Luke 11:37 ¶ And as he
spake, a certain Pharisee besought him to dine with him: and he went in, and
sat down to meat. 38 And when the
Pharisee saw it, he marvelled that he had not first washed before
dinner. 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. 40 Ye fools, did not he that made that
which is without make that which is
within also? 41 But rather
give alms of such things as ye have; and, behold, all things are clean unto
you. 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.
43 Woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye love
the uppermost seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets. 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. 45 Then
answered one of the lawyers, and said unto him, Master, thus saying thou
reproachest us also. 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.
47 Woe unto you! for ye build the
sepulchres of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. 48 Truly ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds
of your fathers: for they indeed killed them, and ye build their sepulchres.
49 Therefore also said the wisdom of
God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall
slay and persecute: 50 That the blood of
all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be
required of this generation; 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.
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. 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: 54 Laying wait for him, and seeking to catch
something out of his mouth, that they might accuse him.
The Pharisees had
developed strict rules around ritual washing in their oral law, contrasted with
the literal requirements of the written law.
“The
tradition is unrelated to personal hygiene, and a person is still required to
perform this ritual even if his or her hands are clean. It is also
customary not to speak following the recitation of this blessing until reciting the blessing for bread and
partaking of some…Some passages in the Talmud indicate that failing to wash
hands before a meal is a significant transgression. One talmudic sage even says that
eating bread without washing is tantamount to having sex with a prostitute,
while another says that acting contemptuously toward this ritual causes one to
be uprooted from the world.”
Mark 7:1 ¶ Then came
together unto him the Pharisees, and certain of the scribes, which came from
Jerusalem. 2 And when they saw some of
his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say, with unwashen, hands,
they found fault. 3 For the Pharisees,
and all the Jews, except they wash their
hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders. 4 And when
they come from the market, except they wash, they eat not. And many
other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and pots,
brasen vessels, and of tables.
Jesus tells them they
should clean the inside, giving thanks to God cleaning the spirit inside that
God made and giving to the poor as the Law given to Moses requires, making all
things clean.
Verse 42 cross-references
to;
Matthew 23:23 Woe unto you,
scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin,
and have omitted the weightier matters
of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to
leave the other undone.
Jesus here gives us a
clue as to Cain’s religious motivation in killing his brother, Abel. Yes, he
was envious, but Cain was also pursuing his own religious agenda in opposition
to God. You can find the account of Abel’s murder in Genesis 4, of course, and
you can find the account of Zacharias’ or Zechariah’s stoning in 2Chronicles
24:20-22. Zechariah is the translation of the name from the Hebrew.
Jesus is accusing the
religious elite of having their own agenda at cross-purposes to God’s. The
religious elite that had prophets murdered also had a social status that gave
them privilege that God rejected. The Pharisees are condemned for not only
rejecting the truth but trying to keep others from seeing it. They now want to
try to get Jesus to say something that they can use against Him to do to Him
what their spiritual ancestors did to everyone from Abel to Zechariah.
John 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of
your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in
the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he
speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
John 16:2 They shall put
you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you
will think that he doeth God service.
Christ accuses the
religious elite of mispresenting God and malice, even murder. Then, He warns
the people.
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