Luke 11:33-54

Jesus spent much of His ministry teaching the truth to those who would listen – sometimes they would respond by obeying and proclaiming the truth while others would ignore and reject it. In Luke 11:33 Jesus teaches His listeners concerning the proper response to the truth and tells the parable of the lighted lamp saying, “No one, when he has lit a lamp, puts it in a secret place or under a basket, but on a lampstand, that those who come in may see the light.” The lamp represents the word of God (the truth) and when a person willingly receives it, he should share it with others rather than keeping it to himself. Jesus then uses the eye as the entryway of these teachings and He declares, “The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, when your eye is good, your whole body also is full of light. But when your eye is bad, your body also is full of darkness” (11:34). When the eye focuses on truth, the body will be full of light; but when the eye focuses on that which is evil, the body will be full of darkness. Jesus cautions those listening about what they permit to come into their eye and He says, “Therefore take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, the whole body will be full of light, as when the bright shining of a lamp gives you light” (11:35-36). The people listening to Jesus had every opportunity to respond to the truth, but many chose to ignore the truth and would spend their lives living in darkness.

As Jesus spoke, a Pharisee invited Him to eat at his home but when Jesus arrived to dine, the Pharisee was surprised that He did not “first wash before dinner” (11:37-38). The Pharisees were a religious group consumed with outward rituals and numerous man-made traditions while ignoring the condition of a person’s heart. When Jesus perceived that this man was disappointed over His “lack of respect” for the ritual washings He said, “Now you Pharisees make the outside of the cup and dish clean, but your inward part is full of greed and wickedness. Foolish ones! Did not He who made the outside make the inside also?” (11:39-40). There was something seriously flawed in the religious views of the Pharisees because they obsessed over everything concerning the outward appearance and actions but at the same time ignoring the true nature of their heart. Although the Pharisees gave money, they ignored “justice and the love of God” (11:42a). Jesus said that while giving was not a bad thing, they should have done the other things also (11:42b). The Pharisees were filled with pride and desired only the best seats in the synagogue (11:43). Jesus pronounced a warning to the Pharisees saying, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like graves which are not seen, and the men who walk over them are not aware of them” (11:44). The Pharisees had mastered covering up their inward sins through doing external works in order to appear spiritual before others; however, Jesus declared them to be dead on the inside much like an unmarked grave.

Upon hearing Jesus’ condemnation of the Pharisees, a lawyer/scribe (interpreter of the Old Testament law) said, “Teacher, by saying these things You reproach us also” (11:45). Jesus quickly spoke up saying, “Woe to you also, lawyers! For you load men with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers” (11:46). The scribes had created additional commandments which were not found in Scripture and held people accountable for obeying these man-made laws. Jesus was condemning this sort of legalism and bondage; in fact, He accused them of being no better than those who killed the prophets of God (11:47-51). Instead of exposing the truth, the scribes had “taken away the key of knowledge” and kept it hidden under their burdensome commandments (11:52). When the scribes and Pharisees heard what Jesus had said, they became angry and sought “…to catch Him in something He might say, that they might accuse Him” (11:53-54). The scribes and Pharisees did not understand that the inward man was just as important as the outward man. Without a change of heart, there can be no real change of actions.

Dear God, may my heart be pure so that my actions will also be pure.