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Luke lesson 40 (2009)

SEEING BENEATH THE SURFACE

Luke 11:37-54
Key Verse: 11:40-41

“You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? But give what is inside the dish to the poor, and everything will be clean for you.”

Finding himself desperately in need of money, a man went to the city zoo, hoping to find a job feeding the animals. Although no such opportunity was available, the manager, seeing the size and the strength of the man, suddenly got an idea. “You know,” he said, “There are few creatures that attract attention like a gorilla. Unfortunately, ours died yesterday. If we got you a special fur suit, would you be willing to imitate him for a few days?” The hungry man agreed to try. Wearing the fur suit, he beat his chest, bellowed, and shook the bars of the cage like a gorilla – much to the amusement of visitors who said they had never seen a gorilla with such intelligence. One day, while playing on his swing, he accidently lost his grip and landed in the lion’s den. The lion roared ferociously. Backing away, the gorilla man realized he couldn’t cry for assistance without revealing that he was a fake. He retreated, hoping to crawl back over the fence into his own cage. The lion kept following him. Finally, in desperation he yelled, “Help!” Immediately the lion whispered, “Shut up, stupid! You’ll get us both fired!” These two men had to pretend to be what they were not in order to survive. The Greek word hypokritos means “actor,” a man who wears a mask and plays a role in the theater, like the two men in the story.

In today’s passage Jesus grieves over the hypocrisy of the religious leaders, the Pharisees and experts in the law. The sin of hypocrisy is seriously dealt with both in the Old and the New Testaments. Why? It’s because hypocrisy is one of the most dangerous spiritual problems that drive people further away from God. Someone once said, “No habit or quality is more easily acquired than hypocrisy.” But what is most troubling is that it’s easy also for Christians to be hypocritical. Let’s think about how we can avoid the sin of hypocrisy.

Look at verses 37 and 38. “When Jesus had finished speaking, a Pharisee invited him to eat with him; so he went in and reclined at the table. But the Pharisee, noticing that Jesus did not first wash before the meal, was surprised.” In the previous passage, Jesus had rebuked those who tested him by asking him for a sign from heaven. He had said to them, “You guys are wicked because you keep asking me for a miraculous sign. But none will be given you except the sign of Jonah.” (11:29) Most of those who were rebuked by Jesus were the Pharisees and the teachers of the law. (Mt 12:38-39) It’s surprising that after hearing such a severe rebuke from Jesus, a Pharisee still invited him to eat with him. We are not sure what motivated the Pharisee to invite Jesus to dinner, but we know that not all the Pharisees were hostile toward Jesus. Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea were Pharisees, for example. Therefore, this Pharisee’s invitation could have been a gesture of his friendship and respect for Jesus. Yet, he was greatly offended when he noticed that Jesus wasn’t first washing before the meal according to the Jewish custom. (Mt 15:1-9; Mk 7:1-4)

These days we often hear this, “Wash your hands if you don’t want to get sick with the swine flu.” Actually, washing our hands properly is one very simple way to keep ourselves healthy. We need to wash before eating and cooking, after using bathroom, after blowing your nose, after sneezing, after changing diapers, after handling meat or garbage, after touching animals and before holding a baby. Some say we should wash for two minutes or at least 20 seconds rigorously. Some say singing “Happy Birth Day” twice while washing will be enough. But the washing in today’s passage is not the kind of washing we do for good hygiene. This was a ceremonial washing, a religious tradition that was required to safeguard against defilement, adopted by the Jewish elders. However, the Law of God didn’t demand ceremonial washing, but it became customary, and the Pharisees put it above the law of God.

Was Jesus always anti-traditional? No. As we read the gospel narratives, we see that Jesus basically followed the traditions of the elders as long as they were not in conflict with the law of God. But it seems that Jesus intentionally didn’t wash his hands at the Pharisee’s house in order to show the clear distinction between the new way of life in the gospel and the old way of Jewish legalism.
Look at verses 39-40. “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. You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also?” Jesus didn’t criticize the Pharisees for observing their ritual purification. But he called them foolish because they were overlooking important things while emphasizing much less important things.
The Pharisees of the time were concerned about washing the outside, claiming that one can become holy by performing a religious ceremony. But Jesus didn’t think so. This was not what the Old Testament teaches either. Many prophets in the Old Testament time challenge the people in their generation to clean their hearts and minds. Jesus said that the Pharisees appear to be clean on the outside, but inside they are full of greed and wickedness. As long as we keep sinful thoughts, bitterness, anger, jealousy, lust and hatred inside of us, we still remain unclean no matter how often we perform religious ceremonies.
How can our inner person be cleansed? How can we clean our consciences, minds and hearts and keep them from contamination? How can we have sound minds and tender and pure hearts? By a ritual ceremony? Transcendental meditation? Religious activities? Good works? Is there any medication that can clean our minds? No. Only the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ who became the atoning sacrifice on the cross for all our sins can cleanse our inner person. The blood of Jesus can make us whole both inside and outside. The blood of Jesus can make us fully alive and grow in the image of God our Father. Hebrews 9:13-14 reads, “The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!”
We all want to experience healing. We are to come to Jesus just as we are and be washed by his blood. In Revelation chapter 7, we read that one day John the Apostle saw a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. They fell down before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!” Who were these people? One of the elders answered to John, “There are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore, ‘they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’” (Rev 7:14-17) What great salvation, comfort and healing we have through the blood of Jesus Christ!
Look at verse 41. “But give what is inside the dish to the poor, and everything will be clean for you.” Why didn’t Jesus tell the Pharisee to repent his sin of greed? Why did he tell him to give what is inside to the poor? Jesus’ point might be that giving to the poor generously would prove that the person had cleansed himself inwardly. 1 John 3:17-18 reads, “If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.”
I believe that Jesus wanted to share the gospel with the Pharisee who invited him. But the problem was that most Pharisees were spiritually blind. (11:33-36) They needed to first see beneath the surface of their own self-righteousness. In order to open their spiritual eyes, Jesus had to expose what was hidden behind the glittering outside. The content of verses 42-52 is pretty messy and ugly. Jesus opened the deep secrets of the Pharisees. It was like performing a spiritual surgery to remove malignant cancer tumors growing inside the Pharisees. Six “woe”s are spoken, three against the Pharisees and the other three against experts in the law.
The word “woe” is a word we don’t really use today. According to Webster’s dictionary, “woe” is an expression of deep sorrow, grief or distress. It’s a very strong and uncomfortable word. But Jesus said six “woe”s out of deep compassion for the Pharisees so that they could have a realistic self-awareness as hopeless sinners and come to God in repentance. Unless we realize that we are ugly and hopeless sinners, we don’t desperately come to Jesus.
Read verse 42. “Woe to you Pharisees, because you give 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.” What was their problem? They were disobedient to God. Although they seemed to obey the law of tithing meticulously, they were actually law-breakers. How is this? It’s because they neglected the major subjects of God’s law, justice and the love of God.
One of the signs of one’s spirituality is humility and genuine service of others. But the Pharisees were far from these. Look at verse 43. “Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the most important seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces.” These Pharisees considered themselves as the elite of the nation. They thought that they were better and more important than others. Therefore, instead of serving others, they sought honor and recognition from men. A few years ago, I visited Korea as a part of the world mission journey team. It took nearly 20 hours to get there. I was very tired when I finally arrived at the hosting UBF chapter in Korea which was responsible for assigning rooms for the guests. I found that they hadn’t assigned a room for me. My name was not even on the list of guests. Although I knew that it was a mistake, I got upset. I said to myself, “I have been a missionary for more than 25 years. And they forget to assign me a room, I mean, a nice and decent room? How dare they?” But soon I felt ashamed of myself, remembering that I am only a servant of Jesus Christ, not a VIP. We love to be recognized and honored by others. As we grow older, the more we feel that we deserve some honor and recognition. But the true sign of discipleship is humility and servant-ship, not a VIP mentality.
Look at verse 44. In this verse, Jesus compared the hypocritical spiritual leaders to unmarked graves, which men walk over without knowing it. Recently, Bernie Madoff was convicted of operating a Ponzi scheme that has been called the largest investment fraud ever committed by a single person in the US history. Many people trusted him and invested their money, not knowing that he was nothing but a thief. The Pharisees, the Sadducees and teachers of the law were supposed to be a source of purification and role models in society. Many people put their trust in their spiritual leadership and followed their teachings. But after following their leadership, the spiritual condition of most Israelites had gotten worse than before. They also rejected Jesus as the leaders did. That’s why Jesus called the hypocritical leaders “unmarked graves.”
Look at verse 45. “One of the experts in the law answered him, ‘Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us also.” In Jesus’ time, there were around 6,000 Pharisees in Israel. Unlike the priests in the temple, the Pharisees were lay people, who had committed themselves to the observance of the Law of God. Among them were a small group of people, who were professional Bible scholars. They were called the experts in the law, who had authority to interpret the law of God. Listening to what Jesus said, one of the experts in the law felt really offended and politely asked Jesus to clarify his statement, “Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us also.” (45b) He was saying “Are you talking to us also?”
How did Jesus answer him? Jesus didn’t apologize. Instead, he said three more “woe”s against the experts in the law. Read verse 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.’” In fact, a Bible teachers’ sin can be more serious than other people’s sins. The experts in the law had made so many small regulations and detailed rules that people’s lives, which were already burdensome, had become unbearably difficult. So they drove people away from God. But Jesus was different. Jesus took away their burdens and gave them rest and comfort and brought them close to God. He proclaimed in Matthew 11:28-30, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and by burden is light.”
Look at verses 47-51. The second charge against the experts in the law in these verses is related to the first one. In these verses, Jesus strongly warned them that they were responsible for the blood of all the prophets that had been shed since the beginning of the world, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah. When the Pharisees and the teachers of the law in Jesus’ time erected the tombstones for the late prophets who were martyred by the hands of their ancestors, they appeared to be different from their forefathers. But they were not different. Why? It’s because they were not following the teachings of the prophets. The fact is that they would kill Jesus the Son of God, the Messiah, who challenged them with the truth of God, like the prophets.
The third charge is the most serious one. Look at verse 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.” Why would these Bible scholars have failed to enter God’s kingdom and even become a major hindrance to God and God’s people? It’s because of their spiritual pride, considering that only they, nobody else, possessed the truth of God, when in actuality they distorted the Scripture, overly emphasizing the Law and ignoring the Prophets. They had no listening ear for any of God’s servants, not to mention to hear the Son of God who was sent from God. We as Bible teachers must not repeat the same mistake of the experts in the law.
We don’t want to be hypocritical. But the problem of hypocrisy is certainly not limited to the Pharisees in Jesus’ time. In our culture, appearances are very important. People care more about how they appear to others than about what they’re really like inside. It’s easy for us Christians to be concerned about appearance more than what is inside and tend to become hypocritical. Sometimes, it’s very painful to see reality. So people tend to hide ugly things away. Anyone who is in Christ is a new creation. But it does not mean that our inner problems are gone with the wind. Do we really believe that power of God’s grace through the blood of Jesus Christ? Yes. Then, we don’t need to be frustrated about facing ourselves. We need to be honest about ourselves before God. We need to see beneath the glittering surface even though it may be a little messy. We need the courage to be transparent and even vulnerable because God’s grace is not superficial. The power of God’s grace through the blood of Jesus is effective. As we allow it to work in our inner person, we can be healed and become healthy. Our emotions, mind, heart and our relationship with others and with God can become sound and healthy. It may take a lifetime but we can be sure that we are being changed and transformed little by little into the beautiful image of our Lord Jesus Christ. We know that God who called us in Jesus is trustworthy. We must believe that He who began a good work in us will carry it onto completion until the day of Jesus’ return. God sees both inside and outside of us. He is willing to cure us and make us whole. We don’t need to pretend. Let us not remain superficial but see beneath the surface, fixing our eyes on the grace of God that is in our Lord Jesus Christ. We can be honest about ourselves before God with the confidence in God’s unchanging love.