Woe to you!

And as He spoke, a certain Pharisee asked Him to dine with him. So He went in and sat down to eat. When the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that He had not first washed before dinner. Then the Lord said to him, "Now you Pharisees make the outside of the cup and dish clean, but your inward part is full of greed and wickedness. Foolish ones! Did not He who made the outside make the inside also? But rather give alms of such things as you have; then indeed all things are clean to you.

"But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass by justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like graves which are not seen, and the men who walk over them are not aware of them."

Then one of the lawyers answered and said to Him, "Teacher, by saying these things You reproach us also." And He said, "Woe to you also, lawyers! For you load men with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers. Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. In fact, you bear witness that you approve the deeds of your fathers; for they indeed killed them, and you build their tombs. Therefore the wisdom of God also said, 'I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill 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 Zechariah who perished between the altar and the temple. Yes, I say to you, it shall be required of this generation. Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered."

- Luke 11:37-52

Yesterday, we read that Jesus warned about seeking signs of the kingdom, and insisted instead that those who are able to perceive clearly should rejoice. The spiritual eye is the lamp of the body - that is, of our whole human selves - if we perceive clearly, then we will be illumined, as a lamp gives off bright rays. He warned His listeners that those who paid attention to the light of the prophets and the wise of the past will cast judgment on those who cannot perceive the greater light that is before them in the present. See Therefore take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness.

And as He spoke, a certain Pharisee asked Him to dine with him. So He went in and sat down to eat. When the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that He had not first washed before dinner. A note in my study bible says, "Washing the hands before eating was an important religious ritual for the Pharisees. They are concerned about outward cleanliness; Jesus says internal purity is more important."

Then the Lord said to him, "Now you Pharisees make the outside of the cup and dish clean, but your inward part is full of greed and wickedness. Foolish ones! Did not He who made the outside make the inside also? But rather give alms of such things as you have; then indeed all things are clean to you." A note reads, "Deeds of love toward people, such as giving alms, purify the inward man. External things like food and clothing cannot defile one who is inwardly pure." I think it's important to contrast the ritual cleansing mentioned above with the internal cleansing that Jesus is talking about. He will go on to chastise the Pharisees for their greed; they profit from their positions in the temple leadership.

But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass by justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone." My study bible says, "After their testy attacks against Him, Jesus pronounces a series of denunciations against the Pharisees and scribes." Here we read the contrast between what they emphasize and what Jesus teaches they should be doing. They literally measure out what is owed even in the "least" things (like herbs), but justice and the love of God is passed by. "Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces." Here Jesus addresses vainglory - that is, the elevation of the self or social standing rather than the value of humility, a show of self-importance. To "love" this is a form of idolatry: to exalt in something selfish, rather than the things that give true self-worth in the eyes of God. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like graves which are not seen, and the men who walk over them are not aware of them." Again, the image of the external that masks the internal truth. A grave is full of death and decay internally - this is a way of saying, to my mind, that these men are empty and nothing internally, without value. But the perception of the world, for which they live, cannot see it - despite the adulation or public recognition, the greetings and the best seats, which they receive.

Then one of the lawyers answered and said to Him, "Teacher, by saying these things You reproach us also." The lawyers are experts in the Mosaic Law. This lawyer, as we shall see, is correct. Jesus is speaking not as a condemnation of the Law or religious practice, but rather of how religious rituals and practices, given by faith in God, can be misused to conceal hypocrisy of all kinds. Therefore all of these warnings also apply to us today. And He said, "Woe to you also, lawyers! For you load men with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers." This image of people weighted down with burdens they cannot bear reminds us of how the Law can be used to put unmerciful demands on people, while those who enforce or impose it use no mercy themselves. "Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. In fact, you bear witness that you approve the deeds of your fathers; for they indeed killed them, and you build their tombs. Therefore the wisdom of God also said, 'I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill 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 Zechariah who perished between the altar and the temple. Yes, I say to you, it shall be required of this generation." Here we return again to the themes of yesterday's reading. How do they perceive? How do they see what is in front of them? They reject Jesus as their "fathers" (that is, the religious leadership of their type before them) rejected the prophets. That is, to reject righteous criticism is to act as those who "build the tombs" of the prophets - which they do. And there is another very important emphasis here, and that is on judgment. To persecute the righteous is to bring judgment upon oneself. Just as the Crucifixion is the judgment of the prince of this world, so to persecute the righteous brings judgment on those who reject their message and seek to harm them as a result. Again, as in so many recent readings, the emphasis is on our perception and on how we choose. Can we hear and see the righteousness that may be in front of us? The action of wisdom of the Spirit when it manifests in our world? "This generation" refers to those who witness that which is greater than the prophets - Christ's manifestation in the flesh before them.

"Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered." The spiritual reality in the Scriptures and the law teaches all about spiritual perception. But the ways in which they have used the law for themselves retains all of this for only their "class" of the religious, those who worship. Yet they fail to perceive - and worse, those with the capability among their flock they hinder by their teachings and behavior, their misuse of religious law for their own gain and vainglory.

So, once again, the emphasis is on spiritual perception, just as in yesterday's reading. But this time, it is directed to the leadership of the temple, and how they lead their flock, even those who would desire the "key of knowledge" of God, and who are locked out by the leadership and their hypocrisy. We may think that these "woes" (as they are called) apply to the past - a religious system that existed before Christ which He criticized. But these warnings are to us all, here, now and today. We all have rituals and practices that are beautiful, and helpful for worship - the vehicles through which we approach God. We all have buildings and services that a flock must help to support financially. But no matter what they are, no matter which worship practice we use, if we put all of our faith only in the outward appearance of following those rules or services or facilities and none in the inward part where we truly answer to God, from which we are to truly pray and worship, then we fail. Worse, we become hypocrites, who mislead others as well. I'm certain many of us have known outwardly pious people who spare no mercy nor justice for others if they have something selfish to gain. ("Hypocrites" originally means "actors" in the Greek.) Moreover, if our leadership simply seeks its own glory or public regard, we have lost the race. So, there is all this emphasis on spiritual perception and the internal light that is of God, the love that binds us in true relationship to God. It is spiritual understanding that gives us true value and that is to be imparted to Jesus' followers. When we pray, let us be sure it is to find where and how we need to go to please God, Who is love. Let us seek to understand where we need to be merciful, and what we need to learn in our lives. Wisdom leads us when we let it, but it must come first before appearance and convention and what we are used to. There is no getting around it. What do we love? What do we put first? Is it the glory of "the best seats" or the most beautiful places, a high place in the leadership? Can we make our spiritual eyes clear enough to see and to perceive, so that we may reflect light? Or will we, too, be the empty unknown tombs? What do we carry within us? Light or darkness? Jesus reserved His most harsh criticism for those who would lead and who failed to be anything but hypocrites. Let us remember this applies to all of us today as much as it did to the leadership He was addressing. Perhaps, in fact, these words may even more strictly apply to us, who call ourselves followers of this Teacher.