Luke 11: 37 – 54 NLT
“Jesus Criticizes the Religious Leaders
37 As Jesus was speaking, one of the Pharisees invited him home for a meal. So he went in and took his place at the table. 38 His host was amazed to see that he sat down to eat without first performing the hand-washing ceremony required by Jewish custom. 39 Then the Lord said to him, “You Pharisees are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and wickedness! 40 Fools! Didn’t God make the inside as well as the outside? 41 So clean the inside by giving gifts to the poor, and you will be clean all over.
42 “What sorrow awaits you Pharisees! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore justice and the love of God. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things.
43 “What sorrow awaits you Pharisees! For you love to sit in the seats of honor in the synagogues and receive respectful greetings as you walk in the marketplaces. 44 Yes, what sorrow awaits you! For you are like hidden graves in a field. People walk over them without knowing the corruption they are stepping on.”
45 “Teacher,” said an expert in religious law, “you have insulted us, too, in what you just said.”
46 “Yes,” said Jesus, “what sorrow also awaits you experts in religious law! For you crush people with unbearable religious demands, and you never lift a finger to ease the burden. 47 What sorrow awaits you! For you build monuments for the prophets your own ancestors killed long ago. 48 But in fact, you stand as witnesses who agree with what your ancestors did. They killed the prophets, and you join in their crime by building the monuments! 49 This is what God in his wisdom said about you: ‘I will send prophets and apostles to them, but they will kill some and persecute the others.’
50 “As a result, this generation will be held responsible for the murder of all God’s prophets from the creation of the world— 51 from the murder of Abel to the murder of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, it will certainly be charged against this generation.
52 “What sorrow awaits you experts in religious law! For you remove the key to knowledge from the people. You don’t enter the Kingdom yourselves, and you prevent others from entering.”
53 As Jesus was leaving, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees became hostile and tried to provoke him with many questions. 54 They wanted to trap him into saying something they could use against him.”
Charles Swindoll quotes Max Lucado in his commentary Living Insights: Luke: “Legalism is the search for innocence – not forgiveness. It’s a systematic process of defending self, explaining self, exalting self, and justifying self. The obsession with legalism? Self. Not God. Legalism has no pity on people. Legalism makes my opinion your burden, makes my opinion your boundary, and makes my opinion your obligation.” (page 336)
Jesus criticizes the Pharisees and scribes for focusing on laws. They seem to think that if something looks good, then it is good. Our culture tends to get caught up in that philosophy as well. If you live in a nice home, have a good job, wear stylish clothes, you must be good.
The Jewish leaders in Jesus’ day concentrated on the rules and customs they had established during their captivity centuries prior. Those rules eventually were written down in The Mishnah. They might be very diligent to give the exact amount of tithe, even more than required. But … they ignored “justice and the love of God” (v. 42). They loved being the important people in the community and synagogue. But did they care for the poor and those who were struggling in some way? No. They made so many unreasonable demands on people that it actually stopped people from knowing God. “For you remove the key to knowledge from the people. You don’t enter the Kingdom yourselves, and you prevent others from entering.” (v. 52)
A relationship with God has never been about keeping religious rules and customs, about looking good.
Micah 6: 6 – 8 says:
“What can we bring to the Lord?
Should we bring him burnt offerings?
Should we bow before God Most High
with offerings of yearling calves?
7 Should we offer him thousands of rams
and ten thousand rivers of olive oil?
Should we sacrifice our firstborn children
to pay for our sins?
8 No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good,
and this is what he requires of you:
to do what is right, to love mercy,
and to walk humbly with your God.”
We all want to look good. We attend church on a regular basis. We give money to the church. We get involved in some way – being an usher, keeping the building and grounds clean, helping with the youth group, etc. But … where is our heart? What do we care about the most?
Proverbs tells us that the heart is important. “As a face is reflected in water, so the heart reflects the real person.” (Prov. 27: 19) “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.” (Prov. 4: 23)
Stop for a moment right now along with me, and think about your heart and motivation in life. What determines what I do, where I go, what excites me the most? Is it my relationship with God? Or am I focused on looking good?
Psalm 19: 12 – “How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart? Cleanse me from these hidden faults.”
Psalm 19: 14 – “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.”
Our song for today is If We’re Honest by Francesca Battistelli