Luke 11:37-52

The letter of the Law kills and prevents us from entering into His loving peace. 

Seek the knowledge of the Scriptures in the salvation offered to us in Christ Jesus. His peace He gives to us, not as society or culture defines it, but as God says it is. The truth without mercy achieves nothing. Mercy without truth is the same.

Jesus is the truth of the Godhead…let Him reign in our heart.

Judgment and the love of God—in Matthew 23:25, “judgment, mercy, and faith” is a reference to Micah 6:6–8, whose third element of all acceptable religion, “walking humbly with God,” comprehends both “love” and “faith.” The same tendency to merge greater duties in less besets us still, but it is the characteristic of hypocrites. 

Jesus contrasts external purity (proper behavior) with internal cleansing (transformation of the heart). Justice and love for God echoes the two greatest commandments, as well as the teaching of the prophets. Faithlife Bible.

A person can become like light, a living picture of what God’s Word teaches, by concentrating on the light of the truth. Jesus pointed out that the Pharisees concerned themselves with outward appearances and ritual cleanness, while what was inside, what really counts, was full of selfishness and evil. The Law spoke of tithing all produce, but what constituted food was debated. Some Pharisees took the strictest interpretation and counted almost anything, including spices. However, they neglected two basic things that the prophets also had warned about: love and justice.

Jesus applied His woes to lawyers as well as to the Pharisees. In everyday Greek, the term translated burdens refers to a ship’s cargo. The idea is that a heavy strain was being imposed on the people and yet, in the end, this burden did not bring them closer to God. Here Jesus rebuked the tradition that had grown up around the Law of Moses. Was Jesus accusing the scribes of hypocrisy in not practicing what they taught and in making distinctions that freed them from obligations, as they did with oath? Or was Jesus simply accusing the scribes of not offering aid and compassion to those who tried to follow their rules? The second interpretation is more likely, since the Pharisees were known for adhering to the Law.

They had received and would receive judgment for the way they treated God’s prophets. The judgment here refers specifically to the fall of Jerusalem in a.d. 70, and ultimately to the final judgment of God in the Tribulation.

Jesus charged the lawyers with doing the opposite of what they claimed their calling to be. Rather than bringing people nearer to God, they had removed the possibility of their entering into that knowledge, and had prevented others from understanding as well. NKJ Bible.

Jesus contrasts external purity (proper behavior) with internal cleansing (transformation of the heart).

Luke 11:37-52

37 And as He spoke, a certain Pharisee asked Him to dine with him. So He went in and sat down to eat. 38 When the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that He had not first washed before dinner.

39 Then the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees make the outside of the cup and dish clean, but your inward part is full of greed and wickedness. 40 Foolish ones! Did not He who made the outside make the inside also? 41 But rather give alms of such things as you have; then indeed all things are clean to you.

42 “But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass by justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. 43 Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. 44 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.”

“Woes” on the Lawyers

45 Then one of the lawyers answered and said to Him, “Teacher, by saying these things You reproach us also.”

46 And He said, “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. 47 Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. 48 In fact, you bear witness that you approve the deeds of your fathers; for they indeed killed them, and you build their tombs. 49 Therefore the wisdom of God also said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill 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 to the blood of Zechariah who perished between the altar and the temple. Yes, I say to you, it shall be required of this generation.

52 “Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered.”

Matthew 23:4 | For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.

Matthew 23:23 | “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.

Matthew 23:25 | “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence.