38Then He said to them in His teaching, "Beware of the scribes, who desire to go around in long robes, love greetings in the marketplaces, 39the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts, 40who devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation."
Now Jesus is talking of the scribes who flaunt their position. They are the religious leaders who take too much pride in their work, who seem to do their work for all the wrong reasons - for recognition and fame in the marketplaces, for their own gain in the synagogues and feasts, for power to take advantage of people such as widows, and who will stoop even to pretense in order to hold that position such as in making up long prayers. Yes, those who do these things in the name of being one of God's chosen leaders will receive the greater condemnation.
But what I hadn't noticed before in this text is that Jesus is saying beware. He is not just explaining what the scribes are doing wrong, but he is saying to beware. In my dictionary, it says beware means to be on guard against or be cautious of. Why is Jesus warning us to beware of scribes such as these?
There are a couple reasons I can think of. The first is when you see these individuals and all the apparent rewards they receive for their position, you may wish you could be like them. However, Jesus says they will have the greater condemnation. Don't be fooled by what you see. Though you see great rewards now, it will be followed later by greater condemnation. Jesus is a more perfect example of a life to emulate.
The other reason I can think of why Jesus might warn us against scribes such as these is to help us recognize false teachers. Jesus was the best teacher who ever lived and yet he didn't do anything to make himself stand out in a crowd. He took no advantage of any power or other gain his teaching could have given him. Jesus is warning us to be cautious of the lessons taught by false teachers. Jesus doesn't want a false teacher to lead us astray. Here He is helping us to recognize a false teacher.
These verses do a good job of stating how to be a bad religious leader. But I think the bigger part of the lesson here is for us to be wary of bad religious leaders.