Good to Know
(What are some helpful insights into this passage?)
V37-38: The Pharisees were overly concerned about ritual practices, and so were challenged when Jesus did not routinely wash His hands. The washing of hands was not for physical cleanliness but functioned as a "gateway" for the Pharisees' system of purity. The irony of this scene is that the Pharisees were focused on ritual cleansing while neglecting their internal filthiness.
V39-41: Jesus begins His rebuke of the Pharisees and Scribes. What good is the appearance of godliness when internally there is spiritual darkness? The Pharisees allowed ritualistic practices to hinder their ability to exercise true love, becoming greedy and wicked. Jesus challenges the Pharisees and He redefines purity of heart. True cleansing of one’s heart comes not from rituals but through loving God and, as a result, reflecting that love toward those around us.
V42-44: The Pharisees again did the right practices of tithing, but their hearts were not right. They tithed but neglected the love of God and the love of others through justice. The Pharisees loved being at the center of their communities. Again, the sad irony here is that they loved being at the center but neglected the love of God. Jesus highlights this through the illustration of “unmarked graves,” which is an important issue regarding purity. In their pursuit of purity, they became impure.
V45-46: Jesus' rebuke was not reserved for the Pharisees alone, but the lawyers or teachers of the law, too. A “woe” was a prophetic warning/judgment given to people who, in the Gospel of Luke, heard the message of Jesus but still rejected Him. These lawyers allowed God’s Law, the Torah (the first five books of the Old Testament), to become a crushing weight to the Jewish people. God desires us not to be crushed by His Word, for the way of Jesus is described as “easy and light” (see Matt. 11:30). The lawyers themselves do not “touch” these laws, implying their way of finding loopholes out of keeping these burdensome laws.
V47-48: Jesus brings up the prophets of the Old Testament, many of whom were killed by the ancestors of the Pharisees and Lawyers. Jesus invokes this sad and painful memory of Israel’s history to rebuke these religious leaders. They rejected the greatest prophet of all, Jesus Christ, and are guilty of the same sin as their forefathers.
V49-51: Jesus emphasizes the pattern that the religious leaders are on. Jesus is pointing back to the fates of God’s faithful, all the way to, recently, John the Baptist. He is also foreshadowing the fate of those who follow Him, persecution, and ultimately His very own fate, death on the cross.
V52: Jesus ends with this final woe to the religious leaders. They have missed the will of God and, as a result, miss God’s knowledge of salvation. Due to their unclean pursuit of religious practices, they have neglected the love of God and others.
V53-54: The response of the religious leaders, instead of repentance, is increased anger towards Jesus. The sad irony of this account is that the very people who should be leading others to the promised messiah, Jesus, hardened their hearts toward him and hindered others from finding Him.
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