Luke 11:33-54: “Jesus Instructs About Use Of A Lamp / Argues
With Pharisees About Righteousness Involving Cleansing Of The Inside Part”
By
1.
INTRO:
1.1.
In our last study, we looked
at chapter 11 verses 14-32.
1.1.1. Jesus cast a demon out of a man healing him from being mute, however
there were a variety of responses amongst the people observing Jesus at that
time. Some wanted to see a further sign
from Jesus and some said that Jesus must have done this exorcism through the
power of the ruler of the demons.
1.1.2. The verses we considered made the point that seeing and hearing Jesus
caused people to have to make a decision about Him, to accept Him or to reject
Him. We observed that to not make a
choice for Jesus is to make a choice against Him.
1.2.
In this study, we will look
at chapter 11 verses 33 through 54.
1.2.1. Jesus admonishes His disciples about the proper usage of a lamp, and
then applies this principle to their lives.
1.2.2. Now in this last couple weeks of His life, Jesus is beginning to have
more virulent and hostile confrontations with the Pharisees as He now begins to
openly condemn them and pronounce judgment woes upon them.
1.2.3. In Jesus’ day, there was no toleration or religious freedom, therefore
if anyone spoke or went against the religious system he was in imminent danger
of being silenced and even put to death.
Jesus however was not deterred by what men thought or the prevailing
traditions of the day. He spoke the truth
to people and would only follow the very things that the Lord had revealed to
Him to say and to do. Doing this will
soon lead to Jesus’ crucifixion at the hands of the religious leaders in
1.2.4. A Pharisee invites Jesus to have lunch with him and then as often
happened over Jesus’ lunches, controversy breaks out. Jesus and the Pharisee get into a discussion
over what true righteousness consists of.
Jesus taught this Pharisee that you have to be clean on the inside as
well as the external of your life and that the most important part to have
clean is the internal part.
1.2.5. Jesus pronounces three woes upon the Pharisees followed by three woes
upon the scribes (lawyers) of His day.
2. VS 11:33-36 - “33 “No one, after lighting a lamp,
puts it away in a cellar nor under a basket, but on the lampstand, so that
those who enter may see the light. 34 “The eye is the lamp of your
body; when your eye is clear, your whole body also is full of light; but when
it is bad, your body also is full of darkness. 35 “Then watch out
that the light in you is not darkness. 36 “If therefore your whole
body is full of light, with no dark part in it, it will be wholly illumined, as
when the lamp illumines you with its rays.”” - By way of illustration, Jesus reminds His
disciples again about the proper use of a lamp and then applies this concept to
them with a warning concerning the light that shines within them
2.1.
This teaching of Jesus about
the proper usage for a lamp is repeated as we originally saw Jesus say this in
chapter 8 verses 16-17. At that time
Jesus mentioned that everything that was hidden would come to light, therefore
the disciples ought to be careful how they listen to Him. However, here the application of this
teaching is different for it is applied to the disciples’ eyes and capacity to
receive light.
2.2.
The metaphor that Jesus uses
here is a simple one. He simply states
that when a person lights a lamp that this was done for the purpose of shedding
light all around. Therefore, it would
make no sense to light that lamp and then hide it under something such that the
light from the lamp cannot shine out.
2.3.
God is light as He shines
the light of His truth all over the world for those who are willing to see and
respond to His light of truth. Jesus
used the metaphor of the light often and in various ways in the gospels,
including the following:
2.3.1. John 8:12, “12
Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world;
he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of
life.””
2.3.2. John 12:46, “46
“I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who
believes in Me will not remain in darkness.”
2.3.3. Matthew 5:14, “14
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.”
2.4.
The application to this
metaphor of the light made here by Jesus is interesting as Jesus speaks of the
internal light that each person has within them. However, the metaphor is also dual for Jesus
refers also to the mechanism for which light enters within us, namely the ‘eye’
itself. The ‘eye’ being the
mechanism by which we are able to see light makes it that part which controls
both our ‘receptivity’ as well as ‘perspective’ regarding God and
spiritual things in general. We as
Christians with our spiritual eyes determine “where we shall look” as well
as “what we shall focus upon” and thus it is crucial that we properly
direct our spiritual eyes.
2.5.
Jesus teaches a sobering
truth here. He HHsays, ‘when your eye is clear, your whole body also is full of light; but when
it is bad, your body also is full of darkness.’
The clearness refers to the purity of the motives of our hearts in where
we determine to look as well as what we choose to focus our attention
upon. Jesus states in essence that if
our eye is ‘clear’ that it is pure in motive, and, in that state we will
find the Lord and the light of His truth.
Thus, we will become completely ‘full of light.’ However, conversely if the motives of our
hearts are ‘bad’ then we will try to block the light of the truth of God
from our lives, and this will result in our being completely filled with
darkness.
3. VS 11:37-41 - “37 Now when He had spoken, a
Pharisee asked Him to have lunch with him; and He went in, and reclined at
the table. 38 When the Pharisee saw it, he was surprised that He
had not first ceremonially washed before the meal. 39 But the Lord
said to him, “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the
platter; but inside of you, you are full of robbery and wickedness. 40 “You
foolish ones, did not He who made the outside make the inside also? 41 “But
give that which is within as charity, and then all things are clean for you.” - A Pharisee asks Jesus to have
lunch with him, then when Jesus realizes that the man questions how that Jesus
would not have washed His hands in the custom of the Pharisees, Jesus condemns
the Pharisees for pursuing only external righteousness
3.1.
We have to question the
motives of this Pharisee for inviting Jesus over to his house for lunch at this
time for the Pharisees had already determined that Jesus was a blasphemer and
false teacher, and they were seeking opportunities to catch Him in some
heretical statement so that they might condemn Him to death.
3.2.
We will see as this story
unfolds that there were actually a group of Pharisees and scribes (lawyers)
that were present with Jesus at this lunch.
3.3.
Notice here that this is yet
another instance where Jesus knew people’s thoughts. This Pharisee said nothing to Jesus about not
washing His hands, yet Jesus knew the man’s thoughts and spoke to them.
3.4.
The party of the Pharisees
had formed during the intertestamental period, after the writing of the Old
Testament book of Malachi, some 300 years prior to this event. They were sort of the fundamentalist group of
Jews in
3.5.
The Pharisees had added law
after law to the Law of Moses. As we
have mentioned a few times in this gospel, the Pharisees thought that the Law
of Moses was too vague and that they needed to add hundreds of laws to those
laws in order to be able to better monitor who was righteousness and who was
not. We would consider these Pharisaical
laws ridiculous today and no one on the earth currently follows them. They included things like how many twigs of
fire wood you could carry on the Sabbath, how many steps you could walk on the
Sabbath, rules on ceremonial hand washing, etc.
3.6.
In this story, the issue at
stake with this Pharisee and Jesus not washing his hands was not general
cleanliness to be observed when eating a meal.
Rather, in the tradition of the Pharisees this Pharisee believed that
keeping this hand washing ritual actually brought true righteousness before the
Lord and thus it was part of a person’s sanctification before the Lord. However, the Law of Moses did not refer to
hand washing regulations in this manner for these were Pharisaical laws only.
3.7.
Jesus compares the Pharisees
to a bowl that one might wash after a meal, yet wash only its outside and not
the inside. Yet, we know that the
important part to keep clean of a bowl is the inside of it. Likewise, the important part of righteousness
is not external keeping of rituals and rites but rather the internal attitude
and motives of a person’s heart.
3.8.
Now, one thing that we must
be completely clear about is that Jesus lived under the Law of Moses and that
He kept the Laws of Moses from the scriptures in every particular. However, the hundreds of laws that the
Pharisees had added to the Law of Moses were not kept by Jesus because they
represented man-made religion and to keep them would have sent a message of
Jesus’ approval of the Pharisees and their brand of religion. Jesus therefore did not and could not keep
the hundreds of laws of the Pharisees if He wanted to be true to the Lord’s
will and calling for His lives.
4. VS 11:42 - “42 “But woe to you Pharisees! For
you pay tithe of mint and rue and every kind of garden herb, and yet disregard
justice and the love of God; but these are the things you should have done
without neglecting the others.” - Jesus pronounces a woe upon the Pharisees
because though they gave a tithe of many things to the Lord they disregarded
justice and the love of God
4.1.
This is the first of three ‘woes’
that Jesus pronounces upon the Pharisees.
4.2.
Jesus is teaching here not
that it was wrong for the Pharisees to make all of these various tithes to the
Lord, but rather the fact that in keeping these that they neglected performing
deeds to the Lord that were much more important than the giving of tithes. They disregarded justice and the love of God,
Jesus tells us.
4.3.
The Pharisees did everything
that they could to make themselves appear righteous on the exterior, keeping
the Law of Moses as well as law upon law of their own making. However, the internal attitudes of the heart
of the Pharisees was not considered to be important to them.
4.4.
The ‘justice’
neglected by the Pharisees in Jesus’ day is hinted at in the New Testament in a
few places, including:
4.4.1. They would cheat
widows out of their houses according to Mark 12:40, “40 who
devour widows’ houses, and for appearance’s sake offer long prayers; these will
receive greater condemnation.””
4.4.2. In Mark 7:9-12, we read that the Pharisees set their traditions above
the word and commandments of God when, for instance, they would declare their
inheritances dedicated to God so that they wouldn’t have to take care of their
parents in their old age, “9 He was
also saying to them, “You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God
in order to keep your tradition. 10 “For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and,
‘He who speaks evil of father or mother,
is to be put to death’; 11 but
you say, ‘If a man says to his father or his mother, whatever I
have that would help you is Corban (that is to say, given to God),’ 12
you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or his mother.”
4.5.
There is nothing that is
worse than religion without ‘love’ and the religion of the Pharisees was
a religion that was devoid of ‘the love of God.’ The apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians in
1 Cor. 13:1-3 the following which indicates that any kind of religious
observance performed by someone which is not of love is worse than useless, “1 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I
have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the
gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have
all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3
And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I
surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.”
4.6.
There have been many
churches in our day whom I would consider to be legalistic who have been
loveless as well. These groups have also
created their own rules by which they judge people’s righteousness before the
Lord and when people have not kept their man-made laws they have likewise
condemned these people as being unrighteous before God. Some of these legalistic groups have been
devoid of the love, grace, and mercy of God.
5. VS 11:43 - “43 “Woe to you Pharisees! For you
love the chief seats in the synagogues and the respectful greetings in the
market places.” - Jesus pronounces a woe upon the Pharisees for
loving the chief seats in the synagogue and respectful greetings in the market
place
5.1.
This is the second ‘woe’
pronounced by Jesus upon the Pharisees of His day.
5.2.
This ‘woe’ speaks of
how the Pharisees were more interested in impressing people and being seen by
people to be righteousness than they were of impressing the Lord and being
righteous in His estimation.
5.3.
There was evidently some
sort of a designation of seating in the synagogues in Jesus’ day which was
based upon where a person in society was recognized. There were some seats where wealthy
influential people sat that were much nicer in quality and location therefore
it was more prestigious to sit in those ‘chief seats.’ Other people who were not as wealthy were
forced to sit in poorer seats, or maybe on the floor, and thus they would not
have as good of a chance to participate in the worship. This was a very evil practice.
5.3.1. Showing distinctions between people is something that we in the church
must never do and thus we read in James 2:1-5 an important exhortation to that
effect, “1 My brethren, do not hold your faith in our
glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. 2
For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in
fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, 3 and
you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say,
“You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over
there, or sit down by my footstool,” 4 have you not made
distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives? 5 Listen,
my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich
in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?”
5.3.2. The Lord requires of us His people to reach out to all with the love of
God regardless of their social status, nationality, race, financial position,
station, etc. For the church to do less
than this is to rebel against the Lord and to remove ourselves from His will
and the place of His blessing.
5.4.
Jesus condemns the lengthy
respectful greetings that the Pharisees gave each other, particularly the
leaders, because these greetings puffed people up with pride as they received
they admiration of men, yet did so at the expense of the admiration of God.
6. VS 11:44 - “44 “Woe to you! For you are like
concealed tombs, and the people who walk over them are unaware of it.”” - Jesus pronounces a woe upon
the Pharisees for being concealed tombs
6.1.
This is the third ‘woe’
pronounced by Jesus against the Pharisees.
6.2.
The Old Testament law forbid
people from touching any tomb or dead body, as we see in Num. 19:16, “16 ‘Also, anyone who in the open field touches one who has been slain with a
sword or who has died naturally, or a human bone or a grave, shall be
unclean for seven days.”.
6.3.
Because the Pharisees were
so concerned about keeping ceremonially clean so they would be able to
participate in religious exercises they went to great lengths to mark any grave
or tomb in Israel. We don’t know exactly
what types of grave markers they used but evidently the graves were clearly
marked.
6.4.
The Pharisees saw themselves
as the spiritual leaders of the people in Israel setting the trend for all to
follow, however Jesus tells this Pharisee He is eating with that the Pharisees
were really like unmarked tombs or graves walking around which were constantly
defiling people and making anyone who came in contact with them unclean. This statement by Jesus caused the Pharisees
at lunch that day to become very angry with Him, however these Pharisees should
not have been angry with Jesus for He was just the messenger. The problem was not with the messenger but
with the Pharisees themselves. It was
their unrighteousness that needed to be addressed before God. God knows every little thing about us. He knows all of our thoughts and even knows
what we will think before we do. He
looks at our insides as well as our outsides and therefore we must please Him
with both. You see, the way you are when
no one is watching is the way the Lord who knows all about you views your life.
6.4.1. It is always better for us as people to know the truth about ourselves,
even if it hurts, is it not? We should
be thankful for those who point out our errors and sins so that we at least can
be aware of the things that are keeping us from being where the Lord wants us
to be.
7. VS 11:45-46 - “45 One of the lawyers said to Him in
reply, “Teacher, when You say this, You insult us too.” 46 But He
said, “Woe to you lawyers as well! For you weigh men down with burdens hard to
bear, while you yourselves will not even touch the burdens with one of your
fingers.” - Jesus pronounces a woe upon the lawyers for
weighing people down with great burdens then not helping them to bear any of
those burdens
7.1.
Jesus speaks the first ‘woe’
of three that He pronounces against the lawyers (scribes in His day).
7.2.
One of the lawyers on this
day speaks up because his conscience is tweaked as he recognizes that these
sweeping condemnations by Jesus against the Pharisees equally applied to his
life as a Pharisaical lawyer.
7.3.
It was the lawyers’ jobs in
Jesus’ day to interpret the Law for the people and as such they served as the
teachers of the people. In such a very
important position as they held it was very important that they not lead anyone
astray from the Lord. However, we will
see from Jesus’ woes pronounced against them that this is exactly what they
were doing.
7.4.
Jesus’ woe against the
lawyers had to do with their lack of mercy and compassion for people. These lawyers sought to interpret and apply
the Law of Moses in people’s lives however they had none of the compassion and
love of God for people when they did so.
To them the interpretation of the Law was like chemistry or some science
for they did not realize or even care how their judgments adversely affected
peoples’ lives, spiritual and emotional health, and well-being. However, those who would lead God’s people
must be very careful to be sensitive to how the things they do might affect
people’s lives in a constructive or destructive way.
7.4.1. There are some churches in our day that have little mercy and
compassion for their people yet they also make many rules for them.
8. VS 11:47-51 - “47 “Woe to you! For you build the
tombs of the prophets, and it was your fathers who killed them. 48
“So you are witnesses and approve the deeds of your fathers; because it
was they who killed them, and you build their tombs. 49 “For
this reason also the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send to them prophets and
apostles, and some of them they will kill and some they will
persecute, 50 so that the blood of all the prophets, shed since the
foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation, 51 from
the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar
and the house of God; yes, I tell you, it shall be charged against this
generation.’” - Jesus pronounces a woe upon the lawyers for
building the tombs of the prophets and yet it was their fathers who had killed
the prophets
8.1.
In pronouncing this second ‘woe’
upon the lawyers, Jesus is telling them that although they now go and build
elaborate tombs for the prophets of old that these prophets of old were
martyred by Jews of their day who had the identical attitudes of these lawyers
of Jesus’ day. Jesus Himself will soon
be martyred by these same Pharisees and religious leaders.
8.2.
Jesus tells these lawyers
that because they have the same attitude as those who persecuted and killed the
prophets in history past that the Lord will now send to them prophets and
apostles and that they will kill some and some they will persecute. This is a prophesy concerning the coming
persecution of the church which will begin not too long after Jesus’
resurrection. With the exception of
Judas the betrayer and the apostle John who died in his old age, the rest of
the 12 apostles died as martyrs, most at the hands of the Jews.
8.3.
Jesus tells the lawyer that
the blood of all of the prophets shed since the foundation of the world will be
charged against this generation of people who were presently persecuting Jesus. The people of Jesus’ generation have the same
spirit and attitudes as those who martyred the prophets of the past, and they
will murder God’s people in the future.
Therefore, in the justice and wisdom of God the people of Jesus’
generation shall be held accountable for the blood of all righteous people
martyred on the face of the earth.
8.4.
Jesus mentions two martyrs
here, Abel and Zacharias. The book of
Genesis tells of the murder of Abel at the hands of his jealous brother Cain,
however we aren’t sure who this Zacharias is.
The most popular belief is that this man is the prophet who wrote a book
in the Old Testament called Zacharias.
He lived near the very end of the writings of the Old Testament
prophets. This view would make a lot of
sense except for the fact that we don’t have any record of the martyrdom of
Zacharias. There are other Zachariases
mentioned in the Old Testament but none of them fit this either. Not knowing who Zacharias is does not change
the point that God’s people were often martyred by the Jews of their day.
9. VS 11:52 - “52 “Woe to you lawyers! For you have
taken away the key of knowledge; you yourselves did not enter, and you hindered
those who were entering.”” - Jesus pronounces a woe upon the lawyers for
taking away the key of knowledge for the people causing them to not be able to
enter in and come to know the Lord
9.1.
This third ‘woe’ is
perhaps the harshest of all of them because the indictment here is that the
religious leaders were not following through with the most important charge
that they had and that was leading people to the Lord. Because of the laws that had been added to
the scriptures which brought nothing but bondage to those who submitted
themselves to them, the Jewish leaders were keeping people out of the kingdom
rather than showing them the way to enter into it. They were stumbling the entire nation.
10.
VS 11:53-54 - “53 When He left there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be very
hostile and to question Him closely on many subjects, 54 plotting
against Him to catch Him in something He might say.” - The Pharisees and scribes who were at lunch
with Jesus began to be very angry and hostile against Jesus and grill Him with
questions hoping to catch Him in something that He might say
10.1.
Tragically, we see that
rather than being thankful for having Jesus warn them so that they might know
in what ways they ought to repent and do God’s will in their lives, these
Pharisees and scribes are seething with anger and begin to question Jesus in an
angry and hostile manner hoping to find some way that they might catch Him
saying something heretical so that they might have cause to bring capital
charges against Him.
11.
CONCLUSIONS:
11.1.
Turning around the 3 woes
given to the Pharisees, lets do the following:
11.1.1.
Tithing and doing religious
activities and ministries is important, however never do them apart from having
the love of God and treating people in a fair and just way.
11.1.2.
Try to impress the Lord,
don’t live to impress people, and do not show partiality to any but extend the
right hand of fellowship to all who will listen and be willing to follow Jesus.
11.1.3.
The Pharisees were like
concealed tombs walking around defiling all whom they came in contact
with. Lets walk in true righteousness
before the Lord keeping the inside as well as the external aspect of our lives
righteous for thereby we shall not defile any but rather be a blessing to all.
11.2.
Turning around the 3 woes
given to the lawyers, lets do the following:
11.2.1.
Help people to bear the
burdens that they carry, especially the spiritual burdens involved in following
the Lord as His disciple.
11.2.2.
Rather than persecute God’s
people lets determine to help and be hospitable to them whenever we have
opportunity.
11.2.3.
Lets be careful to show by our
actions and point with our words people to the entrance to God’s kingdom
through faith in Jesus Christ and His sacrifice upon Calvary’s cross for the
sins of mankind.