20260426 Luke 11:37-12:3 Jesus rebukes the Pharisees and the Scribes

When some of us write about God, we use capital letters when a pronoun refers to God. This is a way to show reference for the divine person. For example if "Him" refers to God, we use a capital "H," even mid-sentence. Or if we talk of "His love" we use a capital "H" in "His." In academia this is almost never the case to promote neutrality. A New Testament professor at a famous evangelical seminary followed the academic style. So, she did not capitalize her "divine pronouns." She said that some students started to question her reference for God over this. Her response to these students was that if they wanted to please God, what they needed most in their lives was to repent from their sins rather than worry about the size of her letters!

This professor sounds a bit like Jesus addressing the Scribes and Pharisees. Luke 11:37-54 deals with six woes to the Pharisees and the scribes. This text reads like an Old Testament prophetic rebuke.

In the four gospels, Jesus often clashes with the Pharisees. This is because Pharisees and Jesus had similar concerns. They both expected the coming of the Kingdom of God and the fulfillment of God’s promises to Israel. They clashed because they differed on how to prepare the people for God's coming Kingdom.

The Pharisees had no official political power, but they were an influential group. While the Jewish people were occupied by foreign forces, the Pharisees were concerned about Israel's purity. The word Pharisee comes from the Hebrew word “separated.”[i] They believed that meticulous law-keeping kept the people pure and separate from the world. It was Israel's faithlessness that led to their exile in the OT, so they believed Israel's purity was a necessary condition for God to elevate them over the nations and fulfill his promises. The Pharisees were very active in trying to transmit their tradition to the people. They were eager to see people join their program. Some could be merciless towards those they saw subverting their program. Their primary concern was not interior morality but the coming of God’s kingdom through Israel’s purity through law keeping. They were passionate about tithing, ceremonial washings, agriculture, sabbath, festival observances, vows, and some were even willing to take up arms to resist signs of defilements from pagan religions. Their fight for purity was part of their struggle to maintain the Jewish identity to see a national liberation.

Jesus like the Pharisees announced the coming of the Kingdom of God. But his way called into question the Pharisees’ methods. He showed that their obsession with purity through meticulous law keeping led to ruin rather than to life. Jesus taught a way that was not motivated by being exalted over the nations but he humbled himself for the nations. Instead of separation from the unclean, he taught love for the unclean. Instead of how to rise up against opposing nations, Jesus’ way was the way of the cross, dying for his enemies. For Jesus, The Kingdom of God was not about national purity by keeping the ancestral codes but a renewed vocation to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth.[ii] While the Pharisees expected to be saved from the world to rule the world, Jesus stressed being saved from the world but also for the sake of the world!

The Scribes are mentioned alongside the Pharisees. The Scribes were the official scholars of the Law of Moses. The scribes often accepted the principles of the Pharisees and the Pharisees followed the teachings of the Scribes. In this way the Pharisees and Scribes worked together. The Scribes provided credibility to the Pharisee’s application of the Law. With this background, we turn to Jesus's hard words to the Pharisees and the Scribes.

The text contains six woes. The word "Woe" introduces grief and judgment. It can be seen as the opposite of a blessing statement. It is a declaration of a miserable spiritual state that leads to a dark future.

Jesus addresses three woes to the Pharisees and three woes to the Scribes. I will deal with the woes thematically under these two headings. First, Jesus rebukes the Pharisees and Scribes because they are wrong. Second, Jesus rebukes the Pharisees and Scribes because they harm people.

First, Jesus rebukes The Pharisees and Scribes for being Wrong

Woes 1, 2, 5, 6 reveal that the Pharisees and the Scribes were wrong about their focus, their motivations, God, and Life in general. These woes reveal ways we are wrong today. We can be fully convinced and zealous about following Jesus, and it can be that we are not experiencing life with God at all.

In the first Woe, in Luke 11:37-42, Jesus critiques the Pharisees' Wrong Focus

Luke 11:37-42

The text begins with Jesus entering into a Pharisee’s home. Jesus did not properly wash his hands, and the pharisee is astonished. Jesus rebukes the Pharisees for getting it all wrong. They focus on the external but neglect what is inside. They are meticulous about some religious duties but neglect to care for people.

Application

In 1 Corinthians 13:1-3, Paul tells us what matters the most to God. He writes, “1If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.” Jesus is saying the same thing. We must love and practice justice. Justice is doing good to our neighbor.

Where do we have the wrong focus? In 2012, I lived in Haiti. I remember meeting young boys. I asked them if they went to church. They pointed to their feet. I did not know what that meant. I asked the local next me, and he said they are not allowed in the church, because they do not have any shoes. The value of wanting to be well-clothed for church to honor God prevented these poor children from worshipping God. When anything gets in the way of love, even our theology, we are no longer walking in the way of Jesus.

In the second Woe, in Luke 11:43, Jesus critiques the Pharisees' Wrong Motivation.

Luke 11:43

The Pharisees enjoyed privileges. They were respected for their devout observance of the law. They sat in places of honor in public places like the synagogues. They were hailed respectfully in the marketplaces. Custom dictated that because of their high status they were greeted before others.[iii] In his second Woe in Luke 11:43, Jesus rebukes them for loving the extra attention.

Application

Everyone is susceptible to desire extra attention. I hope I don't ruin any of your favorite Christian speakers. I promise I will not name names. I have noticed that some of the Christian speakers that I enjoy listening can have a huge blind spot. When you notice it, it is very off-putting. Some famous Christian speakers have a bad habit of adding unnecessary comments that only serve to make themselves look good. It will be a comment like - "I have taught this all over the world" ... or "When I finished teaching this, people told me how my teaching changed their life.". I'm already listening because I'm impressed by their teaching gift, I don't need them to tell me other people think they are amazing. Sometimes when we help someone, we tell them about the last time we helped someone else. Let’s stick to teaching God’s amazing truth, and helping without looking for the extra attention, so we don’t rob God from his glory.

In the fifth woe in Luke 11:47, Jesus critiques the Scribes for being Wrong about God

Luke 11:47-51

Jesus accuses the scribes of murdering the prophets. They did not physically murder the prophets, but their ways stand in such opposition to God’s ways. Jesus claims that they are currently opposing God and show themselves to be the kind of people who would have murdered God’s prophets.

Application

This phenomenon continues today. In John 16:2, Jesus warned his disciples saying, “They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.” Throughout church history, the church gotten God wrong and has rejected prophetic voices from within.

Both Jan Hus (1415) and William Tyndale were martyred for confronting abuses in the church. You have to be wrong about God when you murder those who call out abuses in the church. Today, I think a confrontational voice that has upset a lot of people is Russel Moore. He was part of a big denomination in the US. He spoke up against racism in the denomination, and the covering up of sexual abuse, and church’s unhealthy relationship godless politicians. He was rejected by many. Still today, we can miss the God of truth, justice, holiness and grace and reject and mistreat his godly messengers who make us uncomfortable.

Luke 11:52 In the sixth woe, Jesus critiques the Scribes for being wrong about Life.

Luke 11:52

In Luke 11:52, Jesus says, "52 Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering. The Scribes possess the Scriptures. The Scriptures reveal God and his ways. Jesus says, they have not entered the life God intends for them and they prevent others from enjoying God.

Application

Like the Scribes, we possess the Scriptures. Is it possible that like the Scribes, to be Bible experts and possess incredible Bible knowledge and miss the life God intends for us? According to John 10:10, Jesus came that we would have life in abundance. This is not about perfection but about relationships. The abundant life Jesus wants for us today is not one of avoiding death, physical pain, financial struggles, but the life portrayed in the garden of Eden. In Eden, the Man enjoyed harmony with God, with each other, and within with no fear or shame. Enjoying Eden today, is knowing that we are known by God, it is a deep friendships with a spouse, or friends. Enjoying Eden today is being well integrated in church to be encouraged and encourage others. We can call ourselves Christians but somehow, like the Scribes, we can miss the life it offers. Let’s not be impressed by how much Bible someone knows, but by the quality and depth of their relationships. If we love God, we will love people. We love people, by loving God. This is the good life.

Conclusion

We saw in woes 1, 2, 5, 6 that the pharisees had the wrong focus and wrong motivation and the Scribes were wrong about God and wrong about the Life God offers. Positively Jesus cares not just for the external but our hearts, we should not be motivated by getting praise but the glory of God. He wants us to have an intimate relationship with God the leads the life he intends for us.

Second, Jesus rebukes The Pharisees and Scribes because they Harm People

When we are wrong, we need to be corrected. When we harm people, we need to be rebuked and stopped. When people are harmed, saying hard things is more loving than remaining quiet. Jesus rebukes the pharisees and scribes to care for them and to care for those they are harming.

Pharisees can often be portrayed like cartoon villains. Even the Bible offers a mixed portrait of them. In John 3, Nicodemus a Pharisee wants to learn from Jesus. In Luke 13:31, Pharisees warned Jesus to leave because Herod wanted to kill him. According to Acts 15, some Pharisees became Christians. In our text, Jesus has hard words for the Pharisees but they are also loving words. Jesus' words are hard but calling them to repent is loving.

In the first Woe, Jesus critiques the Pharisees for harming people by neglecting justice in Luke 11:42.

Their concern was for the external over the internal. According to Luke 11:42, the Pharisees tithe every herb but neglect justice and the love of God.

In the third woe, in Luke 11:44, Jesus critiques the Pharisees for making people unclean.

Jesus came to make people clean. In Luke 11:44, Jesus says, “Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over you without knowing it.” According Num 19:11, touching a grave made a person unclean. Jesus is saying Pharisees lack a warning sign on their heads. They look religious but they spread impurity. With the obsession with cleansing and detailed law keeping, they have lost sight of the one who makes people pure. Their system harms people and keeps them from enjoying God. By teaching external purity they failed to show that God wants pure hearts. If we are not people-focused in our law keeping, keeping the details of the law becomes the priority and people get crushed!

According to the fourth woe, in Luke 11:46, Jesus critiques the Scribes for the burden they lay on people.

Jesus came to offer a light burden according to Matt 11:30. According to Luke 11:46, the Scribes’ prescriptions which they added to the Law were too heavy to bear. It also seems that they were more interested in the academic exercise of giving applications of laws rather than keeping them, themselves.

According Luke 11:52, in the sixth woe, Jesus rebukes the Scribes for preventing others from finding life.

Jesus came to reveal God in his fullness to be the way, the truth, and the life. We read that the Scribes took away the key of knowledge. They did not enter it and hindered those who were entering. The Scribes were incapable of showing the way to life if they themselves had not experienced it. There is a quote that goes like this: "Be careful how you live, you may be the only Bible some person ever reads." It could be like the Scribes, that our lifestyles hinder others from finding life in Christ.

Application

Jesus rebukes the Scribes and the Pharisees. They are misguided but fully convinced in their own minds that they are pleasing God. They have to be stopped because they are harming people. In the church, as a religious people we must also be aware that sometimes, we are wrong and our supposed godly zeal, harms people. Sometimes we are convinced of God’s high standards – we insist others keep the standard, while we do not keep it ourselves. Sometimes we overemphasize one of God’s attributes, completely misrepresenting God and preventing people to know God. We do this as parents with our children or we do it as Christians with our unbelieving friends. We can so overemphasize God’s justice and holiness that we fail to show God’s grace. Our children can be raised with the image of a distant disciplinarian God, or our unbelieving friends may think our God just wants to control behavior.

Or we can go the other way. We may so want people to think we are tolerant, that we misrepresent God’s justice. The right balance is the gospel balance. We must remember the grace we’ve received to extend it to others.

Being a grace-based community, we confess our sins and repent from our sins and rely on God's grace to forgive. From this place, we can value love, mercy, and grace while also standing up for justice and valuing God's moral imperatives. Grace-base church, grace-based parenting, grace-based marriage, and grace-based friendships are the key to guiding people to finding life with God in Jesus Christ. We will get it wrong, and we may still be misunderstood, but it is through grace and the kindness of God that we enjoy life with God and through grace and kindness that other sinners repent and find forgiveness in Christ.

Conclusion

At the heart of the Jesus and Pharisees debate is the question, "How do we please God?" Sometimes, we just want a check list. We want to know exactly what tasks to do. Jesus does not rebuke a Holy lifestyle or the desire to obey God's commandments. Our religion becomes problematic when we are so task driven that we forget God and neglect our neighbors.

We began with the NT professor who told her students they had to repent rather than worrying about what letters she capitalized. Jesus rebukes the Scribes and Pharisees.

It would be a tragedy, if we walked away from this text thinking, weren’t the scribes and pharisees terrible back then? With the six woes, Jesus offers a complex picture with the multifaceted ways external religion can hurt people. Luke doesn’t include this in his gospel to rebuke the scribes and pharisees but so that in the church, we would consider ourselves.

I heard a woman share about her childhood. There was physical and emotional abuse in the home, but one of the family values was that you where your best clothes to go to church. Her Dad was an evangelist who travelled the United States sharing the message of life. He was well loved professionally but behind closed doors when the world was not watching it was a different story. This woman grew up in a Pharisee home in the 1970s. The focus was on external performative religion that crushed people and distorted who God is.

Christian or non-Christian, we probably all have some Pharisee or Scribe tendencies. Do we ever value purity in a way that we become judgmental? Does our Christianity exclude? Do we misrepresent Jesus, hindering people to trust in him? Do we insist others do things that we ourselves aren't willing to do?

The good news for the Scribes and Pharisees and for us is that Jesus offers himself for us so we can repent from our sins, receive his love and extend it to others. While we may place heavy burdens on others, Jesus took the heaviest burden upon his shoulders at the Cross.

The goal of Jesus' hard words was not destruction but restoration. He spoke these woes to the Pharisees so they would stop, turn, and enter the Kingdom. This invitation is for all of us. Law keeping was never the way to life. God's grace in Christ is our fuel to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves.

 

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[i] Everett 482

[ii] N. T. Wright and Michael Bird, The New Testament in Its World: An Introduction to the History, Literature and Theology of the First Christians (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2019). Chapter 6.

[iii] Craig S Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2014), 211.