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.” (Luke 11:37-54)
This is the second time Luke records Jesus dining inside a Pharisee’s home (Luke 7:36-50). And this is the sharpest and most verbally violent confrontation in all of Luke’s Gospel. Indeed, Jesus is so sharp in today’s story that some people have questioned if Jesus really did this. But as we’ll see, it isn’t necessary to question the authenticity of this story. In order to get our arms around this, we need to see a story in our day.
Warren Jeffs is a “spiritual leader” who is “married” to 78 wives, 24 of them were underage. The leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Days Saints orchestrated the construction of a 1,600 acre compound near Eldorado, Texas just south of San Angelo. Each one of his “wives” was promised heaven simply because of their marriage to Jeffs. Warren Jeffs is simply one in a long line of infamous cult leaders that include the likes of Jim Jones who lead some 900 people to drink poison in Guyana (a socialist country in South America) and the FBI standoff with David Koresh in nearby Waco. Each of these “spiritual leaders” made the national news when their spiritual abuse became apparent.
Few things are as sinister as when religion turns evil. No one understood this better than Jesus Himself. Inside the home of a religiously devout Pharisee, Jesus issues a fierce warning against those who twist and abuse those who follow in the footsteps of their devotion. Whether you call them wolves in sheep’s clothing or simply someone who manipulates a spiritual system to their own advantage, spiritual abuse has a long history. Ancient natives of Hawaii would throw their infants into the water with sharks. But they were not the only tribes to place newborn babies at risk for American Indians, Chinese, as well as Egyptians all similarly, sacrificed their children in the name of religion. The Old Testament also mentions child sacrifice by the nearby tribes surrounding Israel and even a few of the Hebrew people adopted these horrific practices. Today we read about certain branches of religious practice that withhold medical treatment from people who are very ill, believing it’s better just to pray. Religious abuse is common throughout history. But in our story, Jesus goes on the attack against a more subtle, softer version of religious legalism that almost anyone else would give a pass.
Sermon Preview
Why is Jesus So Angry?
Six Degrees of Hypocrisy
The Hunted Becomes the Hunter
1. Why is Jesus So Angry?
If you remember in Pixar’s Toy Story that Mrs. Potato Head tells Mr. Potato Head, “I’m packing your extra pair of shoes, and your angry eyes just in case,” all the while she places them in his extra compartment. Does Jesus pack His angry eyes? In a word, “Yes.”
This is the second time Luke records Jesus dining inside a Pharisee’s home (Luke 7:36-50). And this is the sharpest and most verbally violent confrontation in all of Luke’s Gospel. You need to see this as a crucial passage for it sets the really big action at the end of Luke. For this sets the conflict that eventually kills Jesus. As you peruse through the four gospels, you’ll find Jesus gentle, meek, and lowly at times. Before the Roman governor, Pilate, Jesus barely says a word as He submits to the Roman form of execution of crucifixion. Yet, at other times Jesus is anything but tender. We witness Him as He cleanses the moneychangers in the Temple by literally cracking the whip over people, and maybe on people. Hear the thunder in His voice and see the lightning in His eyes as Jesus lowers the boom on the religious leaders of His day. And when we think of wrath of God… We must ask, “Who in the Bible talks the most about hell and judgment?” The person in the Bible who speaks the most about hell and judgment, more than everybody else put together, is Jesus … Prince of Peace, Lord of love. So is Jesus a schizophrenic? No, Jesus isn’t schizophrenic. Jesus is perfect.
A number of people in our day will say, “I like to think of God as…” And usually, they’ll say, “I can’t believe in a God of wrath, a God who condemns. I believe in a loving God.” You need to see that this won’t work. Everyone says, “This won’t work.” Why? Because you can’t treat God as if He were a set of legos. Jesus isn’t a split personality and it isn’t schizophrenic. Jesus’ anger is not a crankiness or a bad temper. Note this: Jesus only yells at the religious leaders. He’s never recording yelling at prostitutes or the adulterers. He only pulls the saber of His wrath from its sheath on the religious insiders. Why is this? Just as water sanitation engineers are to keep the water supply pure and uncontaminated, preachers are supposed to keep the well of truth free from error and deceit. Again, the form of spiritual abuse Jesus attacks is much more subtle than Jeffs, the Branch Davidians.
What does Jesus see that we don’t? A preacher is very much like a traffic engineer. And the preachers of Jesus’ day were routing the traffic right off a washed-out bridge with no warning. For real love always stands against deception. Jesus sees the well of truth being contaminated. Jesus sees thousands of people going off into a ravine as traffic engineers deceive the people into thinking they’ll arrive safely.
Jesus is yelling because real love always stands against deception. You see, Evil is so Evil that it twists even good things, even the very words of God. Evil works itself like a sock that is pulled inside out. Humans will twist what is good into what is evil. And we will twist what is evil to make it look as good.
2. Six Degrees of Hypocrisy
Again, we leave the crowds and follow Christ into the home of one of the most significant religious teachers of the day. You’ve heard of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, the Hollywood actor, who has played in so many movies, three college students made up a game where anyone could be linked to the actor in just six steps. This is Six Degrees of Hypocrisy and Jesus is anything but playing. Instead, He’s deadly serious. Jesus flushes the religious leaders of His day out from their safe lair and exposes them to the light of day. Jesus blisters the Pharisees and lawyers of His day because they make up rules to please themselves. Jesus lowers the boom when offers six “woes” because Jesus hates when anyone adds to or takes away from His words in the Bible.
Now Jesus’ teaching in this passage is triggered by this event… … this Pharisee is upset about the fact Jesus didn’t wash his hands before He ate His food. And all of it was a calculated, in-your-face move by Jesus. He can see that everyone’s hands were still wet around the room. Now I know a lot of you say, “What’s so upsetting or strange about that? My mother was always after me for washing my hands as well.” The Pharisees were not thinking about hygiene. Far from it… They were focused on their add-on rules. And by focusing on their rules, they ignored the most important thing – God’s Word. Instead of washing His hands like everyone else and simply fitting in, Jesus wags His finger in the face of this religious inside crowd and offers these six warnings… …these six woes to prevent you and me from drifting into deception.
2.1 You Know You’re a Hypocrite When You Major on the Minors
“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.” (Luke 11:42)
There were two big rules for the Pharisees: tithing and washing for purity. And Jesus takes on both forms of spiritual abuse in our story. These men were so legalistic that if they had a garden in their backyard where they had mint leaves they would pull off in order to put into their drinks, they would pull one mint leaf off out of every 10 and send it to the temple. This verse has got a whole lot of religious people’s motors revving high in our day.
Should I tithe or should I not? The practice of tithing comes from the Old Testament. And the word means doesn’t mean giving but it means “ten percent.” And the tithe did two things in ancient Israel: (1) it supported the priests and everything connected with the operation of the Temple; (2) it took care of the poor. And if there was any place Jesus would loosen or denounce the obligation of the tithe, it would be right here. Instead, Jesus gives an external guideline in order to know whether you’re generous or not. But He goes further than just giving the guideline. Some of you are sitting there, “I can’t believe this! No one does this.” Jesus has you on the ropes but He isn’t done with you just yet. You have His left but wait till you get His right.
You are to not only give a tithe but you must have an inner compulsion to give. Your insides are to be happy to give because you have a heart of compassion. You’re generous to the poor. You don’t just write a check but you get involved with hurting people. You don’t want to be like Whoopi Goldberg in Ghost. Remember that? She has to write out that check for $4 million, and Patrick Swayze, the ghost, makes her give it to the nun. She gives it to the church, and she can’t let go of it. Remember that? You find that as you give, there’s a joy. Jesus say, “Don’t Major on the minors.”
2.2 You Know You’re a Hypocrite When You are More Concerned What Others Think
“Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces.” (Luke 11:43) People become image-conscious. Leaders rationalize, “If the real truth came out, people would reject it.”
You Know You’re a Hypocrite When You Major on the Minors
You Know You’re a Hypocrite When You are More Concerned What Others Think
2.3 You Know You’re a Hypocrite When You are Spiritually Dead But Pretend to Be Alive
“Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without knowing it.” (Luke 11:44) These religious leaders thought they were spiritually helpful. Instead, they were anything but helpful. Sitting and obeying one of their sermons was like falling into an unmarked grave. All of us have preferences – Mac vs PC, Ford vs. Chevy, hymns vs. contemporary music, or home school vs. public school. But be careful when your preferences are at the same level as God’s law. Note the transition here verse forty-five where the text mentions scribes. The lawyer says to Jesus: “Teacher, in saying these things you insult us also.” (Luke 11:45b) And this preacher might as well have held up the “Hit me” sign.
2.4 You Know You’re a Hypocrite When You Expect Less of Yourself
Imagine studying a Bible produced by the IRS and you’ll have a good idea of what the Pharisees and scribes were like. 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.” (Luke 11:46) They made up the laws and fashioned them to please themselves. In the Old Testament, people were told when you approached God in the temple in worship you should wash your hands. You should ceremonially wash with water. The ceremonial washings of the Old Testament were visual aids through which God got across to people the idea that you need to approach God with a clean heart. Seems harmless? Someone has counted up the commands of the Old Testament and discovered they were 613 commandments in total. By the time these preachers of Jesus’ day were finished, they had expanded this to approximately 6,000 rules. They added to the Bible and the ordinary person couldn’t tell what was from God and what was manmade. Legalism is God’s law without God’s grace. You know it is easy to pass when you make out the test, grade it yourself, and award yourself an “A.”
You Know You’re a Hypocrite When You are More Concerned What Others Think
You Know You’re a Hypocrite When You Expect Less of Yourself
2.5 You Know You’re a Hypocrite When You Oppose God’s People
“Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed. 48 So you are witnesses and you consent to the deeds of your fathers, for they killed them, and you build their tombs.” (Luke 11:47-48)
In Palestine today you can still see some of the tombs of the prophets that were there in Jesus’ time. They are huge, ornate memorials to the great men of God of the past. The problem was this: they had the same attitude they ancestors had. Everybody has street honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. now. But how many of you thought he was moving too fast back then?
…and lastly…
2.6 You Know You’re a Hypocrite When You Obscure What God Made Clear
“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.” (Luke 11:52) Jesus says, “People can see the gospel because you are in the way.” Legalism is pursuing good works with the intention of earning God’s favor. Legalism is an effort to save myself by myself.
3. The Hunted Becomes the Hunter
Dinner is over and everyone couldn’t wait to get out of there. But the religious leaders followed Jesus carefully… “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, 54 lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say.” (Luke 11:53-54)
These men hunted for an opportunity to hang Jesus. And hang Him they did. But by hanging Him they had killed Him but instead, they were following God’s predetermined plan. Jesus has been running along with a theme of judgment. And now they feel like they can act as judge and executioner to Jesus. But the one who was hunted would day become the One they will answer before.
Invitation Prayer
What is Repentance? Three components to really repenting. Really repenting isn’t getting caught. Instead, it’s coming clean.
1. Conviction – it’s a feeling that is painful.
It’s the time when God convicts you through a conversation, or perhaps through reading the Bible. This isn’t depression. Like a good surgeon who cuts us before he heals us, Jesus hurts us before He heals us.
2. Confession – both your mind and your mouth agree on what you’ve done.
This is where you talk to God about what you’ve done. This is a no-excuse time. Don’t describe it as “no big deal.” Jesus died for sin so it’s a big deal.
3. Contrition & Change – this is where you feel it.
You’re emotionally fragile and broken and humble and grieved by what you’ve done. But through the help of God’s Holy Spirit, you’ll change. The Spirit makes us new people. We’re born again.
