28th Week in Ord. Time, Wednesday – 14th October 2020 — Gospel: Lk 11,42-46
Jesus hates Legalism
In today’s gospel, Jesus criticizes the lifestyle of the Pharisees and scholars of the law who think only of themselves and their own importance. Jesus had more conflicts with these types of legalists than any other group. In fact it was they who put him on the cross. In the gospels, we find that Jesus deliberately did things to provoke the legalists. He could have healed people on any other day of the week, but he often did it on the Sabbath. When a Pharisee invited Jesus to dinner, he could have gone along with their elaborate hand-washing custom, but he deliberately ignored it. When they questioned him about it, he could have been more polite, but he blasted them for their hypocrisy. When a lawyer pointed out that Jesus had offended them as well, he didn’t ask “sorry,” but confronted their legalism as sin. Jesus hates legalism because it does not deal with the condition of our hearts before God. At the root of legalism is the sin of pride, because the legalist thinks that he is able to commend himself to God by his own good deeds. He is only looking at externals, not within his heart. His pride motivates him to exalt himself in the sight of others by his outward behaviour, but neglects to see the corruption of his own heart. Thus legalism denies human wickedness and exalts human ability. Jesus opposes such behaviour that was not seeking God, but primarily self-seeking.
