Jesus entrusts the keys of the Kingdom of heaven to Simon Peter that he may give entrance to those who wish to approach God through Jesus Christ (Mt 16:19). As leader along the rest of the Apostles of the community of believers, Peter guides the faithful, receives Samaritans and Gentiles into the Church, and leads in the deliberation of Church leaders in the Council of Jerusalem. Contrariwise, Jesus condemns the scribes and their followers of locking the Kingdom of heaven before human beings. With their strict observance of the Law, they think themselves superior to others, even condemning those who are ignorant of the Law or non-observers of it. They invert the order of values, emphasizing the importance of offerings of the Temple, rather than the sacredness of the Temple as a house of prayer and the meeting place of peoples. Their emphasis on separation (Pharisees means “separated ones”), their zeal for the letter rather than the spirit of the Law, their emphasis on ritual purity, and their pride and hypocrisy, make them close the door of the Kingdom of God to both Jews and Gentiles. Their powerful words are belied by their non-exemplary actions. On them, what can be said of some preachers today may be applied, “What you are shouts so loudly in my ears that I cannot hear what you say” (Ralph Waldo Emerson, American essayist).

Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy to the Church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: grace to you and peace.

We give thanks to God always for all of you, remembering you in our prayers, unceasingly calling to mind your work of faith and labor of love and endurance in hope of our Lord Jesus Christ, before our God and Father, knowing, brothers and sisters loved by God, how you were chosen. For our Gospel did not come to you in word alone, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with much conviction. You know what sort of people we were among you for your sake. In every place your faith in God has gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything. For they themselves openly declare about us what sort of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to await his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus, who delivers us from the coming wrath.

Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You lock the Kingdom of heaven before men. 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.”