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"Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone..." Luke 11:42

Who are Pharisees? Looking the term up in the dictionary gives:

1. A member of an ancient Jewish sect, distinguished by strict observance of the traditional and written law, and commonly held to have pretensions to superior sanctity
2. A self-righteous person; a hypocrite

There are many references in the Gospels where there are accounts of Jesus condemning the Pharisees to the extent that it appears that He even makes the sinners look better compared to them. I was curious to know why and my search lead me to www.rbc.org which gives us the explanation below:

Jesus condemned the Pharisees' self-righteous hypocrisy because it blinded them from seeing their need for repentance and a Savior.

Many Pharisees prided themselves in their strict avoidance of obvious, outward sin. But they refused to look inside themselves and acknowledge the presence of inner sin that didn't fall within the boundaries of their man-made rules. Jesus knew that in spite of their obsession with outward perfection, they willfully resisted consciousness of their inner corruption and need for grace.

Jesus didn't associate with "known sinners" like tax collectors because He minimized their sin ( Luke 19:1-10 ). He freely associated with them because He knew that they were more open to repentance.

We are all sinners, both inwardly and outwardly. Although we may not be notorious "public sinners," we all share a fallen nature and are often controlled by the "flesh" -- the "sin principle" -- within us (Romans 8). Jesus' stern warnings to the hypocritical Pharisees make it clear that sin we ignore and deny is no less serious in its effects than the sin of the public sinner.

Now, the question to us is, are we like the Pharisees - self righteous and stubborn? Or Are we the sinners who acknowledge our sins and repent to be forgiven?