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Context (Luke 11:37-44)

Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem

He’s just finished teaching.

At this point in his ministry, we’ve seen this shift from him being loved and revered to him starting to be tested and rejected as he speaks out against people. Today his sights are on the Pharisees.

After his teaching, a Pharisee asked him to have lunch. It doesn’t say why, but we don’t need to assume foulplay. The Pharisees were the religious zealous, Jesus is supposed to be a mighty teacher, so it makes sense he’d invite him over.

As an invited teacher, Jesus would have been expected to give a teaching at this meal from what I can see. Culturally, I look at his speaking out in someone else’s home and gasp, but I think there’s context that alleviates that here.

Not CDC Friendly (v.37-38)

Luke 11:37–38 NASB 95

Now when He had spoken, a Pharisee asked Him to have lunch with him; and He went in, and reclined at the table. When the Pharisee saw it, he was surprised that He had not first ceremonially washed before the meal.

When Jesus enters the house, he doesn’t baptize his hands.

What?

The greek term for “washed” there is baptizo, where we get baptized. At the time, there was a tradition of the Pharisees to wash your hands before meals not for hygiene, but for ritual cleansing. This wasn’t commanded anywhere in the Old Testament, it was something that had been tacked on as tradition.

Little does the Pharisee know, his surprise has given Jesus an opening for a rebuke.

This Dishwasher Sucks (v.39-41)

Luke 11:39–41 NASB 95

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. You foolish ones, did not He who made the outside make the inside also? But give that which is within as charity, and then all things are clean for you.

Jesus is tapping into a current debate about washings going on, where some said you could just wash the outside of the cup for it to be ceremonially clean, but others said the whole cup needed to be clean. Jesus sides with the second, but uses it as an illustration for us.

God made not only our bodies, but our souls. A consistent theme in Jesus’ teachings is inward purity and righteousness. At the very least, the Pharisees needed to consider inward obedience as important as outward.

The Pharisees were greedy and were compromising in order to build their wealth, so Jesus says they can be made clean by giving to the needy.

This has an extra significance we miss today. It isn’t just about the giving, it is also socially closing the gap between the elites and the poor, recognizing they have more in common than they are giving credit to now.

I think about this with myself and homeless people, if I’m being honest, I automatically put myself higher on the social ladder than them. This is arrogant and stupid, that could’ve just as easily been me, and I am also a beggar before God.

Missing the Forest for a Toothpick (v. 42)

Luke 11:42 NASB 95

“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.

Y’all have heard “Missing the Forest for the Trees” right? Like when you get tunnel vision on something and miss the big picture? That’s what Jesus is saying the Pharisees are doing.

They were not only nailing the tithe, but from what I can tell, going above and beyond. This isn’t my area of expertise, but from what I can tell the mint and rue and garden herbs were probably not required to be tithed, or at the very least are a super small detail.

Jesus then grabs them by the collar, yanks them up 30,000 feet in the sky, and shows the vast forest they’ve missed as they’ve focused on this tiny toothpick on the ground.

Not that they should have ignored their duties as Jews, but God’s primary concern is Justice and Love.

Dap Him Up (v. 43)

Luke 11:43 NASB 95

Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the chief seats in the synagogues and the respectful greetings in the market places.

Next, Jesus goes after the attention the Pharisees love.

I am so guilty of this. When I’m obedient to something or know something that other Christians aren’t or don’t, I get so puffed up about it, and I dream about being this Christian leader people look up to and honor.

Jesus doesn’t say here that giving honor is bad, and all over the Bible we see people giving credit where credit is due and this is great. It encourages us, motivates us, and all that.

But any praise is worthless when given to a hypocrite. It’s ridiculous of me to lift myself up because I don’t speed, when gluttony has a hold on me. Again, not saying that recognizing good is bad, but when we chase that while neglecting true righteousness, we’re in trouble.

The Cheese Touch (v. 44)

Luke 11:44 NASB 95

Woe to you! For you are like concealed tombs, and the people who walk over them are unaware of it.”

People wanted to follow and be around the Pharisees as those devoted to God, but Jesus uses some of the strongest imagery to a Jew to highlight the state of the Pharisees.

Coming in contact with a dead person was a huge no-no in Judaism, it made you unclean. So what people would do is clearly mark graves so that people wouldn’t accidentally come in contact with them. They’d whitewash them so they’d stick out.

So when Jesus calls them concealed tombs, he’s saying “You are defiling people and they don’t even know it.”

I can’t imagine the shock to the system this was. Your coaches and I aren’t anywhere close to the leaders these Pharisees were in the public eye, but if Jesus said “Hey you’re harming Elijah spiritually and he doesn’t even know it”, I’d be in shambles.

So What Now?

To summarize, Jesus is exposing those who thought they were the most devoted as being hypocrites.

This definitely has relevance for us as Christians today. Here are some ways I see this play out:

Politically: We will slam abortion all the time (as we should), but we neglect the patience and gentleness and love we’re commanded to have even for our enemies. A snooty Facebook post is not righteous. Same thing for whatever political issue.

Sexuality: We stand on the traditional idea of marriage between one man and one woman, but again, we neglect modeling the attributes of God in the culture as we do this. Love does not mean acceptance of one’s bad behavior, God doesn’t do love that way so neither do we. But, we need to behave righteously and lovingly as we stand our ground.

Humility: I’m sure y’all have heard Jesus’ thing about taking the log out of your own eye before you take the speck out of your brother’s. We rebuke each other when we see them messing up and that’s great, but we don’t abandon humility and recognizing our own faults in that process.

This ancient christian preacher Cameron and I have been reading says this: “And if you see your neighbor sinning, do not take only his sin into consideration. Reflect upon all that he has done or continues to do rightly. It is often the case, when your examination goes through every detail and you do not judge based on partial information, that you will discover that he is better than you” -Basil the Great

This week and always, check yourself and make sure you’re not being a hypocrite, get people around you to keep you accountable, and focus on imitating God as beloved children.