LURKING
LAWYERS
LUKE
11:45-54
Luke
11:45 Then answered one of the lawyers, and said unto him, Master, thus saying
thou reproachest us also.
Susie: This man
was a scribe who was an expert in God’s law. Scribes were copyists and
teachers, discerning the fine points of applying the Law. Most of the scribes
were strict Pharisees but some were Sadducees. This man identified with the
Pharisees Jesus had declared to be hypocrites.
Susan: The
scribe told Jesus that if He was pointing out infractions of the Pharisees, He
was accusing the scribes, the lawyers, too.
Luke
11:46 And he said, Woe unto you also, ye lawyers! for ye lade men with burdens
grievous to be borne, and ye yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your
fingers.
Susie: The
scribes and Pharisees added to the Law of Scripture or defined it in such a way
as to make it impossible to follow. They burdened the people with meticulous
rules concerning Sabbath observance, cleanliness, tithes, etc.
Susan: However,
the scribes and Pharisees themselves gave attention and obedience only to those
things that could be observed and applauded by others.
Susie: Meanwhile,
they did not keep the primary commandments of loving God and loving others.
They did nothing to help their fellow Jews observe the restrictions they placed
on them.
Susan: The
traditions that the scribes and Pharisees instituted in addition to the Law was
like placing the weight of the world upon the people, and no individual could
bear it successfully. They set their fellow Jews up to fail.
Susie: Then
they paraded themselves about as if better than everyone else because of their
outward observances.
Susan: They
feigned holiness while their inward person was filthy.
Matthew
23:3-4 All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but
do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not. For they bind heavy
burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they
themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.
Luke
11:47-48 Woe unto you! for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and your
fathers killed them. Truly ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your
fathers: for they indeed killed them, and ye build their sepulchres.
Susan: Let’s
look at the cross reference to this in the Gospel of Matthew:
Matthew
23:29-32 (MSG) “You’re hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds!
You build granite tombs for your prophets and marble monuments for your saints.
And you say that if you had lived in the days of your ancestors, no blood would
have been on your hands. You protest too much! You’re cut from the same cloth
as those murderers, and daily add to the death count.
Susan: The
scribes and Pharisees were pretenders, wearing a façade of righteousness. The
true nature of many of them was evil and deceitful.
Susie: This
is because they were, in fact, deceived by Satan. Their eyes were blinded to
the fact that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God.
Susan: They
made a public display of honoring the slain prophets of old because they had an
insatiable appetite for the accolades of the crowd. However, at the same time
they were filled with iniquity because they were plotting the premeditated
murder of Jesus.
Luke
11:49-51 Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and
apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute: That the blood of all
the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required
of this generation; From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias which
perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be
required of this generation.
Susie: The
scribes and Pharisees were no better than their forefathers who had slain God’s
prophets. Their generation would be the culmination of this tendency to kill
the messengers of God when they had Jesus crucified and initiated the
persecution of His followers. Abel and Zachariah were the first and last
recorded martyred prophets in the Old Testament, representing all the righteous
men who had been slaughtered. The judgement of God to which Jesus referred is
thought to be the destruction of Jerusalem by Rome in A.D. 70 only about forty
years after Jesus declared this prophecy. That would be within the lives of the
people Jesus was speaking to at the time, within their generation.
Luke
11:52 Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye
entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered.
Susan: Because
of the way these “doctors of the law” twisted scripture, they created confusion
and misinterpretation of God’s word.
Susie: This
caused them to be blinded to the truth that God had sent His Son Jesus to them
to save them from their sin and bondage to Satan.
Susan: Since
the scribes and the Pharisees could not
comprehend the truth themselves, they were, by their false teaching, preventing
others from understanding they keys of knowledge which is the word of God.
Susie: Rather
than helping people enter the Kingdom of God as these religious leaders should
have, they were hindering them from pursuing the key to Heaven that Jesus
offered.
Luke
11:53-54 And as he said these things unto them, the scribes and the Pharisees
began to urge him vehemently, and to provoke him to speak of many things:
Laying wait for him, and seeking to catch something out of his mouth, that they
might accuse him.
Susan: Jesus
left the Pharisee’s house, but many of the scribes and Pharisees followed Him
continuing to harass Him and lying in wait for any opportunity to cause Him to
stumble.
Susie: They
were pursuing Jesus like a hunter pursues an animal, trying to ensnare Him in
His own words in order to accuse Him of sedition or blasphemy.
Susan: They
would eventually resort to trumped up charges and false witnesses to achieve
their goal of judging Him guilty of something worthy of death in order to
deliver Him over for trial and crucifixion.
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