Luke 11:41
In Luke chapter 11 Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees. The
Pharisees were a group of very religious Jews who were very influential during the
time of Christ. Because they were religious does not mean they were right. As a
matter of fact, these religious people were wrong in many of the things that
they did and believed. Often in the gospels Jesus pointed out their errors,
just as He was doing in this passage. It is not enough to simply believe in
God. You must also know certain important details that should affect your daily
life. Jesus said to the Pharisees in Luke 11:41-44, “But rather
give alms of such things as you have; and, behold, all things are clean unto
you. But woe unto you, Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and all manner of
herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought you to have
done, and not to leave the other undone. Woe unto you, Pharisees! For you love
the uppermost seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets. Woe unto
you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are as graves which appear not,
and the men that walk over them are not aware of them.”
In these verses that we just read, the first thing that Jesus
talked about was the subject of giving. The Bible does not talk about giving
very often. Therefore, when it does we should pay very close attention. In the
teachings of man in regard to religion, the subject of giving is mentioned often. In the teachings of Christ it is not. The
Pharisees obviously taught about giving because they gave of their substance.
They taught that it was important to give, and they did it. These people were
good and faithful at giving, but they were not good at other things that were
more important.
In Luke 11:41 Jesus made an important statement about the
principle of giving. Jesus said, “But rather give alms of such things
as you have; and, behold, all things are clean unto you.” God wants His
believers to be giving people. God is a giver. “For God so loved the world
that He gave…” God has given us all good things. It says in James that God “gives to all
liberally.” He has given life and opportunity and potential. He has given
beauty and goodness and truth. He has given His Word. He has given us
forgiveness of sins and mercy and grace and eternal life through faith in
Christ. God is a giver, and He wants His believers to be givers also.
The essence of sin is selfishness. If you learn to give, then you
are learning to turn away from sin and selfishness. Doing right involves
giving: giving of yourself, giving of your time, giving of your heart. The
Pharisees had learned to give of their money, but they had not learned to give
of anything else. Almost everything in the Christian life is more important
than giving money. If only the Pharisees had leaned
what was really important to give! Jesus said that they gave a tithe of their
material possessions, but they had passed “over judgment and the love of God.” Judgment in this
context refers to the discernment of right and wrong. It was of little value
for the Pharisees to tithe, especially when in more important matters they
could not even discern the difference between right and wrong.
They did not have discernment probably because they also did not
have the “love of God.” They did not have love for God. They had love for
themselves, but they did not have love for God. Motivation is everything. Why
you do what you do is just as important as what you do. We know from elsewhere
in the gospels that the Pharisees gave, but they gave in order to be seen of
men. We know that to love God is the greatest of all commandments. If you keep
all the other commandments but do not keep this one, then you have really kept
none at all.
Jesus had more to say about the Pharisees in Luke 11:43-44. He
said, “Woe unto you, Pharisees! For you love the uppermost seats in
the synagogues, and greetings in the markets. Woe unto you, scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are as graves which appear not, and the men that
walk over them are not aware of them.” The involvement of the Pharisees in
organized religion was not so that they could better serve God. It was so they
could gain certain advantages for themselves: the uppermost seats in the
synagogues and the greetings in the market places.
The reason the Pharisees were like this is because they were
spiritually dead. Jesus compared them to graves. He said they were like unknown
graves that people walked over without knowing they were walking on a grave.
Sometimes people who are in religious organizations have a reputation to be
servants of God, but in their hearts they are spiritually dead. Jesus said to
Nicodemus, “Ye must be born again.” Everyone without exception must
experience the spiritual birth through faith in Christ or they remain
spiritually dead. The reason that the Pharisees became hypocrites is because
they attempted to serve God with their own efforts without ever having a
spiritual renewal which comes through faith in Christ.
In Luke 11:45-51 the Bible says, “Then answered one of the
lawyers, and said unto him, Master, thus saying you are reproaching us also.
And he said, Woe unto you also, you lawyers! For you laid men with burdens
grievous to be born, and you yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your
fingers. Woe unto you! For you build the sepulchers of the prophets, and your
fathers killed them. Truly you bear witness that you allowed the deeds of your
fathers: for they indeed killed them and you build their sepulchers. Therefore,
also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some
of them they shall slay and persecute: That the blood of all the prophets,
which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this
generation; From the blood of Abel to the blood of Zacharias who perished
between the alter and the temple: verily I say unto you, it shall be required
of this generation.”
Jesus had just finished pronouncing judgment and woe upon the
religious hypocrites known as the Pharisees. Other religious people standing by
heard Him and at least had the sense to realize that what Jesus was saying
applied to them also. Organized religion tends to degenerate just as all human
organizations do, all the way from the greatest nations to a local bridge club.
The degeneration of human religion usually manifests itself with outward
ceremony and ritual instead of inward spirituality, and with self-righteousness
instead of the humility that would accompany someone who understands his own
sinfulness and dependence upon God’s mercy and forgiveness.
These to whom Jesus was speaking were not lawyers in the same
sense that we know them today. Therefore, this is not a condemnation of lawyers
in our society. The lawyers in the time of Christ were lawyers concerning the
Old Testament law. The Jewish society of 2,000 years ago was very much involved
with and controlled by the Old Testament law and by those who interpreted the
Old Testament law. The lawyers of that day had an important part in
interpreting the Old Testament law and telling people what they had to do to
keep the law and to avoid being punished by the religious authorities. Of
course, these lawyers made the same mistake that most people make who look at
religious law and attempt to make too rigorous of an application of these laws
to their daily lives. And we know that they had become very intrusive into the
lives of people, telling them what they should and should not do in every
detail of life. In this very passage Jesus was condemned because He did not do
a ceremonial washing of His hands that the religious leaders insisted should be
done.
Jesus was condemned by these people many times in the gospels. He
was condemned for picking grain on the Sabbath day in order to satisfy the
normal hunger possessed by Him and the disciples. Jesus was condemned for
healing sick people on the Sabbath. Jesus was condemned because He did not make
His disciples fast like other religious groups. Jesus was condemned and
criticized because He was a friend of sinners.
The religious people of the world who emphasize the keeping of the
law often make the same mistakes that were made by these teachers of the law in
the first century. Jesus said that they laid burdens upon people that they
themselves could not bear. From their positions of authority in religious
organizations, they look down upon the common man. Their teachings do the
opposite of the teachings of Jesus. Jesus said, “Take my yoke upon you and
learn of me. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” If you bear
heavy burdens, maybe you have been listening to self-righteous Pharisees and
teachers of the law. They will give you heavy burdens to bear. It is no wonder
that Jesus condemned them so greatly. They teach the opposite of what the
gospel teaches.
The teachers of the law teach that which is false. They also
oppose those who teach the truth about grace. The opposition is so strong that
they even become murderers. Surely someone would not become a murderer just
because they disagree on religious teachings! But that is exactly what has
happened many times over the centuries. Do not be surprised. If you try to
serve God, you will find that some of your most severe opposition will come
from those who are rigorous members of religious institutions. This is one of
the reasons that Christ talked to them so sternly. What a horrible judgment
they will have! They will pay for the lies that they have told, for the hatred
that they have held, and for the blood that they have shed. Jesus said that the
innocent blood that was shed from the foundation of the world would be required
against the false teachers and religious hypocrites that lived in His day. What
will be required of the false teachers who live in our day?
In the last part of Luke chapter 11 Jesus had one more thing to
say to the religious people who opposed Him. The Bible says in Luke 11:52-54
with Jesus speaking in verse 52, “Woe unto you, lawyers! For you have
taken away the key of knowledge: you entered not in yourselves, and them that
were entering in you hindered. And as he said these things unto them, the
scribes and the Pharisees began to urge him vehemently, and to provoke him to
speak of many things: Laying wait for him and seeking to catch something out of
his mouth, that they might accuse him.”
Salvation involves knowing what is true. You cannot believe the
truth unless you know it, and you cannot know it unless you discover it in some
way such as by hearing it. Jesus said that these religious hypocrites had “taken away
the key of knowledge.” The key of knowledge is probably the key point or the
central theme of the concept of salvation. How does a person become rightly
related to God? How does a person have their eternal destiny settled so that
they end up with God in eternal bliss? There is a “key” to understanding
this vital question. In regards to these religious hypocrites the “key” centers around
the difference between the law and grace. If you do not understand the
difference between law and grace, then you may never get saved. If you
emphasize the law in the wrong way or teach the law in the wrong way, then you
are making a big mistake. “The law came by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ.” The law cannot save. It can only condemn, if you fail in just one
point. Jesus saves.
Those who emphasize the law in the wrong way will place heavy
burdens on people that they themselves cannot carry. They will also be negative
and critical and condemning. There is law and there is grace. Often religious
hypocrites will talk a lot about the law, ignoring grace. Every person will be
given an opportunity to enter into the grace of God. Those who do not take
their opportunity have left themselves in a terrible position. “What shall it
prophet a man should he gain the whole world, but lose his own soul?” If you do not
understand the difference between law and grace, you may very well be in that
position.
There is only one thing worse than being a legalistic,
self-righteous, hypocritical religious person who is self-deceived into
thinking the law is the last word; and that’s being such a person and then
teaching others in such a way that they also are held under the condemnation
and curse of the law. That’s what was wrong with these religious people who
opposed Jesus. They would not enter the
I hope that you understand the grace of God that is in Christ
Jesus. Gal. 3:13-14 says, “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having
been made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangs on a
tree. That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles, that we might
receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”
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Copyright; 2000 by Charles F. (Rick) Creech
All Rights Reserved