Luke 11:41

In Luke chapter 11 Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees. The Pharisees were a group of very religious Jews who were very influential during the time of Christ. Because they were religious does not mean they were right. As a matter of fact these religious people were wrong in many of the things that they did and believed. Often in the gospels Jesus pointed out their errors, just as He was doing in this passage. It’s not enough to simply believe in God. You must also know certain important details that should affect your daily life. Jesus said to the Pharisees in Luke 11:41-44, “But rather give alms of such things as you have; and, behold, all things are clean unto you. But woe unto you, Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought you to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Woe unto you, Pharisees! For you love the uppermost seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aware of them.”

In these verses that we just read, the first thing that Jesus talked about was the subject of giving. The Bible does not talk about giving very often. Therefore, when it does we should pay very close attention. In the teachings of man in regard to religion, the subject of giving is mentioned often. In the teachings of Christ it is not. The Pharisees obviously taught about giving because they gave of their substance. They taught that it was important to do, and they did it. These people were good and faithful at giving, but they were not good at other things that were more important.

In Luke 11:41 Jesus made an important statement about the principle of giving. Jesus said, “But rather give alms of such things as you have; and, behold, all things are clean unto you.” God wants His believers to be giving people. God is a giver. “For God so loved the world that He gave…” God has given us all good things. It says in James that God “gives to all liberally.” He has given life and opportunity and potential. He has given beauty and goodness and truth. He has given His Word. He has given us forgiveness of sins and mercy and grace and eternal life. God is a giver, and He wants His believers to be givers also.

The essence of sin is selfishness. If you learn to give, then you are learning to turn away from sin and selfishness. Doing right involves giving: giving of yourself, giving of your time, giving of your heart. The Pharisees had learned to give of their money, but they had not learned to give of anything else. Almost everything in the Christian life is more important than giving money. If only the Pharisees had leaned what was really important to give! Jesus said that they gave a tithe of their material possessions, but they had passed “over judgment and the love of God.” Judgment in this context refers to the discernment of right and wrong. It was of little value for the Pharisees to tithe, especially when in more important matters they could not even discern the difference between right and wrong.

They did not have discernment probably because they also did not have the “love of God.” They did not have love for God. They had love for themselves, but they did not have love for God. Motivation is everything. Why you do what you do is just as important as what you do. We know from elsewhere in the gospels that the Pharisees gave all right, but they gave in order to be seen of men. We know that to love God is the greatest of all commandments. If you keep all the other commandments but do not keep this one, then you have really kept none at all.

Jesus had more to say about the Pharisees in Luke 11:43-44. He said, “Woe unto you, Pharisees! For you love the uppermost seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aware of them.” The involvement of the Pharisees in organized religion was not so that they could better serve God. It was so they could gain certain advantages for themselves: the uppermost seats in the synagogues and the greetings in the market places.

The reason the Pharisees were like this is because they were spiritually dead. Jesus compared them to graves. He said they were like unknown graves that people walked over without knowing they were walking on a grave. Sometimes people who are in religious organizations have a reputation to be servants of God, but in their hearts they are spiritually dead. Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Ye must be born again.” Everyone without exception must experience the spiritual birth through faith in Christ or they remain spiritually dead. The reason that the Pharisees became hypocrites is because they attempted to serve God with their own efforts without ever having a spiritual renewal.

In Luke 11:45-51 the Bible says, “Then answered one of the lawyers, and said unto him, Master, thus saying you are reproaching us also. And he said, Woe unto you also, you lawyers! For you laid men with burdens grievous to be born, and you yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers. Woe unto you! For you build the sepulchers of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. Truly you bear witness that you allowed the deeds of your fathers: for they indeed killed them and you build their sepulchers. 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 to the blood of Zacharias who perished between the alter and the temple: verily I say unto you, it shall be required of this generation.”

Jesus had just finished pronouncing judgment and woe upon the religious hypocrites known as the Pharisees. Other religious people standing by heard Him and at least had the sense to realize that what Jesus was saying applied to them also. Organized religion tends to degenerate just as all human organizations do, all the way from the greatest nations to a local bridge club. The degeneration of human religion usually manifests itself with outward ceremony and ritual instead of inward spirituality, and with self-righteousness instead of the humility that would accompany someone who understands his own sinfulness and dependence upon God’s mercy and forgiveness.

These to whom Jesus was speaking were not lawyers in the same sense that we know them today. Therefore, this is not a condemnation of lawyers in our society. The lawyers in the time of Christ were lawyers concerning the Old Testament law. The Jewish society of 2,000 years ago was very much involved with and controlled by the Old Testament law and by those who interpreted the Old Testament law. The lawyers of that day had an important part in interpreting the Old Testament law and telling people what they had to do to keep the law and to avoid being punished by the religious authorities. Of course, these lawyers made the same mistake that most people make who look at religious law and attempt to make too rigorous of an application of these laws to their daily lives. And we know that they had become very intrusive into the lives of people, telling them what they should and should not do in every detail of life. In this very passage Jesus was condemned because He did not do a ceremonial washing of His hands that the religious people insisted should be done.

Jesus was condemned by these people many times in the gospels. He was condemned for picking grain on the Sabbath day in order to satisfy the normal hunger possessed by Him and the disciples. Jesus was condemned for healing sick people on the Sabbath. Jesus was condemned because He did not make His disciples fast like other religious groups. Jesus was condemned and criticized because He was a friend of sinners.

The religious people of the world who emphasize the keeping of the law often make the same mistakes that were made by these teachers of the law. Jesus said that they laid burdens upon people that they themselves could not bear. From their positions of authority in religious organization, they look down upon the common man. Their teachings do the opposite of the teachings of Jesus. Jesus said, “Take my yoke upon you and learn of me. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” If you bear heavy burdens, maybe you have been listening to self-righteous Pharisees and teachers of the law. They will give you heavy burdens to bear. It’s no wonder that Jesus condemned them so greatly. They teach the opposite of what the gospel teaches.

These teachers of the law teach that which is false. They also oppose those who teach the truth. The opposition is so strong that they even become murderers. Surely someone would not become a murderer just because they disagree on religious teachings! But that is exactly what has happened many times over the centuries. Don’t be surprised. If you try to serve God, you will find that some of your most severe opposition will come from those who are rigorous members of religious institutions. This is one of the reasons that Christ talked to them so sternly. What a horrible judgment they will have! They will pay for the lies that they have told, for the hatred that they have held, and for the blood that they have shed. Jesus said that the innocent blood that was shed from the foundation of the world would be required against the false teachers and religious hypocrites that lived in His day. What will be required of the false teachers who live in our day?

In the last part of Luke chapter 11 Jesus had one more thing to say to the religious people who opposed Him. The Bible says in Luke 11:52-54 with Jesus speaking in verse 52, “Woe unto you, lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge: you entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in you hindered. 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.”

Salvation involves knowing what is true. You cannot believe the truth unless you know it, and you cannot know it unless you discover it in some way such as by hearing it. Jesus said that these religious hypocrites had “taken away the key of knowledge.” The key of knowledge is probably the key point or the central theme of the concept of salvation. How does a person become rightly related to God? How does a person have their eternal destiny settled so that they end up with God in eternal bliss? There is a “key” to understanding this vital question. In regards to these religious hypocrites the “key” centers around the difference between the law and grace. If you do not understand the difference between law and grace, then you may never get saved. If you emphasize the law in the wrong way or teach the law in the wrong way, then you are making a big mistake. “The law came by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” The law cannot save. It can only condemn, if you fail in just one point.

Those who emphasize the law in the wrong way will place heavy burdens on people that they themselves cannot carry. They will also be negative and critical and condemning. There is law and there is grace. Often religious hypocrites will talk a lot about the law, ignoring grace. Every person will be given an opportunity to enter into the grace of God. Those who do not take their opportunity have left themselves in a terrible position. “What shall it prophet a man should he gain the whole world, but lose his own soul?” If you do not understand the difference between law and grace, you may very well be in that position.

There is only one thing worse than being a legalistic, self-righteous, hypocritical religious person who is self-deceived into thinking the law is the last word; and that’s being such a person and then teaching others in such a way that they also are held under the condemnation and curse of the law. That’s what was wrong with these religious people who opposed Jesus. They would not enter the Kingdom of God, and they hindered others who wanted to enter. The way that they hindered them was by teaching law instead of grace.

I hope that you understand the grace of God that is in Christ Jesus. Gal. 3:13-14 says, “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having been made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangs on a tree. That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”

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