But don't forget, those were Jesus' people – the folks with whom He was most likely to identify. Jesus was speaking directly to them, "Woe to you …"

He was more of a Pharisee by tradition than any other religious type … yet, what He criticized was a universal tendency of religious power-brokers to obscure the core teachings of the faith for personal gain, power, and self-aggrandizement.

For that reason, I made the quote more generic and substituted "religious leaders" for Pharisees. We do not have Pharisees abusing power today. We do have religious leaders who do so.

Apply it to any who, for the sake of their own, authority, security, prejudice, self-gratification, greed, pride, lust, anger, or ambition, or any other motivation, judge, abuse, coerce, intimidate, or marginalize people

There is mo intrinsic evil in religious leadership; There is much good and far more potential for you. However, the danger of abuse of that leadership is ever-present and the "woes" are formidable.

Those of us in spiritual leadership are stewards of dreams, visions, and grand ideas. We are also stewards of core truths. Not the least, we are stewards of influence and the souls of those whom we influence.

God help us to take that responsibility with reverence and awe, not because of the threat of woe, but because of the love we have for God and people and the joy of the call.

The secret sauce ingredient for this is very simple: an attitude of service. When we understand that, as leaders, we are servants, we begin to follow Jesus the way he led and others will follow and lead that way as well

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