He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight.”
Luke is telling the story about one of the interactions Jesus had with the Pharisees. Outside of sin, the only thing that Jesus repeatedly railed against and seemed to unilaterally hate was legalism and its’ practitioners. Anyone that tried to justify themselves through adherence to some strict set of rules, but didn’t operate from a truly transformed heart, seemed to really infuriate Him. Samuel says it this way, “People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
If you keep people at enough of a distance, it is possible to have them not see the real you… for a while. Those we live with (our families) and those we work with (who get us 40+ hours a week), will eventually see the real person inside. It doesn’t matter...