If Our Lord is so harsh wish the chief priests, scribes, elders, Sadducees and Pharisees, that is, with the hierarchy of those who are under the Old Law, how much greater will his expectation be for those responsible for instructing the people under the New Law?
I don’t see how those of us who know better can have any other response than to redouble our efforts in the apostolic work of the Church.
He holds them to account and warns them they will have a harsher judgment. We, knowing this, don’t suppose he’d ever talk to us that way.
It’s not that he’s not merciful. Of course he is. He displays that in abundance with his miracles healing the sick and forgiving sinners. And ultimately with the display of the fullest measure of his loving devotion to his father’s plan for man’s forgiveness. He is merciful. Perfectly. But who will tell them of his mercy? Or worse, will we, who know of his mercy, withdraw the news of it leaving those entrusted to us to figure it out on their own?
What is his harshness to the clergy other than a warning to you and me of what we can expect for our disregard for those whose souls he gave us to watch over and to care for.
