Luke 11:37-54 Woe to you...

Luke 11:37-44 Jesus pronounces woes upon the Pharisees. Parallel passage Matthew 23:13-36. This follows directly from the previous section, in that their woes are interior sins. They are full of robbery and wickedness. They have no charity in their hearts. They tithe on the smallest of increase in accordance with the law of Moses, but have no regard for justice or the love of God. They love the honor of sitting in front and being greeted respectfully in public, but the people who honor them don't know that inside they are dead to God.

Luke 11:45-52 Jesus pronounces woes upon lawyers. Very similar to the Pharisees, except that lawyers have a different role in the structure of Jewish culture at that time, relating to legal proceedings. They weigh men down with burdens rather than touching them (the burdens) themselves. They are responsible for the persecution (via prosecution) of the prophets that God had sent to bring revelation to His people. This was not a new behavior - Jesus cited prophets of previous generations, such as Zechariah (Hebrews 11:32-38 mentions that there were others). His final condemnation is that they did not enter into the knowledge and revelation that they had, and that they had prevented anyone else from doing so either.

         The natural tendency of people to turn faith into religion seems universal. In our day, this is manifested in the explosion of denominations that turn upon extremely small (it seems to me) points of doctrine. And this is not unique to the 21st century or even the 20th century. The split of denominations began shortly after the reformation, but has proliferated over the years, exponentially it seems. The unifying commonality of core Christian beliefs identified by C.S. Lewis and others seems to have been overtaken by a human desire for doctrinal purity, which seems closely allied to a spirit of pride and self-importance. Most denominations, and all cults, are driven by the unshakeable belief that only they have the truth, that is, the true understanding of God's revelation. And this results in legalism and judgmentalism. Treating people badly, and turning on the very people that God sends to them to appeal to them for the core values of the gospel - love, mercy, and grace. In the end, despite the best efforts of theologians and evangelists, the kingdom of God will be built on love, mercy, and grace. It is possible to find people in virtually every church that are Pharisaical. This is not generally thought to be a compliment.

         The question is - if Jesus were to walk into our churches today, would He be welcomed for what He says, or kicked out for heresy and blasphemy? Or persecuted? It wasn't that the Pharisees and lawyers didn't pay attention to the law and the prophets. It was just that they thought they had the authoritative interpretation of how to apply these revelations to the modern world. This should be a warning to us. Whatever we may think that we know either about our understanding of the Bible or of what God has shown us, we should approach in fear and trembling that we only have a small (very small) piece of the overall truth, and should approach such issues with fear and trembling.

Luke 11:53-54 The scribes and Pharisees begin to plot to catch Jesus in something He might say.  Obviously, Jesus was not going to subscribe to the Pharisees' fan club. But because He was popular with the common people, they couldn't move against Him directly. So they were looking for some way to discredit Him with the common people, so that they could end His influence. It does not indicate at this point that they intended to get Him killed, but they clearly wanted to catch Him saying something that the common people would not accept, and thus eliminate His influence over them. This is rather different from having a shepherd's heart for the people, wanting to protect them from pernicious or misleading influences. Because, it appears, they were not primarily concerned with shepherding the flock, but with maintaining their own positions and influence. A common human failing. But ... think about the consequences! The Pharisees are the ones who had Jesus crucified.