"Luke 11:45-46 — Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over [them] are not aware [of them].

"Then one of the lawyers answered and said to Him, "Teacher, by saying these things You reproach us also."

"And He said, "Woe to you also, lawyers! For you load men with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers."

"Luke 11:52-54 — Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter in yourselves [to the Kingdom of God], and those who were entering in you hindered.

"And as He said these things to them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to assail Him vehemently, and to cross-examine Him about many things, lying in wait for Him, and seeking to catch Him in something He might say, that they might accuse Him.

"Luke 7:28-30 — For I say to you, among those born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.

"And when all the people heard Him, even the tax collectors justified God, having been baptized with the baptism of John. But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the will of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him."

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These lawyers were the spiritual teachers and experts of the day, and very well-versed in the Law of Moses, as well as the traditions that their forebears had added to that law. Their condemnation comes not so much for their expertise in the law, but for their hypocrisy and their spiritual blindness. We are not suggesting that all lawyers are evil and wicked in nature.... Only those lawyers and tax collectors that behave as these men did; they had blind eyes, deaf ears, dark hearts, and knowledge without understanding.