Some may see it as hard, maybe even harsh, as Jesus points out the difference between true believers who tried to follow Him in their daily lives, and others (the religious establishment of His day?) who might have grown fatigued and weary or just too familiar with the sacred nature of being in relationship with the living God—to the point that they are phoning it in, “talking the talk but not walking the walk,” acting faithful when they really were not.
I recall many (MANY) years ago seeing an old episode of the TV show “Amos and Andy.” One of the characters was trying to sell residential real estate and showed a home—large, beautiful, seemingly spacious—to another character. He opened the front door and stepped into the back yard. It turned out that the glorious front of the home was merely a façade, and there was no depth to the house.
It LOOKED good, but perception turned out not to be reality.
Tragically, the world is filled with people who look—and often act!—like people of faith, but they have not lived the faith. It is only skin deep.