Luke 11:37 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

Navigator

Luke 11:37

Comments

In this passage we have Christ’s remarkably direct and forceful encounter with a Pharisee. Matthew 23 records similar words that Christ spoke of the Pharisees in general, but the two occasions are not the same. Matthew relates words spoken to the multitude and to the disciples in the temple (Matthew 24:1). Christ warns of the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, and the care that was needed to do whatever they taught (when they were faithful to the teaching of Moses), but not to follow their example. Of course every teacher must live a life consistent with his message, or he loses all authority, and undermines his own words. That was exactly what the Pharisees did, so that Christ – who upheld the law and insisted on obedience to it, even when its teachers did not obey it themselves – was obliged to encourage a reluctant populace to observe what they were taught in spite of the failure of their teachers. But here in Luke we are told of a private encounter with a certain Pharisee, who invites him into his house for a meal. Some of the same woes are pronounced on this occasion also, but Matthew has eight woes and Luke has six, and the order in which they are given is different. Hendriksen places this passage in Luke some time before Matthew 23.Sin takes different forms, and although it affects the whole of life and as fallen human beings no part of us is free from it, there is often a prevailing sin which dominates our behaviour. The prevailing sin of the Pharisees was self-righteousness. They were prone to this because they were the teachers of religion in the nation, and the teacher is of course supposed to live his message. They were well aware of their failure to do so, and therefore, to protect themselves, they fabricated a righteousness that they did not have. Naturally, they failed in the attempt, and indeed they were bound to fail, because it is impossible for man with sin in his heart to have genuine righteousness.

Application

We are all such slaves to sin that we can only control it to a limited extent. When we try to hold it back in one area, it bursts out in another. The trick of the self-righteous person is to take account of what others are capable of seeing. He knows that his fellow man cannot read his heart (which is the real source of the problem), and can only guess at what is in it by the external behaviour, so the self-righteous man focuses on what is external. He strives to govern his outward behaviour, while letting the inner self go unchecked. If he can succeed in controlling what can be seen, that will fool many onlookers. He does not worry about reining in the heart because there is no danger that it will be seen.

Now the attempt to live like this ends up producing this terrible dishonesty in a man. He knows his own heart and he also knows the outward appearance he is trying to create, and he knows the two do not agree. He becomes someone who can never share his real inner heart, lest his pretence be detected. Naturally, this playact does not fool the Lord, for the Lord has sight of that part of us which is hidden from the eyes of men. What the Lord sees is an outer being which is completely at odds with the inner being. He sees, in other words, a hypocrite.

The self-righteous person often has outward charm and decency, but along with that goes pride, snobbery, the wrinkling of the nose and looking down at others, and addiction to external form. Many diseases have symptoms which a doctor looks for. Self-righteous people are marked out by being concerned about the externals. Because they think they have succeeded in their fabrication, they expect to be admired for what they are. They are often intolerant of others who do not live up to their imagined standard, and they get ruffled by the smallest perceived wrong in others.

Questions

Outline

Purpose

Introduction

Luke 11:37 Commentary and Bible Study