Luke 11:37-12:3 "The Worst Dinner Party"
When the kids were little, I had some rules for the car. They were my rules, not Kim’s. Three rules: 1. No sound effects, 2. No repetition, and 3. No counting. I made those rules to protect my sanity.
We had other rules at home. Like, no screens when the sun is up. No iPads or TV or video games. Basically, during the day, do something that makes you awesome. Learn a musical instrument, paint a picture, draw something, write a song, make a video, make a sculpture, learn how to do a backflip. Ha. I don’t want to brag but they did and that’s why my kids are awesome. Ha.
We also had mealtime rules. The main was, “you don’t have to like your food, you just have to eat it.” And this is why they both have eating disorders. Just kidding, they don’t have eating disorders. Yet. Angel still begins almost every meal by explaining that he’s not really that hungry. They were also not allowed to sing at the table. Or hum. Or tap their foot. Ha.
None of those are commandments given by God. They might have been good rules and they might not have been—but they were rules at our house. And strictly enforced.
I’ll bet most of us here either grew up with some weird rules or when we became parents invented ways to psychologically— I don’t want to say “damage,” but maybe “gently bruise,” “mildly bend”—our kids.
We don’t want to have so many rules that we turn our kids into hypocrites because there’s no way they can keep them all. We also don’t want anarchy. There has to be structure. Expectations.
This doesn’t only apply to parenting. It’s just as true in the laws of the land, the workplace, school, and in the church. Oh boy! Especially in the church.
Today we’re talking about what the religious leaders in the Gospel of Luke did to God’s commandments—they added rule upon rule until the people were crushed and suffocating under a mountain of their man-made laws.
I’m going to say something that might sound strange but I hope it makes sense before we’re done today: The Commandments were made for man, not man for the Commandments.
Luke 11, starting with verse 37…
While Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him, so he went in and reclined at table.
Following all that drama with the Pharisees and Scribes accusing Jesus of being in league with the devil and demons—Jesus said some pretty strong and confrontational things—then one of the Pharisees Jesus had just reamed invited Him over for dinner. It’s a formal dinner, probably a Friday night Sabbath feast. A weekly event where the leaders of the synagogue eat together and whoever is going to teach in the morning gives a little preview of what they’ll be talking about. This particular occasion is going to be the worst dinner party ever.
Jesus shows up and just sits down…
Verse 38…
The Pharisee was astonished to see that he did not first wash before dinner. And the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. Luke 11:38-39
Oh, we’re off to a great start. Jesus doesn’t do the ceremonial show of publicly washing His hands. The word for “washing” is the same word as “baptism” in Greek, “baptizo”—it’s only used for ritualistic cleansing. This was a little virtue signal the Pharisees had added to God’s Commandments.
Jesus didn’t forget to wash His hands. He was making a statement. “Don’t add to God’s Commandments.”
Doesn’t seem like anyone said anything—Jesus just saw them staring at His dry hands in horror. He knew what they were all thinking. But they didn’t know what He was thinking so He told them—He clearly didn’t come to this party to make nice. “You Pharisees. Good grief! You wash the outside of your cups and polish them until they sparkle—but just leave the inside nasty. Mold, bits of food and gross stuff floating in your wine.” They all look in their cups like dummies so He explains that it’s a metaphor. “No, I’m saying you washed your hands like circus performers but your hearts are full of greed and wickedness.”
How do you think the party’s going so far? We’re about two minutes in. Jesus continues.
Verse 40…
You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? But give as alms those things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you. Luke 11:40-41
Calls them “fools.” You think you’re wise but you’re not. You think you’re doing your little hand baptism for God, right? It’s not for Him. Do you think God is more concerned about the dirt on the outside of your hands or the filth inside your hearts? Instead of just washing your hands, why don’t you offer Him your heart? Worship God will all your heart, soul, mind—remember? Those things that are within. Not just a little water on your fingers. Offer God your heart and He’ll make it clean—then you’ll really sparkle. Like He said in last week’s message, “when the light outside you becomes the light inside you will be wholly bright.”
He’s putting it in the context of giving alms. Offerings to God by giving to the poor and in the collection plate at worship.
Verse 42…
“But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. Luke 11:42
This is the first “woe” in this speech—it won’t be the last. Woe is the opposite of blessed. It’s the language of disgust. In Greek, it’s literally the word “οὐαί” (ugh!) It’s the opposite of “Blessed.” “You Pharisees—ugh!” Everyone at the table was a Pharisee of some kind. He’s definitely ruining everyone’s appetite.
The Pharisees prided themselves on knowing God’s Word and keeping all of His Commandments. They even made up extra laws just to make sure they wouldn’t break the actual ones in the Bible.
Tithing is a Commandment God gave His people. It actually predates the law of Moses—it’s built into the fabric of creation. Give God ten percent of any new blessing He gives you—any increase in crops, livestock, money. By giving back ten percent we show that we understand it all came from Him in the first place. God promises that He’ll bless the 90% so you’ll never miss the ten. They were all about the tithe because they were greedy. If you don’t understand why that makes sense then you’ve never tithed. They meticulously kept this law. They counted out ten percent of the flakes of their herbs and spices! But Jesus is clearly mocking them for being so careful to keep the smallest aspects of this command without paying any attention to the big picture. There’s more to Worshiping God than giving ten percent of your income. Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. Imagine what the world would be like if they kept those parts of God’s commands as well as they kept track of how much mint they grew that week.
By the way, sometimes people say Jesus didn’t teach about tithing. Okay. Let’s read that passage again, “You tithe—as you should have done—without neglecting the other things.”
I might point out that it seems like the modern church doesn’t try very hard to do the small things or the big things. What do you think Jesus might say to us? Probably quote Bill’s favorite word from Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure.
Verse 43…
Woe to you Pharisees! (Ugh!) For you love the best seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without knowing it.” Luke 11:43-44
Man, this dinner conversation is really picking up! Jesus going straight for the jugular of their pride. They wanted to sit near the teacher so he’d call on them and they could show how smart they are. They looked forward to greetings in the marketplace because they were filled with flattery and pomp—and lots of fake humility—bowing and saying things like, “Oh, most esteemed and respected Rabbi Sparklefingers! It is indeed an honor to be in your presence.” They definitely wanted everyone to know how holy and righteous they are.
But certain things would immediately make a person unclean—like ceremonially unclean, unable to worship. Unholy. One of them was touching a grave. So, Jesus is really busting on them when He says they, themselves are like unmarked graves—not only are they dead and they don’t know it—they make everyone else unclean too. Without any warning label.
The Pharisees were pretty much the most uptight, legalistic subgroup of Jews. But a Pharisee was just a congregation member of the most constipated Jewish denomination in town—now the ones who are called lawyers or scribes, some of them were also at this wonderful party—they were the leaders of that joyless denomination of bullies. If Jesus was unhappy with the congregation members, what do you think He thought of the leaders?
Verse 45…
One of the lawyers answered him, “Teacher, in saying these things you insult us also.” (You think!? Jesus just looks at the guy and keeps woeing…) And he said, “Woe to you lawyers also! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers. Luke 11:45-46
Remember when Jesus said, “For my yoke is easy and my burden is light”? This is what He was talking about. The way a Lawyer or a Rabbi interpreted the law of Moses was called their “yoke.” Like the yoke that’s put on an ox to pull a plow or a cart—put it to work.
Jesus is saying the yoke of the religious lawyers—the ones who taught and interpreted God’s law—they make it too heavy, too hard to bear. Just loading the people up with rule after rule after rule.
Do you remember how many rules Adam and Eve had in the garden? One.
In a garden of “yes” there was one tree of “no.”
How many rules did God give the slaves He rescued from Egypt so they could make their entire civilization work? Ten. And Jesus said those all boiled down to two: Worship God. Love people.
But the Pharisee Lawyers thought if one rule is good, if ten are good, then 613 is better, and you know what’s even better than that? The more the merrier. Well, maybe not merrier.
I thought of some other sketchy rules we had at the Hart house. My mom wouldn’t let me grow my hair long when I was in high school so I always said if I ever had a son, he’d have long hair like a man, not short hair like an old woman. I thought it was funny. And when I had a son—I thought it was even funnier to actually make it a rule. That’s why Angel had long hair in high school.
Von kissed a boy in the 2nd grade so she wasn’t allowed to watch the Disney channel anymore… Until she was fourteen. You think I’m kidding. Haha. To be fair, I think I just forgot to lift the ban.
The Pharisee lawyers were even worse than me.
And Jesus isn’t saying they didn’t try to keep all the piles of rules they put on people—I’m sure they tried. He’s saying they didn’t lift a finger to help lighten the load.
The Bible’s full of God’s grace and mercy and love and long-suffering, too. Not just commandments. Why didn’t they focus on any of that?
The Commandments were made for man, not man for the Commandments.
Why didn’t they teach all of God’s Word—even the comforting parts. The prophets spoke of God’s love and mercy as much as they talked about His commands. Probably more. Most of the Commandments are about how to love people. God was usually angry with His people because they didn’t show compassion and faithfulness to each other. Nothing makes God mad like when His people aren’t thankful for what He gives them—when they’re not forgiving, not generous. That’s usually what He sent the prophets to say. And what happened to most of those prophets?
Verse 47…
Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed. So you are witnesses and you consent to the deeds of your fathers, for they killed them, and you build their tombs.
Luke 11:47-48
You pretend to honor the prophets by building fancy tombs for them—you’re really just accomplices. They killed the prophets and you dig their graves. You don’t want to listen to them any more than your fathers did.
Verse 49…
Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute,’ so that the blood of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation. Luke 11:49-51
God in His wisdom sent the prophets and apostles. And all the blood of the prophets, from the first martyr in the Bible, Abel—to the last martyr in the Old Testament, Zechariah—all that murder will be charged against the generation when Jesus walked the earth. And it was. When they spilled the blood of Jesus onto the ground just outside the city of Jerusalem—it was all charged against that blood. It was all put on His account. His blood paid for all the murder and sin. It was paid for in that generation.
When Zechariah was murdered, it was between the altar where the sacrifices for sin were made and the entrance to the Sanctuary, the Holy of Holies where the presence of God was. It’s like they murdered him before he could make it to God’s presence. The death of Jesus on the cross—orchestrated by men like the ones He was currently having dinner with—His death was the final sacrifice that removed the barrier between the altar and the sanctuary. No more barrier between God and man. After His death and resurrection, sacrifices were no longer needed, so the Temple was completely destroyed in 70AD. All the sin—past, present, and future—it was all charged against that generation just like Jesus said at this little dinner party—because the dinner guest was going to take care of it Himself. Jesus was going to pay the tab.
But the religious leaders sitting around the table, and all the others like them, they weren’t really interested in God’s presence—they just wanted to control people—they didn’t care about receiving God’s mercy and they didn’t want anyone else to have it either. Does that sound too harsh? I’m not the one who said it…
Verse 52…
Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.” Luke 11:52
How did they take away the key of knowledge? The key was always love and mercy. Not beating people up—piling rules and regulations on them.
It‘s always worked like this: God saves His people. It’s an act of pure grace. No one ever deserves it. Then He shows His people how He wants them to live—His commandments are the only way life is going to work. It’s the same way He saves us. And He knows we’re not going to perfectly stay on the straight and narrow so He always provides a way for us to get back on track. His kindness always leads us to repentance. He always wants to forgive our sins and failures.
And here’s the thing they just couldn’t get their heads around. The key to understanding what God had told them—the law and the prophets. It was never about them. It was never about what they do or don't do. It was never about all those rules. All those things point to Jesus. They all point to mercy. The key of knowledge, the only way to understand what God is saying or who He is. The only way to enter the true sanctuary of God, the holy place of God—is Christ. Christ is the key.
The guy they’re trying to trap. Trying to shut down. Trying to teach some table manners… He’s the key to everything. They just want to take away the key. Hide the key. Get rid of the key. They didn’t want it, and they didn’t want anyone else to have it either.
So how did the evening end?
Verse 53…
As he went away from there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press him hard and to provoke him to speak about many things, lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say.
Luke 11:53-54
I don’t think appetizers were even served. This was the worst dinner party ever. It seems Jesus said what He had to say and left. Still hungry. Just dropped the mic and broke up the party because they followed Him down the street yelling and waving their arms trying to get Him to keep talking. They wanted more woes, I guess.
Moving into chapter twelve to finish the story. The chapter divisions were added later, sometimes they really interrupt the flow.
Verse 1…
In the meantime, when so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were trampling one another, he began to say to his disciples first, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Luke 12:1
Jesus gets back to camp and it looks like a Travis Scott concert—if you don’t know who Travis Scott is, here, I’ll tell the joke the way I originally thought of it. Jesus gets back to camp and it looks like the 1979 Who concert in Cincinnati. So many people they were trampling each other.
He’s still thinking about His lovely evening—and bread—probably because He’s still hungry. He tells the disciples, “I was just hanging out with a bunch of Pharisees. Man. Be careful of those guys. Their hypocrisy gets in everything like yeast gets into dough. Puffs them up like a loaf of cheap rye.”
Last verse…
Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops. Luke 12:2-3
That should be sobering for all of us. We can’t hide our sin.
Jesus is probably thinking about how those guys were back at the house talking smack about Him—making their murder plans. They thought they were behind closed doors. Making their schemes in secret. But everyone’s going to know. Going to be put in the Bible and everything.
Your sin will find you out. No one gets away with anything.
That’s why it’s a bad idea to pile rules on top of rules. Not only is it suffocating, it just gives us all more ways to disappoint each other. We can’t keep all the rules and then we’re just hypocrites.
I’m going to four minutes and apply this message to all of us here.
Our culture: This whole “woke movement” all this virtue signaling—it’s the same thing the Pharisees were doing. Making rules on top of rules trying to make things better but only making things worse. Just gives us all more reasons to hate each other.
Everyone hates a hypocrite. The same people who say no one should own guns have armed private security. The same people who say no one should drive a gas-guzzling SUV are chauffeured around in a Suburban. The other side is just as bad, no one can live up to their own standard but that doesn’t stop anyone from trying to impose their ideas on everyone else.
People on both sides think the solution to all of our nation’s woes is to make more laws. How about if we took a clue from Jesus and focused on freedom instead? Less laws.
We need to keep it simple. Keep the yoke light.
And not just at the government level.
We only need a few simple house rules. Don’t pile rule on top of rule until the kid just gives up and says, “to heck with it, I might as well break them all—I’ll never raise my kids like this!” Just have a few simple rules that pretty much cover everything else. A reasonable standard of order that everyone will embrace. Something everyone will love, not hate. Maybe like: do your chores without being asked, treat everyone in the house with respect, and leave dad’s whiskey alone. Ha. Or maybe just one rule, like Bill and Ted: Be excellent to each other.
[The Commandments were made for man, not man for the Commandments.] God already showed us how this is done: His Commandments were made for us, we weren’t made for His Commandments. All the rules He gave us were for our blessing. For the blessing of the world. And they all point us to Jesus…
Jesus made it clear that God doesn’t want you making up a bunch of rules on top of His. His law is more than enough to keep to busy. The best part is He kept all those commandments for you because you aren’t able to do it for Him. He did it for you and then He gave you His scorecard. You might not know this but you needed a perfect score to get in—now you have one.
So now what? Well, now live your life. In freedom. You know what freedom looks like? It looks like God’s commandments. The Commandments that were made for you, not you for the Commandments. AMEN