The Dangers of External Religiosity

Our title for today is “The Dangers of External Religiosity.” To do something religiously can mean to adhere to something with consistency and devotion. Well that doesn’t necessarily sound bad at all. When does it become a problem? Religious adherence to a strict list of rules is a problem when checking the list becomes the priority, and the spirit of the law, the reason the rules exist, gets completely lost in the shuffle.

Jesus consistently teaches that… The response of the heart is of central importance to God.

So we come upon a passage today in the last section of Luke 11, where Jesus takes to task some of the influential Jewish religious leaders of his day for their hypocritical legalism. For all their external religiosity, these religious elite are is missing the point about relationship to God, and in so doing they are leading others astray.

Luke 11:37–54 ESV

While Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him, so he went in and reclined at table. The Pharisee was astonished to see that he did not first wash before dinner. And the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? But give as alms those things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you. “But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without knowing it.” One of the lawyers answered him, “Teacher, in saying these things you insult us also.” And he said, “Woe to you lawyers also! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers. Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed. So you are witnesses and you consent to the deeds of your fathers, for they killed them, and you build their tombs. Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute,’ so that the blood of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation. Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.” As he went away from there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press him hard and to provoke him to speak about many things, lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say.

What Jesus takes the Pharisees (and scribes) to task for is concern with external behaviors to the detriment of internal sincerity. (Jesus teaches that it must obviously be the other way around! Outward conformity means nothing unless we are inwardly responsive to God, who sees all.)

Unceremonious Lunch Guest (vv. 37-38)

Jesus accepts an invitation to lunch from a Pharisee, an invitation that at least on the surface has the appearance of being honorable. It was considered a virtuous thing to host a teacher from synagogue for meal, inviting him to lecture and dialogue further with religious elites. (in other words, this served for them as a way to supposedly honor the teacher as well as make themselves seem important, letting him hobnob with the big wigs)

Before any lunch or teaching can even begin, conflict arises. Jesus doesn’t wash his hands. Nowadays we focus on washing our hands to kill germs, but this was about a ritual the Pharisees had become particularly picky about and was another gesture to make themselves appear ceremonially clean. It’s noteworthy that this is something they added, one of their extrabiblical additions not prescribed in the actual OT Law.

Jesus will launch into a severe rebuke of the Pharisees, so it is helpful to clarify in our minds both who they are and what they represent (in the way Jesus deals with them).

Who are the Pharisees?

What is legalism?

Of the three main Jewish groups at the time, why do the Pharisees in particular find themselves so frequently at odds with Jesus?

The Sadducees were like the ruling class of religious leaders at the time, holding the office of High Priest, and most were from wealthier priestly families (ESV Study Bible - “Jewish Groups at the Time of the New Testament”). They kept their canon of scripture narrowed to just the Torah (first five books), and the Sadduccees are best known to us for not believing in the future general resurrection of the dead (some to life with God and others to eternal punishment, Dan 12:2). It was a constant source of disagreement with the Pharisees, and something Jesus himself confronted them with (Mk 12:18-27).

The Essenes were another group at the time, but less prominent in public life because they had withdrawn to communal living, sharing all things in common, like food and even clothing. According to historians like Josephus and Philo, wages would be given to a steward who would purchase and distribute goods to anyone in the community who had need.

Alongside the Sadducees then in impacting public religious life was this third group of the Pharisees. They were relatively smaller, residing primarily in Jerusalem, but they proved to be highly influential in the practice of the people and in applying pressure upward as well. They “emphasized meticulous observance of God’s law (as understood both from the OT laws and from their accumulated extrabiblical traditions) as the means by which one attains righteousness before God and retains his favor. Many Pharisees opposed Jesus (see Matt. 23:1–36, where Jesus condemns their hypocrisy), but some followed him (John 3:1–5; 7:50; 19:38–40; cf. Acts 23:6; Phil. 3:5).” (ESV Study Bible)

What explains legalism is this detailed adherence to the letter of the law as a means of being right with God, to the detriment of the spirit of the law. The main flaw of legalism then is that it ultimately opposes or nullifies grace. And it focuses on external religiosity rather than on being in right relationship to God at the heart level. In order to be right with God at the heart level, Jesus teaches, one has to be even more righteous than the Pharisees. But since that kind of righteousness is not something we can accomplish before a Holy God, with the law instead being our schoolmaster to reveal that truth, we are left with the reality (and a beautiful truth it is) that it is all God’s grace that he offers us to be made right with him through Jesus perfectly accomplishing what we cannot.

Forgiveness of sin and restoration to God (right relationship with God) comes only by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

Understandably then,…

Jesus Rebukes the Pharisees (vv. 39-44)

We see first an overarching rebuke, followed by subsequent woes (further dangers of their wrong thinking). In these statements from Jesus, the 3 woes to the Pharisees and the 3 woes to the scribes, that religious legalism betrays an inner hypocrisy and a self-serving pride. In turns the self-proclaimed religious elite into false teachers and false guides.

Primary Pharisaical Problem: Clean on the Outside but Dirty on the Inside

It is utter foolishness (v. 40) to focus one’s attention and efforts on external religious behaviors and appearance without regard for internal sincerity of right relationship to God.

I hate pulling dishes out of the dishwasher, or off the drying rack, only to find that I have not gotten them perfectly clean. Gross. So I can just picture what Jesus says and imagine the ridiculousness of cleaning the outside so it looks good but leaving it filthy on the inside, the part that in fact matters more!

Instead (v. 41), Jesus tells them, give alms from the heart. (as a simple, unadorned outward gesture of true inner spirituality) Giving charity to the poor was apparently a prime example of an area where the Pharisees focused merely on outward show, instead betraying greed in their hearts. With relationship to God, giving from the heart would reflect a true generosity and gratitude to God.

Jesus tells them that if you get the heart right, the outside ceremonial stuff doesn’t matter because true religion will show itself for what it is, pure and acceptable to God.

Now Jesus launches into a series of woes (an expression of sadness and disappointment, like “alas”)… intended to warn the listener, and to warn the reader, against the leaven of the Pharisees (12:1).

The first grave danger of external religiosity, of legalism, is to focus on…

Danger #1: Minutia Over Major Matters

v. 42

Although not prescribed in the law, they tithed these additional things. Jesus doesn’t say that tithing even these is wrong, but rather that their attention to such detail in trying to be super-spiritual is insane because then they turn and neglect much weightier matters—like justice and loving God.

Who is truly obeying God and who are the pretenders? In their zeal for adherence to the Law, the Pharisees focused on the minutia and lost sight of the big picture.

In the education of children and young adults, we dare not (as I fear our society has largely done) teach them math and language but fail to teach them respect for human life, to pursue what it right… to fear God and serve their fellow man.

Jesus warns, focusing on minor things rather than more important ones is a sure sign of Pharisaical legalism.

Danger #2: Look at Me!

This is self-serving pride—the fear of man (rather than fearing God).

v. 43

Again, showing respect isn’t the problem. The error is in being on the other side and wanting to be noticed and revered, etc.

This self-serving pride, putting fear of man above fear of God, is like caring more about being recognized as a great military leader but not caring which side you fight for. You’d switch sides if it meant an elevation in position.

Jesus says this “Look at Me” prideful approach does not result in pointing people to God. And that’s the next woe.

Danger #3: Leading Others Astray

Unmarked Graves - If a Jew came in contact with a tomb or a dead body, he was ceremonially unclean for seven days (Num. 19:11-22). “Nothing spread ritual impurity as severely as a corpse; Pharisees believed that one contracted impurity if even one’s shadow touched a corpse or grave. Inconspicuous tombs (or limestone ossuaries) would be whitewashed each spring to warn passersby to avoid them and so to avoid impurity, but the Pharisees lack this telltale warning sign. They are impure on the inside, but look religious on the outside.” -Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), Lk 11:44.

The point of the ceremonial uncleanness was another way God reminded the people that sin brought death, and therefore uncleanness associated with corpses was a reminder that it is sin that defiles a person. Even though the Pharisees undoubtedly knew this in theory, their behavior and expectation on others betrayed their primary concern for outward conformity to a bunch of ceremony and ritual that had completely lost sight of the point.

In a twist of irony then, Jesus indicates that their sin of external religiosity contaminates other people. “You are unmarked graves,” and the people are unwittingly being contaminated by your foolish misguidance. This is false teaching and false guidance from those you are supposed to be their spiritual leaders!

Legalism leads others astray.

With this hard-hitting rebuke of the Pharisees, a scribe (an expert in religious law) chimes in that Jesus’ harsh words are in insult to them as well. So Jesus makes sure they’re good and insulted. Why tell them what they want to hear if their merely external religion is leading themselves and others away from God to their destruction?

Jesus Rebukes the Scribes (vv. 45-52)

(experts in Jewish Religious Law - hence lawyer)

Some scribes would have been from Jerusalem, but others could have been local to a given region, many of whom probably often read and interpreted the scriptures in the synagogue. The Pharisees seem to have had considerable influence over many religious legal experts, whether or not they themselves were official members of the group.

One of them speaks up and says, surely you are insulting us too. Well, if he was hoping for Jesus to temper the blow, to backtrack, to play the politician, he did not. Jesus blasts the scribes too, lumping them into the same category of legalistic hypocrites.

Danger #4: Burdening Others While Finding Loopholes for Themselves

“On the sabbath, they taught, a man may not carry a burden ‘in his right hand or in his left hand, in his bosom or on his shoulder’. But he may carry it ‘on the back of his hand, or with his foot or with his mouth or with his elbow, or in his ear or in his hair or in his wallet (carried) mouth downwards, or between his wallet and his shirt, or in the hem of his shirt, or in his shoe or in his sandal’ (Shabbath 10:3). Multiply this by all the regulations of the Law and ordinary people have a burden beyond bearing even to know what they might do and might not do. But there is also a multitude of loopholes for a lawyer who knew the traditions which enabled him to do pretty well what he wished.” -Leon Morris, Luke: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 3, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1988), 224.

So too...

Danger #5: Bearing Responsibility for False Guidance

An outward show of honoring the prophets, but ultimately sharing in the rejection of God’s messengers like those before you...

vv. 47-51

Danger #6: Missing the True Knowledge of God and Misleading Others

They have twisted and muddled the plain sense of the Scriptures to the point of … Taking away the key to a true knowledge of God through the scriptures.

Religiosity/religiousness is certainly not enough. In can, in fact, block the path to God rather than being a guide to God.

The Religious Establishment Rejects Jesus (vv. 53-54)

Understandably, the Scribes and Pharisees are offended and angered.

That’s personal. That hurts my feelings. Next thought should be… Is he right? - There seems to be no concern for whether or not Jesus is right, just straight to hostility.

Rather than repentance, increased hostility - ?The religiously self-righteous have the hardest time of all responding rightly to Jesus…

The Ultimate Danger: Rejecting Jesus

...outright denial of Jesus as Lord who came to offer salvation

Inside Out

In closing, let’s return to the notion of the harshness of Jesus words and warning. What kind of loving Lord and Savior would he be if he didn’t warn the wicked about their waywardness?

Ironically, these guys have assumed they are the least wayward of all men. But Jesus proves again and again that no one is righteous, not even one. If we think WE can be righteous on our own, we’ll wind up at the end facing a holy God holding our externally shiny dish in our hearts with filthy hearts laid bare before Him.

Instead, Jesus has offered us the opportunity now. “Respond to me and I will make you clean.”

Live for God in such a way that prioritizes the inside, right relationship to God through love and devotion. Treat as sacred only that which is actually sacred. There’s nothing wrong with order and tradition. But don’t let those things become your religion. A relationship with God through Jesus Christ is what matters, and growing in that relationship and in faithfulness to calling others to know him and love him.

A great many other things will become a lot less crucial to us if we truly focus on the main thing: an intimate relationship with Jesus.