Post by M.R. Hagerty on Oct 7, 2023 20:20:48 GMT -7
Luke 11:37-54
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.
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. 43 "Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the chief seats in the synagogues and the respectful greetings in the market places. 44 "Woe to you! For you are like concealed tombs, and the people who walk over them are unaware of it."
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. 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.'
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." 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. (Luke 11:37-54)
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Commentary
Luke 11:37-39
37 . . a Pharisee asked Him to have lunch with him; . . . he was surprised that He had not first ceremonially washed before the meal.
This first appears as though Jesus is disrespecting a ceremonial law that the Pharisee is doing obediently, but about which Jesus is being casual.
Put simply, there was no law that the Jews were required to wash before eating. There were a number of specific commands to wash in respect to offerings in the temple or as ceremonial cleansings after having touched something that defiled a person. But nothing was required before eating a meal.
So what we have is a case of tradition mandated by the leaders of Judaism and they had been entrusted with the oracles of God.
This is how referential authority can slip. A body of men can introduce a ritual or a law on the basis that they are doing so to preserve a biblical precept (ceremonial cleanliness) and it eventually becomes indistinct from the received Law in the mind of later generations.
Luke 11:40-44
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
They are called foolish for not discerning this – that God made both the inside and the outside. This seems a strange way to answer because the idea expressed is not direct but requires some contemplation. The idea is that the Pharisees are busy worrying about the outside in terms of defilements on the basis that God made the outside of the body and wishes it to be holy and clean, hence, their neglect of the inside suggests that the inner man was not made to be clean also.
This He calls foolishness. It is foolishness because the slightest contemplation about the way man works would have clarified that evil is born out of the heart.
”give that which is within as charity”
This is to say that if you do all things out of love, the worry about defilements will be set back into its proper proportion and many things formerly only illegal by human ordinances will actually disappear when love is the aim. If love were preferred, things like proper work on the Sabbath, or whether it was necessary to wash before eating would be seen correctly rather than legalistically.
42 "But woe to you . . you pay tithe of mint . . . yet disregard justice and the love of God;
The Greek for tithe is ‘apodekatoo’ – pronounced apo-deka-tah-oh and it meant the giving of one tenth.
Tithing concerned first fruits of things produced. The man in his field was to give a tithe of the best portion to the Lord of what he harvested. The Pharisees wished to be seen as ahead of the pack in religious obedience, so they tithed also on exotic things ordinarily out of the mainstream and in remarkably small quantities, so as to be seen as exemplars of faithfulness to the Law.
Jesus is saying that they spend considerable energy making sure their tithe is seen as exhaustively compliant, but they disregard the precepts of justice and love.
But these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.
Jesus is not saying these things were wrong.. He is telling them that their diligence is commendable, but not at the expense of the more worthy duties.