Woe to you, Pharisees!: A Reflection on Luke 11:37-53
While he was speaking, a Pharisee invited him to dine with him; so he went in and took his place at the table. The Pharisee was amazed to see that he did not first wash before dinner. Then the Lord said to him, ‘Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You fools! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? So give for alms those things that are within; and see, everything will be clean for you.
‘But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and herbs of all kinds, and neglect justice and the love of God; it is these you ought to have practised, without neglecting the others. Woe to you Pharisees! For you love to have the seat of honour in the synagogues and to be greeted with respect in the market-places. Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without realizing it.’
One of the lawyers answered him, ‘Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us too.’ And he said, ‘Woe also to you lawyers! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not lift a finger to ease them. Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your ancestors killed. So you are witnesses and approve of the deeds of your ancestors; for they killed them, and you build their tombs. Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, “I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute”, so that this generation may be charged with the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be charged against this generation. Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.’
When he went outside, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be very hostile towards him and to cross-examine him about many things, lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say. (Luke 11: 37-53)
Our Gospel today is both powerful and disturbing. This is one of those images of Jesus we would rather do without. This scene begins when a Pharisee, who invited Jesus to dinner, is scandalized that Jesus didn’t perform the ceremonial washing of his hands before eating. And this is what sets Jesus off on pronouncing 17 verses of woes.
“Woe to you lawyers and Pharisee’s, hypocrites!” Woe, woe, woe, for 17 verses.
What is Jesus so upset about? I mean this is the same guy who talks about forgiveness and love, and here, he’s not just reprimanding the Pharisees, but he’s also condemning them to hell!
Listen to his language! He calls them hypocrites, he calls them liars, he calls
them murderers. And he tells them not only will they not go to heaven, but they’re keeping other people from entering heaven as well! That’s condemning them to hell!
I love the way this passage ends, “After Jesus had left this gathering, the scribes and Pharisee’s began to manifest fierce hostility toward him.” Really? If someone called me a liar, a hypocrite, and a murderer, and said that, not only was I going to hell, but I was taking other people with me, I’d probably begin to manifest some fierce hostility toward them too!
So what’s going on here? OK, the basis of the Mosaic law is the Decalogue, the 10 Commandments. Then the books of Deuteronomy and Leviticus, flesh out the Decalogue. They explain what’s entailed in the 10 Commandments.
There were some 614 precepts of the Law that had to be kept. Our equivalent today would be the Code of Canon Law. Canon Law explains what is entailed in Church teaching. Jesus doesn’t have a problem with ANY of that. What Jesus has a problem is what happens next.
When the rise of the Pharisaic movement about 200 before Jesus was born, the Pharisees added ANOTHER set of laws that they called the “fence.” (I can’t remember what the actual Hebrew word is). But the idea was that this new set of laws made absolutely sure you didn’t break any of the other 614 precepts of the Mosaic Law.
For example, one of the precepts of the Law was that you didn’t boil the flesh of a kid goat in the milk of its mother. The “fence” law that the Pharisees added was, ‘don’t eat meat and dairy in the same meal,’ because if you heeded that, you’d be sure not to violate the precept of the Mosaic Law. Three things developed from these new rules.
One; there were so many of these “fence” laws, even more than the 614 precepts of the Mosaic Law, that faith was reduced to ritual observance only, instead of changing hearts.
Two; some of these fence laws actually under minded what the law was intending. One example Jesus uses when he says to the Pharisees, is this: “the Law says a man must take care of his parents when they are elderly, but you say if a man wants to take the money he had saved to care for his parents and donate it to the temple, he is justified.” That obviously under minds what was intended in the 4th commandment, “Honor thy father and thy mother.”
Third, and most significant; the people who kept all these fence laws developed an attitude of self righteousness that made it impossible for anyone who sinned to repent and be forgiven. THIS is what Jesus has the REAL problem with; because now instead of the Law preparing the people for Messiah to fulfill and complete the Law, these fence laws were actually taking the people a few steps backwards. And this is why he so relentlessly blasts the Pharisees in these seventeen verses.
One thing we must always keep in mind when it comes to our faith, my brothers and sisters, is that God’s intention is always to reconcile each one of us to Him personally, draw the world to Him, and transform us to be living reflections of Him. That’s the goal. May we always stay focused on it.
And blessed be God forever
Father Michael Anthony Sisco
Visitor, Confraternity of Penitents
