THE LATER JUDEAN MINISTRY

-Jesus Accepts the Invitation of a Pharisee - Pronounces Woes

-Luke 11:37-54

-On this occasion, Jesus was invited into the house of a Pharisee to eat.  The Pharisee marveled

 at the fact that Jesus didn’t follow the traditional, ceremonial washing of the Jews.

            -This is similar to the time in Galilee when Jesus was questioned as to why His disciples did

              not wash according to the tradition of the Jews.  (See pgs 42 & 43 of our study.)

-Here we find a strong rebuke delivered by Jesus.

            -Jesus criticized the Pharisees for being overly concerned with outward cleanliness while

             neglecting their inner wickedness.  They washed their cups and plates but left their inner

             selves sinfully stained.

            -If they wanted to truly clean their cups and plates, they would be generous with their

             contents.

-Jesus then pronounced three woes upon the Pharisees.

            1.  “They were specialists in trifles and externals.  Their whole concept of religion had

                   degenerated into a gross, unspiritual preoccupation with outward focus and ceremonies,

                   while neglecting utterly the great moral verities of true religion” (Coffman, 1975, pg 256).

                        -“’Mint’ was a garden plant like our spearmint; ‘rue’ was a shrubbery plant about two

                         feet high and was grown in their gardens; ‘herb’ was a general term to include similar

                         plants...They were careful to tithe these things, but neglected the important things of

                         ‘justice and the love of God’...It was right for them to tithe these things, but wrong for

                         them to neglect the important things” (Boles, 1940, pg 241).

            2.  These Jewish leaders loved and sought the attention, glory and honor of men.

            3.  In verse 44, the King James Version includes, “scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites.” 

                        However, these words do not actually appear in the original texts, but seemingly, were

                        carried over from Matthew 23.  The NASB and the NIV omit these words and simply say,

                        “Woe to you!”

                        -Numbers 19:16 indicates that a person who touched a grave would be considered

                         unclean for seven days.  Not only were these Jewish leaders unclean inside, they were

                         causing others who followed them to be unclean as well.  Rather than leading, they were

                         misleading.

-At this point, one of the lawyers stood and said, “....thou reproachest us also.”  At least He

 understood what Jesus was saying.  He might not have agreed, but he understood.

-Jesus then pronounced three woes toward the lawyers.

            1. “Jesus showed them to be hypocrites, for they by their interpretations and traditions placed

                        heavy burdens upon the people, but they did not get under the load and help bear them;

                        they would not even touch the burden with their fingers...on the contrary, they exempted

                        themselves...” (Boles, 1940, pg 243).

            2. These men pretended to honor the prophets by building and adorning their tombs.  Yet,

                        they did not condemn their fathers for killing those prophets.  “The martyrs of one

                        generation become the heroes of the next. It was easier for the children to build

                        monuments to the prophets than for their fathers to obey them” (Wycliffe).  “The

                        character of those tomb-builders made the tombs they built monuments to the killing, and

                        not to the prophets” (Coffman, 1970, pg 258).

                        -Of course, this generation to whom Jesus was speaking, would kill the Prophet of

                         prophets. 

                        -Verse 49 is not a reference to a previously written passage of scripture.  Instead, Jesus is

                         referring to Himself and the fact that He would send forth prophets and apostles, some

                         of which would be slain by that evil generation.

                        -The centuries of atrocities would finally be “required of this generation” in the fact that

                         their nation would be overthrown by the Romans in AD 70 - their capital city and the

                         temple destroyed.  Jesus described the coming of those days as “For then shall be great

                         tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever

                         shall be” (Matt 24:21).

            3.  “This woe is pronounced upon them because they had taken away ‘the key of knowledge.’ 

                  Spiritual wisdom is represented as a treasure in a room or house, on which were lock and

                         key; the lawyers had locked the door, and either carried, that is, ‘kept’ the key, or it may

                         mean, they had taken it away.  In either case they were responsible as teachers of the law

                         for the ignorance of the people” (Boles, 1940, pg 245).

-After Jesus’ rebuke, the scribes and Pharisees were enraged and verbally attacked Jesus.  The

 NASB says they “began to be very hostile and to question Him closely on many subjects.” 

 They were trying to entrap Him, hoping He would say something they could hold against Him.