Sermon Tone Analysis

Scripture Reading

Introduction

As we turn to the Scriptures this morning, we come to a passage that deals with the confrontation between Jesus and the Pharisees.

You'll recall in the context of our passages leading up to this present passage this morning, there have been a number of interactions between Jesus and the crowds along with the religious leaders.

Over the past two weeks we've seen how Jesus confronted the People's wrong opinions about him.

He's denounced their lack of belief in him.

He essentially given them warnings about the failure to truly follow him as the Messiah.

But in the next two sections, that we will begin with this morning and then continue with next week, Jesus will proceed to pronounce woes upon those who not only have rejected him, but have rejected the ways of God and rather followed their own ways.

In our passage this morning, we will look at the situation of the Pharisee that is denounced by Jesus, and next week will look at an expert in the law that is denounced by Jesus.

While in both cases, an individual is addressed, what we will find is that the Pharisees and the lawyers as groups were placing heavy burdens on the people around them in terms of their man-made requirements, and even their manner of life.

Thus, as Jesus addresses these individuals, He truly speaks to the whole group of people as represented by the individual.

As we turn our attention to this passage this morning, the first thing that we will see from our passage is,

1. Outwardly Unclean (vv.37-38)

The context is set for us in verse 37 of our text.

Keep in mind that there have been large crowds around Jesus.

The crowds have witnessed his miracles that He’s been performing.

The crowds have been listening to the teaching that he has been giving.

And more recently, we've seen the manner in which Jesus has dealt with those who were seeking to oppose him.

As Luke records this occasion and interaction between the Pharisee in Jesus, the report to us flows directly out of what we've just considered.

It is as if the Pharisee that approaches Jesus comes to Him from the crowd.

Read verse thirty-seven with me.

Even though Jesus has so strongly opposed many in the crowd, including the Pharisees and religious leaders, a Pharisee comes to Jesus on this occasion and invites him to come to his house for a meal.

Now, we need to understand that the Pharisee probably was not doing this because he wanted to try and learn something new from Jesus.

No doubt he held to a similar view of Jesus to that which was held by those around him.

This Pharisee was probably far more skeptical of Jesus than sympathetic.

But very important to note: Jesus accepted the invitation.

This was something that was common to Jesus.

When someone invited him to the house, he usually went and attended based on invitation.

Jesus was not afraid to interact with people from all backgrounds, and to challenge these people where needed.

In this case, it is an invitation by Pharisee, Jesus went to the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table in order to eat a meal.

It is in the eating of this meal, or at least during the course of the preparation to eat the meal, that the Pharisee notices that Jesus does not do something that would've been typical and familiar with him as a Pharisee.

It is precisely because the Pharisee sees that Jesus is failing to do that which is so normal to his own life, that he brings an objection against Jesus.

We see this objection in verse thirty-eight...

As we consider this verse the most important thing to recognize is that the Pharisee was surprised at something that Jesus did, or rather that he failed to do.

It states at the end of that verse that the Pharisee was surprised.

The original word that is used is a little stronger than our English translation here.

It really refers to shock, or amazement, or astonishment.

The reason for the shock / surprise is found in the immediate context of the passage, and it relates to something that the Pharisees regarded very highly, and that was the ceremonial washings that had to be performed according to their religious / cultural beliefs.

We need to understand something of the context of that day, and particularly what the Pharisees believed in terms of the ceremonial washings that were important before sharing around meal.

Just to give you an example of what they believed, consider these verses with me.

Mark is a little bit more clear in the way that he articulates the Jewish tradition.

We do need to recognize that this was a tradition that was put in place by the Jewish elders.

It is a tradition that continues even to our own day.

Essentially, before eating a meal, it was required of the Jews to wash their hands in a particular manner.

There was even a process that was outlined for how they would wash their hands in order to ensure that there were ritually clean.

We must recognise that originally the cleaning rituals flowed out of the desire to be ceremonially clean.

They were developed in order to ensure that they as the chosen people of God did not render themselves unclean.

They wanted to be pure.

In this sense, we must have some sympathy with them in terms of their desire to do this.

They didn’t want to have anything to do with allowing impurities into their hearts and lives, and so this cleansing was more than just a mealtime practice.

It was that which was done in order to ensure that they remained cleansed and pure before God.

At least that’s what they thought they were doing.

We see that Mark included other practices in terms of the Jews and how they had to wash themselves when they came back from the marketplace.

It also includes a remark that they were to wash cups, pitchers and kettles.

The reality was that there were all kinds of ritual washings and cleansings that were required as part of the Jewish way of life.

Having said all of that, what is essential that we understand from this is that this was never a requirement of God himself, but rather it was a tradition that was made by man.

The Jewish elders created the tradition (albeit with good intentions) and then handed it down from generation to generation, and it became a way of life for them.

It is precisely this tradition that Jesus does not follow as he enters into the Pharisee's house.

Now, it's important to note that Jesus would have been very well aware of the tradition of the Jews.

He would've known that this was a typical thing for Jewish people to do.

He also would've known that it was not going to be taken in a positive way by the Pharisee.

Nonetheless, Jesus proceeds to sit down without having his hands washed, in all likelihood in order to create the context in which he could address the matter with the Pharisees, and engage with them.

The lesson that Jesus would bring across is an important one.

This leads us to consider our second main point...

2. Inwardly Unclean (vv.39-41)

In verse thirty-nine, Jesus begins to outline for this Pharisee where the fundamental flaw lies in terms of his emphasis on cleanliness.

While in and of itself cleanliness is not a bad thing, the Pharisees fundamentally failed to understand the nature of man.

They fundamentally failed to recognize that you cannot obtain cleanliness by mere outward transformation.

(This is a very important lesson for us to keep on learning, even in our own day!)

Listen to how Jesus addresses this in verse thirty-nine:

Jesus immediately points out to the Pharisee the foolishness of their position to keep that which is external clean, whereas that which is internal remains unclean.

In addressing this matter, Jesus speaks about the cup and the dish, and tells the Pharisees that they are cleaning the outside and making it look all polished and wonderful, whereas the inside remains unclean.

We need to recognize that Jesus was not saying here that this was a literal truth.

Certainly they would've washed the inside of a cup and the dish.

That is the most important part that needs washing whenever we wash dishes.

Any reasonably soundly minded person would agree with this.

The Pharisees would've agreed with this and they would've done this.

But Christ uses this picture as a reference to their own lives, in order to show them the absurdity of their position.

Christ applied this picture directly to them.

He speaks to the Pharisee, and confronts him with this picture, saying to him that while he and the other Pharisees are cleaning the outside of the body through their ceremonial washings, the inside of them was full of greed and wickedness.

Christ immediately goes to the heart of the matter with the Pharisee, and points to the utter hypocrisy of their ways.

He goes on to say in verse forty:

As this point, Jesus turns the attention of the Pharisee to his maker.

What Jesus is saying is that the one who has made you does not only see what is outside and external to you.

The one who made you sees that which is inside.

The Pharisees were putting on a display for people around them in order to show them that they were good people.

They lived a life of external goodness and morality.

They showed themselves off to people around them in society, but their lives were not what they appeared to be.

The true Pharisee, within his own heart, was in a state of decay.

In this sense, they were spiritually dead on the inside, and all their show was merely an external observance of rules and commands.

Christ clearly articulates to this Pharisee that there is nothing that is hidden from God.

This is a truth that is clearly borne out through Scripture.

The very clear picture from Scripture is that God not only sees the heart of the man, but he actually tests the heart of the man.

He knows the heart of a man.

He knows what drives us as people.

He knows, even better than we know, the reasons that we do the things that we do.

Where we seek to deceive ourselves, God knows fully.

As Jesus speaks to this Pharisee, he is saying to him that God is weighing up what is on the inside of him.

He might be able to fool the people around him.

He might be able to put on a good show and show people that he is a righteous man, particularly when compared with them.