Week 27 "The Pharisee Among us...or Within Us"

Video is normally posted early Sunday Afternoon.

Text: This week we’re covering Luke 11:37-12:12 dealing with Jesus’ dialogue with the Pharisees and Lawyers over lunch at a Pharisee’s house. The situation becomes rather heated with Jesus about as worked up as you ever see him. What is it that bothered Jesus so much? Let’s look and see!

Video Notes:
This video talks about two separate ideas that have overlapping significance.
1. Gates=

·         It was the custom for the city elders to do business in the city gates. It was here that the cause of the poor and powerless was supposed to be upheld.

·         Unfortunately, in the OT the people and their leaders consistently neglected justice for their fellow citizens and the aliens who lived among them.

·         Power corrupts like leaven!

2. Leaven=

·         Leaven was not like the commercial yeast we use today but was actually raw dough that was saved from the previous baking day. It was possible to still have raw dough for a year in that lump.

·         Somewhat like sourdough starter…passing on the corruption.

·         Each year, the Feast of unleavened bread was a time of cleaning & purification, which was both hygienically practical and spiritually necessary.

·         Jesus also warned his disciples to beware of “the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod” The Pharisees were filled with hypocrisy and the Herodian rulers were sold out in their support of the Romans and were without godly convictions. Everything was about staying in power and enjoying the fruits of such privilege

·         How does leaven work? The bread dough is puffed up by the waste product of the bacteria.

·         Corrupt ideas and values work the same way.

·         What are the ideas, values, and behaviors that corrupt our own culture?

Other passages to read: We encourage you to read "horizontally" in these passages that are parallel to our text from Luke:

·         Woes to the Pharisees & Lawyers: Matthew 23:1-36; Mark 12:38-40

·         Leaven of the Pharisees: Matthew 16:6-12; 1 Corinthians 5:6-8

·         Have no Fear & Acknowledge Christ Before Men: Matthew 10:26-33; 25:31; Mark 8:38

Points to ponder: In your study this week, you might want to think about one of these questions:

• What makes Jesus sad and/or mad about the Pharisees and experts in the Law?
• If the Pharisees were a religious party, very like a political party, and the Lawyers were the Biblical scholars of that day, what does this say about religion and power? What should the church’s attitude towards worldly power and leadership be?
• What is the relevance of “inside” and “outside” in this passage? Is one more important than the other?
• What does Jesus say in this passage about fear and value? How are they related to hypocrisy?
• What is the “key to knowledge”? Do our methods open the Word or close it to the people?

Pastor Randy's Sermon Notes: "The Pharisee among us…and within us." 

“When Jesus had finished speaking, a Pharisee invited him to eat with him; so he went in and reclined at the table.” (11:38a)

Four Warning signs that a Pharisee is among…or within us:

1.    Hypocrisy: our public performance is more important than our inward devotion. (11:38b-41)

• Luke 12:2-3
• 1 Samuel 16:7

2.    Seeking attention and craving recognition for ourselves (11:42-43; 12:4-10)

3.    Religious intimidation and crushing burdens placed on others (11:44-47)

4.   Our knowing the Bible is more important to us than living the Bible. (11:52-53)

Questions to ask ourselves: The following questions are intended to help us move towards greater application of what we learn about Jesus…

• Of what are we full, and what are we neglecting?
• Are we approval addicts? How willing are we to be known as Christians when it is not popular?
• Do our lives make others unclean with our infectiously negative or selfish attitudes?
• Are we legalists or advocates? Are we “loaders” or “bearers” of people’s burdens?
• Hypocrisy if the biggest objection to the church, by those outside the church. Are we really living what we say we believe or are we somehow pretending? How can we tell? How can others tell?
• Do you have someone in your life who knows Jesus and will lovingly and gently point out your areas of self-deception? Will you listen?

Commentary & Quotes:

“…He began to say to His disciples: ‘First beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.’ There is no need to point out the connection between this warning and the denunciation of Pharisaism and traditionalism at the Pharisee's table. Although the word 'hypocrisy' had not been spoken there, it was the sum and substance of His contention, that Pharisaism, while pretending to what it was not, concealed what it was. And it was this which, like 'leaven,' pervaded the whole system of Pharisaism. Not that as individuals they were all hypocrites, but that the system was hypocrisy. And here it is characteristic of Pharisaism, that Rabbinic Hebrew has not even a word equivalent to the term 'hypocrisy.' The only expression used refers either to flattery of, or pretense before men, not to that unconscious hypocrisy towards God which our Lord so truly describes as 'the leaven' that pervaded all the Pharisees said and did. It is against this that He warned His disciples - and in this, rather than conscious deception, pretense, or flattery, lies the danger of the Church.” (Edersheim, Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, 623)

Previously on Ponderables:

• We have seen that Jesus was very concerned for social justice issues, so why does he seem so disconnected from this man’s request? This question was actually answered last week in the commentary section … It would have been normal for people to bring their requests for justice to the Rabbi. Here the man’s shouted question is not a plea for Jesus to make a just decision but a demand that Jesus give him what he wanted from his brother. Jesus would have no part of this as it was contrary to his calling as both Bailey and Morris note:

“Jesus is a reconciler of people, not a divider. He wants to bring people together, not finalize separations…He was concerned to heal relationships between people, and out of that healing they could deal with issues that divided them.” (Bailey, Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, 300,302)

• Why did Jesus tell this parable? Doesn’tgoing off on a tangent? He told the parable to address the underlying issue present in the man’s claim. Remember that the man didn’t ask Jesus to decide the case but to enforce the decision the man had already made.  Just like the man in the parable who only listened to himself.

• How do you reconcile this parable’s teaching with that of the Talents or Minas where the servants are rewarded for bringing in a profit? Should we be collectors or givers? In the parable of the talents, the servants are stewards serving the master. In this parable of the rich fool, the man takes no account of God or of others in his plans and is motivated only to please himself.

• What are the two great principles that stand out in this section? How are they connected? They are found in verse 15, “be on your guard against all covetousness” and verse 21, where the principle is to be rich towards God. They both point towards the conclusion in verse 34 “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."