Once Jesus enters Jerusalem and the temple, Jesus' run-ins with the religious authorities are constant. Today's gospel text demonstrates why all those who held traditional positions of religious power found Jesus' presence and preachings so disturbing.

In the text immediately preceding this week's reading, Jesus questions the scribe's theology. He challenges their image of a powerful royal Davidic Messiah with his own observation that the expected Messiah will be a much different kind of "Lord" than a traditional royal personage. In verse 38, Jesus now moves from the scribes' erroneous theology to their bankrupt ethics. The verbal image Jesus draws of the scribe, self-consciously strolling about the marketplace dressed in the long robe and flowing tallith of a supposedly pious scholar, is …