Luke 11:37-44

Luke 11:37-44

37 Now when He had spoken, a Pharisee asked Him to have lunch with him; and He went in, and reclined at the table. 38 When the Pharisee saw it, he was surprised that He had not first ceremonially washed before the meal. 39 But the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the platter; but inside of you, you are full of robbery and wickedness. 40 “You foolish ones, did not He who made the outside make the inside also? 41 “But give that which is within as charity, and then all things are clean for you.

42 “But woe to you Pharisees! For you pay tithe of mint and rue and every kind of garden herb, and yet disregard justice and the love of God; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. 43 “Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the chief seats in the synagogues and the respectful greetings in the market places. 44 “Woe to you! For you are like concealed tombs, and the people who walk over them are unaware of it.”

Status is determined by a wide variety of standards amongst different people.  The Pharisees were a group of people who had a high status in the Jewish society.  They were the standard by which all the other people were measured.  In most people’s estimation they were the example of what God wanted people to be like.  Unfortunately, they had the same opinion of themselves.  This group of elitists had all the status anyone could dream of.  However, Jesus did not agree with this evaluation.  He pronounces a series of “woes” against these prideful men.  Jesus did not play into their egos.  He teaches them and us about the Lord’s standards in determining what is valuable or not.

EXTERNAL CLEANSING: Jesus stats out being criticized for not completing a ceremonial washing before sitting down to eat as a Pharisee’s home.  Jesus makes sure that His hearers understand that it is not the external cleaning of our hands or the dishes from which they ate that makes a man clean before God.  The Pharisees were meticulous about perfectly cleaning that which was external, but they tolerated internal sinfulness in attitudes.  They were dishonest and wicked in their dealings with the people they were supposed to be leading.  Men are very concerned with appearances.  We like to impress one another with behavior or good works that can be observed by other people.  God is not impressed with these things, He looks at our hearts, knows our thoughts and sees our motives.  These are the things that Jesus condemned in the Pharisees.  It is important to be careful not to seek to gain status before people and in the process, fall under the Lord’s judgment.  

EXCEPTIONAL TITHING: One of the “external acts” the Pharisees performed in order to “merit” favor with God was tithing.  They were meticulous about tithing from the herbs they grew in their garden which would be a rather insignificant source of income, easily over looked by many.  However, they were unjust in their judgments of people, giving preference to the wealthy and powerful, and failed to love God.  This is one of the common dangers of associated with legalism: strict adherence to certain rules or man-made traditions coupled with complete disregard for some of God’s most basic requirements revealed in Scripture.  Perhaps in today’s setting Jesus would say something like you have your devotions every day but you don’t love your neighbor.  Or, you vigorously defend your denomination’s statement of faith, but you don’t trust God.  We tend to like to complicate things and set up standards by which we feel we can measure ourselves and impress others.  God wants us to have simple and trusting hearts that express love for Him and the people around us.

EXPOSURE IN PUBLIC: Jesus condemns the Pharisee’s tendency to be motivated by public greetings and their desire to have the best seats in banquets.  This is another form of pride and the desire for glory that should be reserved for God alone.  God has created us to worship Him and help others worship Him.  This must be the focus and priority of our lives.  Instead, we tend to have our minds occupied by our own reputations.  We care far too much about what other people think of us.  In reality, we want to be worshiped instead of being worshipers.  The best seats should be reserved for others in our minds.  The “special greetings” we might get in public are often just other people trying to manipulate us into worshiping them.  Humility, living to serve others and worship God are the keys to pleasing God.  Living in this way will rarely gain the attention of others, but it will bring glory to God and be pleasing to Him.

EXTENDED CONTAMINATION: The final woe Jesus proclaims about the Pharisees is calling them “hidden graves.”  This may seem rather obscure and not very meaningful in our culture, but I think these Jewish religious leaders understood exactly what Jesus was saying.  Dead bodies were considered to be unclean and any contact or proximity to a dead body would make that person unclean.  So, by calling them hidden graves, Jesus was saying that the Pharisees were contaminating many other people with their sinful attitudes and actions.  This is one of the dangers of sinfulness.  It spreads to and impacts the lives of all around us.  This is especially true of those who are in positions of leadership.  Much is given to us and much will be required of us.  We must be very careful to make sure that the things we pass on to others are examples of love and holiness.

APPLICATION: Don’t focus on external appearances, make sure that our hearts are open and humble before God.  Make sure that the most important things to God are the most important things to us.  Tithing herbs while failing to love God and others is useless.  Be motivated by the praise of God, not the recognition of men.  Influence others with love and holiness not legalism and injustice.