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| Woe unto You, Scribes and Pharisees (James Tissot) |
Since the beginning of his Gospel,
Luke has focused on the importance of walking in faith and not in unbelief.
Since the major shift at Luke 9:51 where Jesus leaves his Galilean ministry and
turns resolutely toward Jerusalem and His coming Suffering, Death, and
Resurrection, Luke’s message of trusting Christ and his warning against
unbelief has honed in on the very religious, yet unbelieving Jewish leadership. Luke tells us that walking in faith means
taking the message of God’s love and truth to the nations (Sending of the
Seventy, Luke 10:1-24), to our hurting neighbors who may be unlike us (Good
Samaritan, Luke 10:25-37), and to our own hearts (Mary/Martha, Luke 10:38-42). The
secret of that personal relationship with the Lord is found in the intimacy of persistent
prayer that yields a complete confidence in God and his love (Luke 11:1-13).
Then
in chapter 11, Luke shows us the effects of unbelief in a series of
controversies Jesus has with the Jewish leaders climaxing at Luke 11:53-54. When
Jesus’ foes accuse him of operating by satanic power, Jesus warns them that any
cleansing not finished with the filling of the Holy Spirit will ultimately fail
(Luke 11:14-54). Because they have not repented, Jesus warns them of judgment (Luke
11:29-32), saying that only in receiving the Light Himself, Jesus, can anyone
have the light. Denying Him (having an evil eye) is itself an admission of
being in darkness (Luke 11:33-36). Jesus ends with today’s passage, in which he
pronounces six woes on the dead religion of unbelief among Irael’s leaders
(Luke 11:37-54).[1]
Key Truth: Luke
wrote Luke 11:37-54 to teach believers that dead religion is
self-centered, defiling, hates the Word, and its proclamation.
Key Application: Today I
want to show you what God’s Word says about the danger of dead religious
activity.
Pray and Read:
Luke 11:37-54
Sermon Points:
1. Dead
religion is self-centered and defiling (Luke 11:37-44)
2. Dead
religion hates the Word and its proclamation (Luke 11:45-54)
Exposition: Note
well,
1.
DEAD RELIGION IS SELF-CENTERED AND
DEFILING (Luke 11:37-44)
a.
Jesus’
discussion of light and darkness (Isaiah 9:2; 10:17) flows right into Jesus’
indictment of the secret society of the Pharisees, who are rejecting the
message and believe themselves to have the light while others flounder in
darkness.
b.
Only
Luke tells us that Jesus accepted the invitation of a Pharisee to dinner
(probably the midday meal). Jesus, apparently deliberately chose not to use the
water brought to each guest for handwashing before the meal (cf. Mark 7:1-5). It
appears to be a high honor (Luke 7:36), since prominent teachers were invited
to lecture at such meals, discoursing on wise topics with others who wanted to
show off their education. But they are manipulating him, trying him with honor
and meals, to see if they could persuade him.
c.
APPLICATION: Beware of those who want to give
you something with a hook in it. If someone gives you something which comes
with an expectation, beware of manipulation.
d.
The
Pharisees had developed a ritual of washing before eating (found nowhere in the
OT, by the way). It included the amount of water to be used, the kinds of
vessels to use to pour, the way the water had to be poured, etc. It all sounds
akin to the rules involved in witchcraft. He knows that it is expected because
he does it in Luke 7:44 and John 13:4-10, but here he has a lesson to teach.
What lesson? That which is welcome refreshment when offered as a courtesy
becomes a burden when imposed as an obligation. Every time Jesus did not wash,
it cause a stir of astonishment and gave him the opportunity to contrast the
care the Pharisees gave to pots, pans, and hands with their lack of care about
the care of their hearts. The passage has a tone like Isaiah 1 of rebuke for
the nation of Israel for her wickedness and hypocrisy. They clean the outside
of the cup (their external show of religious activity), but inside they are
full of greed and wickedness.
e.
APPLICATION: When you find yourself just trying
to make things look good but not making sure your heart is right, that is dead
religion. It is not about image. It is about heart.
f.
Then
Jesus gives his commentary and then three Woes against the Pharisees (cf. Matt
23:23-28).
i.
Luke 11:39-41 - He calls them greedy
(Luke 11:39), a
strong Greek word harpage, which can
mean violent greed, robbery, extortion, or plunder. Jesus tells them to give as
alms what is inside (give to the poor). Luke is taking advantage of an Aramaic
wordplay by Jesus. The Aramaic word for cleanse (Matt 23:26) is similar to
“give in charity.”[2]
ii.
APPLICATION: When you encounter someone who is
only interested in the financial numbers, only concerned about how much things
cost, only interested in how much is coming in the offerings, that is a bad
sign indicating dead religion.
iii.
Luke 11:40 – He calls them foolish! The word translated foolish is aphron, indicating a willful ignorance.
This group, also mentioned in Jesus’ scathing denunciation in Matthew 23, is
not in error because they cannot see. They can. They are in error because they
will not see the light shining in Jesus.
iv.
APPLICATION: When someone refuses to listen,
refuses to consider other points of view, refuses to be teachable, that is a
bad sign indicating dead religion.
v.
Luke 11:42 - He says they have their
priorities backwards,
very careful with things that do not matter but completely neglectful of higher
priorities like love and justice (Luke 11:42). They tithed mint and other
herbs,[3]
things that God’s Word did not require, but supposedly following the command to
tithe crops and livestock, but like the Parable of the Good Samaritan, their
priorities are completely backwards.
vi.
APPLICATION: When you find yourself more
interested in the color of the carpet rather than the salvation of the nations,
your priorities are out of order. When the order of service is more important
to you than orphans starving, your priorities are out of order. When pleasing
one person becomes more important than pleasing the Savior, the church’s
priorities are out of order. When you cultivate a relationship with Jesus, He
realigns your priorities and makes them honor Him.
vii.
Luke 11:43 - He calls them arrogant: “you love the most important
seats” (Luke 11:43). The Pharisees relished the honor which came from their
reputed meticulous observance of the law. Those with superior knowledge were
treated especially respectfully in the market.
viii.
APPLICATION: When we hear something like, “you
need to make sure that Mrs. So-and-so is happy or we cannot do it,” then we
have made an idol out of someone rather than worshiping the Lord.
ix.
Luke 11:44 - He calls them dead
& unclean:
without life toward God, like dead men’s graves (Luke 11:40; whitewashed tombs
of Matt 23:27), but spreading uncleanness among men (Num 5:2; 19:16). Touching
a corpse made a Jew ceremonially unclean. In fact, nothing spread uncleanness
as severely as a corpse. Pharisees thought that they would become unclean if
even their shadow touched a corpse or grave. An unmarked grave was dangerous,
then, because they could accidentally become unclean. This is why inconspicuous
tombs were whitewashed each spring to warn others. The Pharisees lacked their
whitewash. They were unmarked. Associating with them, Jesus implies, would make
you unclean. The Levite and the priest were afraid of contaminating themselves
with death with the wounded neighbor on the road, but their actions showed they
were contaminated with death (Luke 10:25-37). Jesus’ point is that while they
consider themselves pure, they are defiling everyone with whom they come in
contact.
x.
APPLICATION: Beware of being that person at work
who talks all about being a Christian and cheerleads the Christian bandwagon
but then badmouths their supervisor and takes home supplies from work.
2.
DEAD RELIGION HATES THE WORD AND ITS
PROCLAMATION (Luke 11:45-54)
a.
Luke 11:45 - (cf. Matt 23:4, 29-36). One of the
experts in the law, as quick as his colleague in Luke 10:25-29 to speak up, complains
to the Lord. Jesus follows with three more woes connected with their teaching
of Scripture.
i.
Luke 11:46 - He says they put people
in bondage. They
lay down rules for others that they do not obey themselves.
ii.
Luke 11:47-51 - He says they try to
kill God’s Word. The
only prophets they honor are dead ones, for whose death they share
responsibility (Luke 11:47-51). Building tombs to honor the prophets was an
important thing in the first century.[4]
Zechariah is the prophet whose death is recorded in 2 Chron 24:20-22.
Chronicles is the last book of the Hebrew OT, so when Jesus mentions the blood
of Abel (Gen 4:8-10) to Zechariah, he is
including all the martyrs of the OT. Zechariah prayed for vengeance (2 Chron
24:22) and Abel’s blood cried out from the ground (Gen 4:10). Jesus’ point is
“like father, like son”; corporate sin and guilt continues among the
descendants of the wicked unless they repented (Exod 2:5; Deut 23:2-6; 1 Sam
15:2-3; Isaiah 1:4, etc.). His generation would climax the terrible sins of
their ancestors, Jesus said, but the rest of the story is found in Heb 12:24.
iii.
Luke 11:52 - He says they ignorantly
withhold God’s Word.
Ignorant themselves, they withhold knowledge from those who want to learn God’s
law (Luke 11:52)
b. Luke
11:53-54 – Now with
stronger enmity than ever because of His words, they banter him with question
after question, hoping to trap Him into saying something that will bring Him to
trial or have him silenced.
Invitation:
[1] Luke 11:14-17:11 is a section of
Luke’s Gospel called the Perean Discourses, during a time of ministry in Perea
from about September A.D. 28 to April A.D. 29 when he returned to Jerusalem for
his last week of ministry. Luke is the only record of these days and teachings
with the exception of Matthew 12:22-45 and a few incidents in John 10:22-42;
11:1-45; 11:46-54. Luke records parables and discourses, but not many
incidents, possibly because it was winter. The beginning of Jesus’ ministry in
Galilee was marked with parables and sermons, too. Thus, Jesus resumes and
repeats with more fullness some of the teaching he had given in Galilee.
[2] Luke takes one nuance of Jesus’
Aramaic wordplay while Matthew adopts another.
[3] Rue and Matthew’s dill (Matt 23:23)
are similar words in Aramaic. Perhaps Luke was recording the story from someone
speaking Aramaic.
[4] David’s tomb is mentioned in Acts
2:29-30.
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