Tuesday, June 26, 2018

LUKE 11:45-54 LURKING LAWYERS

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.

Ponder this and Apply it:  The way to right relationship with God is not through legalistically following a list of rules. It is through a heart changed by the grace of God. The scribes and Pharisees were meticulous rule keepers, but Jesus pronounced “woe” on them. Their hearts were far from God, inwardly they were sinful. We need to make sure we are not “all show.” Is our motivation for obedience to “look good” or is it borne of a love for the One who died to save us?

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