44 Woe to you, scribes andPharisees, hypocrites! For you are like graves which are not seen, and the menwho walk over them are not aware of them."
From Luke 11:37 to the end of the chapter Jesus is dealingwith the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, scribes, and the lawyers (who were supposedto be the experts in interpreting the Law of Moses). Many Christians today aregreatly concerned about the rising influences of socialism, humanism,secularism, and social injustice. Yet those evils, great as they are, do nottogether pose the threat to Christianity that the so-called-Christians, who arereally hypocrites, and the false shepherds and pastors do.
Throughout the history of redemption, the greatest threatto God's truth and God's work has been false prophets and teachers, becausethey propose to speak in His name. That is why the Lord's most scathingdenunciations were reserved for the false teachers of Israel, who claimed tospeak and act for God but were liars. Take the time to read Matthew 23 wherethe writer gives even a more detailed description of our Lord’s words ofjudgment upon the hypocrites.
In both Luke 11:37-54 and Matthew 23, Jesus uses the word hypocriteas a synonym for scribe and for Pharisee. He calls them sons of hell, blindguides, fools, robbers, self-indulgent, whitewashed tombs, full of hypocrisyand lawlessness, serpents, vipers, and persecutors and murderers of God'speople. He uttered every syllable with absolute self-control but withdevastating intensity.
The word hypocrite often referred to actors in a play. Someonewho played the part of someone else. Later it came to mean deceitful pretense,the putting on of a false front. It was also used to describe pretendedgoodness, that is simply for show. A hypocrite is someone pretending to be onething on the outside that he or she is not on the inside.
In both Matthew 23 and Luke 11, Jesus repeatedly used twowords, woe and hypocrites. Woe is a word to express grief, despair,sorrow, dissatisfaction, pain, and fear of losing one's life. In the NewTestament it is used to speak of sorrow and of judgment, carrying the mingledideas of punishment and pity, cursing and compassion. But Jesus used woeagainst the scribes and Pharisees not as an exclamation but as a declaration, adivine pronouncement of judgment from God.
Here in Luke 11, Jesus denounced the sins of the Phariseesand called them hypocrites with six "woes". Jesus started with thesins of the Pharisees (Luke 11:42-44) and then turned to the sins of the lawyers,for it was their interpretations of the Law that formed the basis for the wholePharisaical system (Luke 11:45-52).
The Pharisees boasted of their giving (Matt. 6:1-4; Luke18:11-12), but they did not give what was within to the Lord. The way to makethe outside pure is to make the inside pure (Luke 11:41). Kenneth Wuesttranslates this verse, "Rather, the things which are inside give as alms,and behold, all things are clean to you". The way to clean up a dirtyvocabulary is not to brush your teeth but to cleanse your heart.
In the first three "woes" denounce the Phariseesfor their wrong priorities. They were careful about tithing even the tinyleaves and seeds from the herbs, but they forgot about important things likejustice and love (Micah 6:7-8). They majored on the minors! Jesus did not saythey should stop tithing but that they should put their religious activitiesinto proper perspective.
Today, if we are not careful, we easily become hypocritesby our outward religious acts while inside we harbor covetousness, greed, anger,bitterness and unforgiveness. The Lord wants our hearts before He wants ourgifts and service. While people look on our outside, God is looking in ourhearts.
What does He see in your heart today?
God bless!
