All their works are performed to be seen. Jesus does not chastise the scribes and the Pharisees for their piety, nor for any of their religious practices whatsoever. Everything in the way of piety has been faithfully transmitted by the scribes and Pharisees from the law given by Moses. The piety they recommend is useful for living a moral life that is pleasing to God. Jesus only accuses the scribes and Pharisees really of one thing. He accuses them of not having the virtue of humility.
True piety leads to self-forgetfulness, not an exalted sense of self. Jesus does not ask us to give up our religious practices; acts of piety are pleasing. But we should not and indeed can not do them in order to look good in comparison to someone else. This is the mistake of looking sideways, of using religion as a means to justify one’s self, when only God Himself can justify and make one righteous. Piety is not a prescription for winning God’s favor; it is a means of humbling one’s self and of making one’s self more dependent upon God.
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