Rituals vs Realities Luke 11:37-54 In the Christian life, what matters most is who and what we are inward, not outward appearance and practices. The outward reflects what we are inwardly and conscious of. Nothing is hidden in the sight of God, who looks on the heart. People can only see outward appearance, but even then, some things can be seen that give a glimpse of what a person truly is like. Believers in Christ have a fundamental responsibility to live before God in a way that pleases Him. Our social status and reputation in the world do not give value to our life and testimony as those who know the Lord Jesus as our own Savior.
How we respond to opposition from those who rebel against God and His word is evidence of the reality of our faith in Him. Persecution of one kind or another is to be expected by those who “live godly in Christ Jesus.” That is not something to fear or hope to avoid. However, some of the opposition that is directed toward Bible-believing Christians will come in a cloak of religion. Rules of men, laws imposed on people based only on human opinions, can quickly undermine the reality of faith and substitute that with man-made rituals.
Our Lord addressed that when He was invited to a Pharisee’s house for a meal. He graciously accepted the invitation, knowing what was behind it. At that table with the Pharisees were lawyers who were scribes considered experts in interpreting the law of Moses. Those religious leaders likely had planned this event to trap Jesus into doing or saying something for which they could condemn Him. They openly disagreed with Jesus over what the law meant and the religious practices they had imposed on those who followed them.
Knowing the deception in the hearts of all men, the Lord Jesus took the initiative to open the discussion by not going through a ceremonial washing before eating. This had been an addition to the law that had been put into the tradition of the Jews by religious leaders. Washing had been instructed to the priests in Israel before engaging in holy things. That practice had been imposed on everyone by those who were only concerned with outward appearance.
Israel had been intended to be a kingdom of priests, but they did not submit to God’s word and will and chose a golden calf. The Lord opened this dialogue by pointing out their distorted understanding of the truth that illustrated the “unhealthy eyes” that gave bad eyesight, which Luke had just previously written as He wrote down the Lord’s teaching to His disciples. We all need to have our eyes “anointed with heavenly eye salve” to “rightly divide the word of truth.” We need to make sure we understand the truth in the way God gave it.
It is possible to be careful and picky about little things with no real purpose while overlooking or disregarding those things in our hearts. We might think we are “clean” like the Pharisees appeared outwardly and, at the same time, have all kinds of evil thoughts and intentions inside. Those things in a person’s heart are real in contrast to the rituals we may go through in the name of religion. A person may faithfully adhere to religious practices, observe special days, and do outward things to soothe their conscience or impress other people. More important is doing what God wants, such as privately meeting the needs of people instead of extracting religious requirements from them.
The Pharisees demanded ten percent of everything, even insignificant herbs in the gardens of people. They did that and felt good about themselves when they ensured people knew what they did. It is far more important to have a clean heart than clean hands. Truth in the heart will keep unclean things from affecting the things we do with our bodies.
Our Lord Jesus Christ highlighted some important matters to those at that table. First, they had washed outside but were not clean inside. Second, they remembered to give a tenth of every little thing like mint from their garden, which was of very little value, but neglected justice, which is of great value. Third, they loved to have praise and attention from people focused on them but passed over the love of God. Fourth, they put heavy religious demands on people but would not help them carry their burdens. Fifth, they wouldn’t accept the truth about the Lord Jesus Christ and wanted to kill Him like their fathers killed the prophets in the past. Sixth, they weren’t satisfied with not believing in Him themselves; they also wanted to keep other people from believing in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Each believer in the Lord Jesus Christ needs to consider the importance of being consistent in what we do and say and what we truly believe. Pharisees had three woes pronounced on them because they neglected justice and love for God. We can easily do this today if we focus our eyes on people and things rather than on our Lord. Similarly, a “woe” is placed on people-pleasers who are more concerned with what others think about them than doing what is right. Another “woe” is on those who pretend to be something they are not.
“Woes” are also on those who have all the answers but don’t know the problem. To put burdens on others that we choose to avoid ourselves is abhorrent behavior. Another “woe” is to venerate people who opposed the truth of God in the past and do the same thing to people in the present. To reject the Lord is to reject the Wisdom of God. Rejecting what is written in the scripture is rejecting God also because the scriptures are His own words to us.
Those Pharisees and lawyers were plotting to kill Jesus, and by doing so, they would be guilty of the blood of the prophets who looked forward to the coming of the Lord Jesus as the Messiah. From the murder of Abel, whose blood sacrifice represented the substitutionary work of the seed of the woman who would bruise Satan’s head, to the murder of Zacharias, our Lord was prophesied to come as the fulfillment of the message of those prophets. There He was, right before them, and they had the same hostility toward Him as their forefathers had toward those who told them the truth.
Still, they continued to cross-examine the Lord Jesus as they deliberately kept themselves and those who listened to them ignorant of the way of salvation. They “shut the door of heaven in people’s faces” [Mat.23:13]. Pharisees and scribes thought they knew what God wanted more than others, but their hearts were far from God. They honored people who were killed for telling the truth and were willing to do the same themselves. We may not know a whole lot, but we do know the Wisdom of God, who is our Lord and Savior. He is the Source of all wisdom and understanding. It is important that we believe what God says, even though we don’t know all it means. By faith, we live to please Him and obey what He says rather than listen to men’s opinions and/or live on our own.
LUKE 12 WARNINGS