Breaking the Word

  Woe to you Pharisees! You pay tithes of mint and of rue and of every garden herb, but you pay no attention to judgment and to love for God. These you should have done, without overlooking the others. Woe to you Pharisees! You love the seat of honor in synagogues and greetings in marketplaces. Woe to you! You are like unseen graves over which people unknowingly walk." Then one of the scholars of the law said to him in reply, "Teacher, by saying this you are insulting us too." And he said, "Woe also to you scholars of the law! You impose on people burdens hard to carry, but you yourselves do not lift one finger to touch them. (Lk 11:42-46)

 

 

Jesus had just finished his dinner in a Pharisee’s house and he is already denouncing them as a group. He is giving them woes and insults (you are insulting us). Pharisees were concentrating on outward piety to the neglect of the inward devotion.

 

Jesus’ announcements of woes were only saying that he disliked the attitudes of the Pharisees: they observed in detail the outward rules and did not give importance to the internals; they liked the piety that boosted up the self-image.  All these were only leading them to the grave and they were unnoticed and people were walking over them. External practices profited them nothing but an unnoticed grave.

 

The scribes were the scholars of the law and they, through their interpretation of the TORAH, were trying to make the laws relevant and meaningful to the people.  Their interpretations were in no way useful to the people because they were burdensome. Most of these interpretations the scribes themselves would not practice.   

After he had spoken, a Pharisee invited him to dine at his home. He entered and reclined at table to eat. The Pharisee was amazed to see that he did not observe the prescribed washing before the meal. The Lord said to him, "Oh you Pharisees! Although you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, inside you are filled with plunder and evil. You fools! Did not the maker of the outside also make the inside? But as to what is within, give alms, and behold, everything will be clean for you. (Lk 11:37-41)

 

 

Jesus denounces the Pharisees while having a meal with them. Often Luke does this way: controversies with or reprimands of Pharisees are regularly set by Luke within the context of Jesus' eating with Pharisees (see Luke 5:29-39; 7:36-50; 14:1-24). So Jesus has not rejected the Pharisees and his table fellowship only goes to show that he is in relationship with them. They are his friends too. But they are criticized for what they do.

 

Jesus was a guest in the house of a Pharisee. But he did not follow the traditions. He was not just following the traditions of religious practices. It was all about attitudes. The Pharisee saw Jesus as law giver. But Jesus looked at God as a creator. If one has an attitude of God as law-giver then they see only rules and regulations. If the attitude is that of a creator God then it is all inclusive: both inside and out side of everything.

 

Why did Jesus say ‘give alms’?  Here is a plain allusion to the law of Moses, by which it was provided that certain portions of the increase of their land should be given to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow; and, when that was done, what was reserved for their own use was clean to them, and they could in faith pray for a blessing upon it, Deut. 26:12-15. Then we can with comfort enjoy the gifts of God's bounty ourselves when we send portions to them for whom nothing is prepared.