*Luke 11:33-54
Jesus condemns the religious leaders for hiding the truth and warns them of judgment.
- Parable of the Lamp:
- Jesus emphasizes the need for clear perception and discernment, likening it to a lamp placed on a stand to provide light.
- He illustrates that a person with a clear, receptive eye allows light to enter their body, while a corrupt eye leads to darkness.
- He exhorts listeners to ensure their inner light is not darkness, encouraging self-reflection and moral clarity.
- Dinner with a Pharisee:
- A Pharisee invites Jesus to dine, and Jesus accepts the invitation.
- The host is surprised when Jesus does not perform the traditional ceremonial handwashing before eating.
- Jesus rebukes the Pharisees for their concern with outward rituals while neglecting inner purity, advising that inner charity cleanses all things.
- Woes Pronounced on the Pharisees:
- Jesus delivers three condemnations to the Pharisees:
- Criticizes them for prioritizing the tithe of minor herbs while neglecting justice and love of God.
- Rebukes them for seeking honor and prominence in synagogues.
- Compares them to unmarked graves, defiling people unknowingly.
- Jesus delivers three condemnations to the Pharisees:
- Woes Pronounced on the Lawyers:
- After a lawyer complains about being insulted by these condemnations, Jesus also delivers three woes to the lawyers:
- Accuses them of burdening people with laws they themselves don’t follow.
- Condemns them for building tombs for prophets while their ancestors killed them, showing complicity in the prophet-killings.
- Criticizes them for obstructing knowledge, preventing themselves and others from attaining it.
- After a lawyer complains about being insulted by these condemnations, Jesus also delivers three woes to the lawyers:
- Pharisees and Scribes Plot Against Jesus:
- Following this scathing rebuke, the Pharisees and scribes oppose Jesus vehemently.
- They question Him aggressively, seeking to trap Him in His speech.
11:33 No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light.
11:34 The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness.
11:35 Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness.
11:36 If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light.
11:37 And as he spake, a certain Pharisee besought him to dine with him: and he went in, and sat down to meat.
11:38 And when the Pharisee saw it, he marvelled that he had not first washed before dinner.
11:39 And the Lord said unto him, Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness.
11:40 Ye fools, did not he that made that which is without make that which is within also? 11:41 But rather give alms of such things as ye have; and, behold, all things are clean unto you.
11:42 But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
11:43 Woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye love the uppermost seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets.
11:44 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aware of them.
11:45 Then answered one of the lawyers, and said unto him, Master, thus saying thou reproachest us also.
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.
11:47 Woe unto you! for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and your fathers killed them.
11:48 Truly ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your fathers: for they indeed killed them, and ye build their sepulchres.
11:49 Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute: 11:50 That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation; 11:51 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.
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.
11:53 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: 11:54 Laying wait for him, and seeking to catch something out of his mouth, that they might accuse him.