Luke 11:37-42, 45-46, 52 NLT As Jesus was speaking, one of the Pharisees invited him home for a meal. So he went in and took his place at the table. 38 His host was amazed to see that he sat down to eat without first performing the hand-washing ceremony required by Jewish custom. 39 Then the Lord said to him, “You Pharisees are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and wickedness! 40 Fools! Didn’t God make the inside as well as the outside? 41 So clean the inside by giving gifts to the poor, and you will be clean all over.
42 “What sorrow awaits you Pharisees! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore justice and the love of God. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things.
45 “Teacher,” said an expert in religious law, “you have insulted us, too, in what you just said.” 46 “Yes,” said Jesus, “what sorrow also awaits you experts in religious law! For you crush people with unbearable religious demands, and you never lift a finger to ease the burden. … 52 What sorrow awaits you experts in religious law! For you remove the key to knowledge from the people. You don’t enter the Kingdom yourselves, and you prevent others from entering.”
Observation
Pharisees and Scribes were the interpreters and authoritative teachers of the Law – the rabbis/pastors who controlled the synagogues which were the places where people gathered locally for worship. At the time of Jesus, the Law for these two groups included both the Written Law (Torah/Books of Moses) and the Oral Law (their detailed interpretation of how to follow the Law). Both of these groups were placed on a pedestal (highly respected and considered more spiritual) by the people as religious authorities and spiritual examples to follow. Jesus is here accusing them of losing God’s perspective by making an idol of traditions (Oral Law) – “you ignore justice and the love of God. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things.”
This Oral Torah (circa 200 AD codified in the Mishnah) was a code of conduct expanding on the 613 commandments of the Torah, including a wide range of highly detailed rules on ritual and worship practices, interpersonal relationships, dietary rules, Sabbath and festival observances, agricultural practices, and civil claims and damages. In the Mishnah’s 60 plus pages on handwashing rituals for all occasions, neglecting to wash your hands in the proper proscribed manner before eating bread could result in excommunication and/or expectations of God’s direct punishment of poverty or death.
Recognize the location here. Jesus is sitting in a Pharisee’s home at his table. All of the other guests are probably Pharisees, too. Jesus is accusing them of looking good but really being “filthy—full of greed and wickedness” because of their practice of placing intolerable legalistic requirements on the people but contriving ways of avoiding the regulations themselves. Jesus was accusing them of failing to practice what they preached, leaving any sound teaching neutralized and undermined by their hypocrisy. Jesus accuses them of making idols of their traditions, of being self-righteousness, full of outward form but devoid of inner spiritual purity. I wonder what Jesus would say at my table.
Impact on Me
Sometimes we want Jesus to be an “unoffending Jesus”—a version of Jesus who agrees with everything we already think, likes what we already like, and wants us to do what we already wanted to do before we came to Him. We want all the benefit without the sacrifice. But that Jesus is not the Jesus of the Bible. If you reduce Jesus to a cartoon who is not allowed to offend you, then be prepared that such a made-up version of Jesus won’t be able to save or heal you either. I want to constantly be giving the Holy Spirit freedom to clean the inside of me even when it is uncomfortable, shame producing or painful.
I am completely human. I have a tendency to think I am right and, when cranky, tired, impatient or angry, I may decide that I also know what is right for you. In those moments I become those Pharisees, wanting to standardize God’s requirements so I can be the judge of another’s obedience, commitment or faith rather than examining my own obedience to God’s requirements of me.
I have learned through experience that God is not required (or inclined) to live up to my expectations, my plans, my determination of what is right, just or beneficial. He expects me to listen and obey His will, plans and purposes for me while being an encouragement and help to others to do the same. When I start imposing my standards for righteousness on another, I become the problem. I want to be the welcomer on the inside of the gate, not the policeman stopping people outside – “You don’t enter the Kingdom yourselves, and you prevent others from entering.”
Prayer
Father God, Creator of all that exists, You made me human with all of humanity’s faults – emotional, inconsistent, judgmental, rebellious, prideful to name only a few. When I first came to Jesus and embraced His sacrifice for me, You began the process of convincing my soul to listen and obey His Spirit in me rather than its old mentors, my flesh and the world. Today, I seek to be more merciful and gracious, one who encourages and demonstrates Your love for others. Keep me from falling into the very human trap of judging how others are living up to Your standards by reminding me to examine myself to see where we are in the process of my sanctification. Help me never sacrifice love and justice for following rules or traditions. I ask this all in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Pressing On In His Footsteps 
Liz, such a good reminder that there is no place for being judgemental and trying to impose my ‘standards’ on others. Many times God has convicted me of even judgemental thoughts, which are totally contrary to kingdom living. We both loved this Liz.
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