RTW 2023

As Jesus was speaking, one of the Pharisees invited him home for a meal. So he went in and took his place at the table. His host was amazed to see that he sat down to eat without first performing the hand-washing ceremony required by Jewish custom. Then the Lord said to him, “You Pharisees are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and wickedness! Fools! Didn’t God make the inside as well as the outside? So clean the inside by giving gifts to the poor, and you will be clean all over.

“What sorrow awaits you Pharisees! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens,  but you ignore justice and the love of God. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things.

“What sorrow awaits you Pharisees! For you love to sit in the seats of honor in the synagogues and receive respectful greetings as you walk in the marketplaces. Yes, what sorrow awaits you! For you are like hidden graves in a field. People walk over them without knowing the corruption they are stepping on.”

“Teacher,” said an expert in religious law, “you have insulted us, too, in what you just said.”

“Yes,” said Jesus, “what sorrow also awaits you experts in religious law! For you crush people with unbearable religious demands, and you never lift a finger to ease the burden. What sorrow awaits you! For you build monuments for the prophets your own ancestors killed long ago. But in fact, you stand as witnesses who agree with what your ancestors did. They killed the prophets, and you join in their crime by building the monuments! This is what God in his wisdom said about you: ‘I will send prophets and apostles to them, but they will kill some and persecute the others.’

“As a result, this generation will be held responsible for the murder of all God’s prophets from the creation of the world— from the murder of Abel to the murder of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, it will certainly be charged against this generation.

“What sorrow awaits you experts in religious law! For you remove the key to knowledge from the people. You don’t enter the Kingdom yourselves, and you prevent others from entering.”

As Jesus was leaving, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees became hostile and tried to provoke him with many questions. They wanted to trap him into saying something they could use against him.
Luke 11:37-54

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“No one lights a lamp and then hides it or puts it under a basket.  Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where its light can be seen by all who enter the house.“

Luke 11:33

• Jesus speaks hard truths to the religious leaders.
• Scribes: professional group of “students of the Scriptures” who taught and wrote interpretations of the Law of God.
• Sadducees: exclusive aristocratic group which controlled the High Priest and oversaw the Jerusalem Temple.
• Pharisees: large lay movement of middle class religious Judaism which was known for its strict adherence to the minutiae of the Jewish legal tradition.
• Jesus’ words are harsh because eternity was at stake.
• Those who followed the religious leaders were being kept from following God.
• Much of the teaching of the day was in contradiction to God’s Word.
• The religious leaders did not truly understand God’s ways.
• Jesus came that people would come to know God.
• Jesus came that people would be reconciled with God.
• The scribes and Pharisees placed legalistic burdens on the people.
• Jesus came to give true rest.
• The scribes and Pharisees lied and schemed, but hid behind a facade of godliness.
• Jesus came to bring life.
• What sorrow!
• The scribes and Pharisees are calling down God’s wrath…upon themselves.
• Jesus speaks firmly against spiritual deception, because His people need to know truth and find life in Him.

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Don’t be a Pharisee!!