seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Luke 11:37 When Jesus had finished speaking, a Pharisee invited him to eat with him; so he went in and reclined at the table. 38 But the Pharisee was surprised when he noticed that Jesus did not first wash before the meal.
39 Then the Lord said to him, “Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. 40 You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? 41 But now as for what is inside you—be generous to the poor, and everything will be clean for you.
42 “Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone.
43 “Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the most important seats in the synagogues and respectful greetings in the marketplaces.
44 “Woe to you, because you are like unmarked graves, which people walk over without knowing it.”
45 One of the experts in the law answered him, “Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us also.”
46 Jesus replied, “And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them.
47 “Woe to you, because you build tombs for the prophets, and it was your ancestors who killed them. 48 So you testify that you approve of what your ancestors did; they killed the prophets, and you build their tombs. 49 Because of this, God in his wisdom said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and others they will persecute.’ 50 Therefore this generation will be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning of the world, 51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, this generation will be held responsible for it all.
52 “Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering.”
53 When Jesus went outside, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law began to oppose him fiercely and to besiege him with questions, 54 waiting to catch him in something he might say.
Well, it appears the Pharisees and the experts in the law decided to try to catch Him by throwing a dinner party. Did you notice they started harassing Him before He got to pass the cup? [Verse 38]Looks like Jesus turned the tables on them and told them the truth. They were so busy making up laws, they forgot that law was to create to help humans be civil to each other. They were so busy finding fault with Him, they missed the Miracle of Him.
He wasn't afraid of the consequences. The Pharisees had the power to stop a man from entering the Temple. If the man was tossed out of the Temple, he could not make his sacrifices. That was a serious issue for them. Men had to stay right with God and the Temple Priests could mess with that. Can you imagine what would have happened if they tried to stop Him from entering the Temple? History would probably be a whole lot different!
After all, what were they going to do, put Him on a Cross? He was on His way there anyway!
There are two kinds of preachers. There are the Believers, who are preaching and pastoring because they Love the Father and they chose to serve Him. Then there are the UnBelievers who were put there by blood or money. They joined the Seminary to please their Christian Mommy, or they joined the Seminary because everyone will cut the preacher a deal to get a better seat in Heaven.
There aren't very many Experts of the Law who are Believers. I say that as my oldest daughter and one of my nieces are in law school. The majority of them are in it for the lucrative salaries required to pay off their student debt. Some, like my daughter and my niece, go into the Law to help people in Family Court.
This dinner party was held by a Pharisee who wanted to catch Jesus in a lie. They wanted to trip Him up with the law. They wanted to "study" Him. They wanted to catch Him in something they could broadcast to the adoring masses in order to turn them on Him.
They found Him guilty of not washing before dinner. He found them guilty of being ignorant self-absorbed morons who didn't have a clue about the real reason for the Temple or the Law. He found them guilty of selfishness and greed.
He found them guilty of bigheadedness!
