Matthew 23

Eight times in the Gospels, The Messiah called the Pharisees hypocrites.....to their faces.

 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in." {Matthew 23:13}

That word hypocrite comes from the ancient Greek classical theater, and those Greek actors were called hypocrites. One actor would often play many different characters, and for each character, that actor would use a different mask. It would be pretty easy to switch masks and become a "different" person to everyone watching....and that audience could get caught up on what people see on the outside, but it's just a mask.

"Then Jesus said to the crowds and to His disciples: "The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach."

"Everything they do is for show." {matthew 23:1-3,5}

The problem that Jesus saw with these teachers was that what they were teaching wasn't a reflection of who they really were. And that is what true followers of Yeshua don't do.