March 3 2025

Monday March 03

Truth or Tradition

Luke 11:37-44

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."

From Luke 11:37 to the end of the chapter Jesus is dealing with the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, scribes, and the lawyers (who were supposed to be the experts in interpreting the Law of Moses). At this stage in Christ's ministry, it is obvious that the Pharisees and religious leaders were bent on destroying Him. In the previous verses (vv. 33-36), Jesus was exposing the darkness of their hearts. Their hearts were so dark that they refused to accept the very Light of God that was in their midst.

It is reasonable to believe that this “certain Pharisee” invited Jesus to his home for a meal with a devious motive. If he had been sincerely seeking truth, he would have talked with our Lord privately. It seems obvious that he was looking for an opportunity to accuse Jesus. And sure enough, when Jesus did not practice the ceremonial washing before eating, he thought he had it (Mark 7:2-3). Jesus, knowing what the host was thinking, responded by giving a "spiritual analysis" of the Pharisees.

A good title for today’s chat would be “Truth or Tradition”. You might remember years ago that there was a popular television program called “Truth or Consequences”, hosted by Bob Barker. Jesus exposed the darkness of their hearts with the truth. If you want to know or recognize what a lie is, you must know what the truth is. I’m convinced the main reason we have major issues in so many areas of culture and society today in America is that very few people have any idea what the truth is anymore.

The truth is only found in a Person, Jesus Christ, and His Word  (John 14:6). When we ignorant of the Truth or we reject it after we are exposed to it, we have no choice but to believe the lie. That is why Jesus said to the Pharisees and religious leaders in John 8:44-47: “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears God's words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God."

It is interesting to note that in the above passage the Pharisee responded to this stinging rebuke by saying: “Then the Jews answered and said to Him, "Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?"  (John 8:48). This is what always happens when truth is rejected. Maybe Jesus had this verse from Isaiah 5:20 in mind when He was exposing these Pharisees: “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”

In verses 39-40, Jesus exposed the basic error and thinking of the Pharisees which was that righteousness was only a matter of external actions, and they minimized internal attitudes. They were very careful to keep the outside clean, but they ignored the wickedness within. They seemed to forget that the same God who created the outside also created the inside, the "inner person" that also needs cleansing (Ps. 51:6, 10).

Jesus called them, “foolish ones”, another way of saying “senseless ones”. They lost their sense, their ability to reason in a sensible way. Today, in many of our churches we have done the same thing when we chose our tradition over the Truth of God’s Word. I’m afraid many of our churches today are full of hypocritical Pharisees, and often the biggest ones are the pastors and leaders. They refuse to make any changes in their methods or music to reach a lost world because of their old “traditions”. They are afraid that grandpa and grandma who are buried in the cemetery behind the church will get upset!

Today, I trust we will choose Jesus over our manmade traditions and share His love with everyone we can!

God bless!