Luke 11:37-54 - Be authentic

Religion that only contains an outward facade with no inward reality is a sham. It is meaningless to say the least. That in essence is what Jesus was saying in Luke 11:38-44 and 46-52. In these verses we find Jesus not only talking to some Pharisees and scribes but also about them, as He addressed their hypocrisy. The occasion took place at a lunch at a Pharisee’s home. It was highly probable that Jesus was just one of the invited guests. While the Lord was comfortably seated in a reclining position and eating, His host was taken by surprise. He saw that the Lord did not ceremonially cleanse His hands before He ate. The word "surprised" in verse 38 suggests that disdain must have been written all over the host's face. That host did not realize that the way he saw the problem was the problem. The Lord then rebuked and explained to him.

From there, He launched into the pronouncement of the six woes recorded in this passage. First three were against the Pharisees and the next three against the lawyers or scribes. Notice that the woes pronounced against the lawyers was triggered by a question by a lawyer (verse 45). He felt insulted by what Jesus said about the Pharisees, for they were birds of the same feathers.

It's worth noting here that many of those present were people Jesus must have met in His synagogue attendance. So He was not speaking as an outsider. Bear in mind also that these were religious people overtaken by their mistaken zeal. As a result they couldn't see the two essential components of true religion - faith toward God and love toward man.

The three woes pronounced on the Pharisees were:

- They scrutinized and took great care over the smallest detail of the law but would overlook God's love and justice

- They loved prominence and were full of pride about their position

- They were like buried graves that quietly and insidiously corrupted their nation's life.

The lawyers were rebuked for their incongruences:

- They imposed on others but exempted themselves

- They honoured the dead prophets but consented and participated in killing them

- They taught one thing but acted another, bringing confusion to the people.

Verses 53 -54 tell us that His hard-hitting truths did not sit well with his hearers. They became very adversarial and plotted to trap Him in His words.

These rebukes to the Pharisees and scribes by our Lord serve as a caution to us in our Christian behaviour today. We must never let our religious life be merely a life of outward show without any inward reality. Who we are must be attested by what we do. Our actions must bear relationship with who we are in Christ, on-stage or off-stage. It's said that actions speak louder than our words. And truly, the mark of a Christian is not in what he says, but what he does, even when no one else is looking. Be true to yourself.