify God and not to glorify the giver. Where there is love, there can be no talk of egotism, selfishness, or pride. Love does not offend but encourages. Pride does evil. Love knows no bounds. It is selfless, as Paul says in Corinthians, “Love is patient, love is kind; it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not arrogant, it is not shameless, it is not selfish, it does not fret, it does not think evil, it does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth” (1 Cor. 13:4-6). This confession of love by Paul has nothing to do and can have nothing to do with the behavior of the Pharisees. And in listening to it alone, we sense where the truth is, where the value lies… So love knows no bounds, but the behavior of the Pharisees does not indicate that.

The text of the Gospel is a lesson for us to put love on ourselves, even though it is sometimes difficult and requires effort and sacrifice, but it is also an enrichment. On the other hand, the pride and arrogance of the Pharisees are wearing us down. Let us strive that the Lord Jesus may not reproach us also. That is why we must break with pretension in our lives. We must not reduce Christianity to the level of external acts and ceremonies. Christianity is love because GOD IS LOVE. Christ, our teacher, clearly teaches us that we must not cultivate pretense in ourselves; we must not have different outward and inward behavior. When we feel that this applies to us, it is a sign to begin a sincere change in the attitudes of our lives. We realize that even if outwardly we speak and act however well, nicely, and deservedly, and it does not coincide with the love that springs from conviction, it would all be but as tinkling metal and a clanging bell. Therefore, the Apostle Paul further wrote: “And if I had the gift of prophecy, and knew all mysteries and all science, and if I had faith so strong that I could remove mountains, and had no charity, I should be nothing” (1 Cor. 13:1-13).

Let us not forbid, let us not command, but let us show by our lives the actual value of the teachings of the Lord Jesus. And when we receive a just accusation, a warning, let us do our best to set it right, to use it for our spiritual enrichment for the salvation of our immortal soul. The Lord Jesus emphasized this in words, “Woe to you scribes also! For ye burden men with burdens which cannot be borne, and ye yourselves touch not these burdens with one finger” (Lk. 11:46).

It is beautiful when love is manifested not only in words but in deeds. For the Lord Jesus said: “Not everyone who speaks to me: Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Mt 7:21).

Let us be careful that everything is for our benefit. We will guard the one and cultivate the other.