Luke 11:36-54

     A Pharisee invites Jesus to a meal and Jesus seems to court controversy and conflict. Upon arriving at the home, he does not do the ceremonial washing that was customary at the time. The Pharisee notes this with surprise. Although Luke doesn’t tell us that the host comments, Jesus responds in any case. His words are bold saying that the Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and plate, but inside there was nothing but greed and wickedness.
     It is hard not to wonder if part of the story has here been left untold, since the launch into woes to the Pharisees comes so fast and with seemingly little provocation from the man who had invited Jesus to dinner.
     For Christians, “Pharisee” is a symbol of opposition to Jesus, for hypocrisy and enmity to the truth of God. Yet, this may not be a completely accurate picture of the time or their relationship with Jesus. There are some scholars who have speculated upon whether Jesus began himself as a Pharisee, but came to call them to account for their religious and spiritual faults and abuses. This would raise particularly negative emotions on the part of the Pharisees since it would have come off as disloyalty and ‘treason from within.’ There is no evidence, however, so this remains speculation. It is known that the Pharisees were largely responsible for sustaining the faith of Israel through and after the fall of Jerusalem and is remembered positively for the part it played. And it should be remembered that there were Pharisees who believed in Jesus.
     That isn’t to minimize pharisaic abuses and problems. The religious elite of Jesus’ day were often elitist. The ritualistic part of Jewish life was often emphasized far out of proportion than it should have been. If a person didn’t have the time (working class) or the money (again, the poor and the working class) to maintain all the rituals, such as ritual cleansing, then they were often defined by the Pharisees as sinners and unacceptable.
     It is a temptation of religious minded people to emphasize rules and outward regulations or some other specific issue when under duress or other forms of stress. Christians today sometimes pinpoint one or two issues, neglecting many other things Jesus called us to do in the same way. It is easier to define who is acceptable if there is a simple yardstick. But Jesus tended to avoid these. It was that we can be satisfied with a simple seven times forgiving our neighbors, instead should forgive a ridiculously large number of times (implying a number too large to count). It is spiritual and moral cleanliness on the inside, instead of rituals on the outside. Jesus accused the Pharisees of using the tithe of herbs and spices as the measurement, while neglecting justice and the love of God. Why couldn’t they do both?
      Jesus is not here rejecting rituals or things like the tithe. He would himself follow them in a wholesome manner, not for the sake of a rule, but become the ritual can be a healthy and wholesome aid to the spiritual journey.
     To emphasize the appearance of faith with nothing on the inside backing it up is hollow and dangerous. Jesus said the Pharisees liked the places of honor, but they are like unmarked graves.
     At this point, the lawyers got annoyed and spoke up, feeling they’d been insulted as well. And Jesus said it was no better with them. They load people with terrible burdens and give no aid to help people bear it. They are no different than their ancestors who murdered the prophets (who also called Israelites to repentance).
      It is controversies such as these that got people mad enoughto want Jesus dead. No one likes being called a hypocrite. No one wants to be told that their way of doing things has gone off the tracks of what it should be.
     What those who stereotype the Pharisees (and lawyers) of these biblical controversies is that if they didn’t care on some level about being right with God, they probably wouldn’t have been so offended. But it is also instructive that even those who do have this desire can still be on the wrong track in how they act upon it. Is it any wonder that Jesus spent so much time on the sins of self-righteousness and judgmentalism? These are the sins of the religiously inclined - including Christians.
      Sadly, rather than taking his words to heart and seeing to their own faults, these Pharisees and lawyers became his enemies, trying to trap him with his own words.

Who are the “Pharisees” of our world & church today?
How much “Pharisee” lies within you?
For what would Jesus call us to account today?