Anchor My Faith

Woe To You Pharisees!

Scripture: Luke 11:41, 43-45

In the previous lesson Jesus begins the process of revealing the hypocrisy of the religious leadership by pointing out the importance of first cleaning up the inside before spending too much time and effort on the outside. In this lesson, we will see Jesus point out some examples of their hypocrisy.

^{Lk 11:41} “But give as alms those things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you.”

We have one verse from the first paragraph we need to cover that we didn’t have space for in the last lesson; a verse about alms that are within that we are to give. What might those alms be? They are things of the heart that produce the good works people are to see that will direct them to our Father. Consider the following as a possibility: ²² “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. ²⁴ And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Galatians 5:22 – 24 ESV).

Think of the powerful effect one can have on the encouragement of others who is living out those words in the list above. It is this fruit and the power of the Holy Spirit that lives within that results in a work becoming a good work. A work is usually done to in some way to bring recognition to self, but a good work brings glory to God and as a result has an eternal component to it. The good that one does (alms that are within that we are to give) God will accept even if that one does not follow the outward ceremonial washing required by Jewish tradition.

^{Lk 11:43} “Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces.”

We now come to the first of nine woes that we will look at in this section. A woe is used as a warning or allusion to negative consequences. The first woe is directed to the Pharisees and points out how they draw attention to themselves by securing the best seats in the synagogues and location of greetings in the marketplaces. Excavations that have been made at early Galilean synagogues indicate that bench seats were constructed along the sides of the synagogues and some of these seats were considered better than others and sought after by these Pharisees.

^{Lk 11:44} “Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without knowing it.”

Still directing his comments to the Pharisees, Jesus describes then as unmarked graves that people walk over without knowing it. The contest for this is found in Numbers 19:16 ESV: “Whoever in the open field touches someone who was killed with a sword or who died naturally, or touches a human bone or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.” To come in contact with an unmarked grave by walking over it would cause one to become unclean without knowing it. The Pharisees were like these unmarked graves because the people who followed them were being deceived and led astray from the truth and as a result, they were becoming unclean before God without knowing it.

^{Lk 11:45} “One of the lawyers answered him, “Teacher, in saying these things you insult us also.”’

Lawyers is another expression for scribes of the Pharisees and are experts in the law. One of them speaks up and showing respect, addresses Jesus as “Teacher” and indicates that they feel insulted by the comments Jesus ha just directed toward the Pharisees. This lawyer will soon realize that he should have remained silent because his comment provided a convenient opportunity for Jesus to address them. What Jesus said will be covered in the next lesson.

Conclusion

In this lesson, Jesus spoke some harsh words to the Pharisees concerning their desire to be noticed and in misleading those who were following them. In the next lesson Jesus will directs his words to the lawyers.