“Teacher,” said an expert in religious law, “you have insulted us, too, in what you just said.”
“Yes,”said Jesus, “what sorrow also awaits you experts in religious law! For you crush people with unbearable religious demands, and you never lift a finger to ease the burden. What sorrow awaits you! For you build monuments for the prophets your own ancestors killed long ago. But in fact, you stand as witnesses who agree with what your ancestors did. They killed the prophets, and you join in their crime by building the monuments! This is what God in His wisdom said about you: ‘I will send prophets and apostles to them, but they will kill some and persecute the others.’ As a result, this generation will be held responsible for the murder of all God’s prophets from the creation of the world—from the murder of Abel to the murder of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, it will certainly be charged against this generation. What sorrow awaits you experts in religious law! For you remove the key to knowledge from the people. You don’t enter the Kingdom yourselves, and you prevent others from entering.”
As Jesus was leaving, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees became hostile and tried to provoke Him with many questions. They wanted to trap Him into saying something they could use against Him.
Luke 11:45-54
Gentle Jesus meek and mild. Is there is such thing? Jesus certainly doesn’t pull any punches here. Now He’s insulting the experts in the religious Law. This segment is a continuation of what we have been looking at, so I won’t bother connecting it to what went before. You can do that. In fact, why don’t you take the time to work out what it was from the previous segment, that has got them steamed up? What was it exactly, in what Jesus has just said, that has insulted them?
Before it was the turn of the Pharisees, now it is the turn of the experts in the religious Law. No one is spared Jesus’ attack. He is letting them have it with both barrels. The tension is escalating. It is clear also, that the Pharisees and the experts in the religious Law were all there, at the ariston together. Maybe Jesus could have been a little more tactful.
Are you as a Christian allowed to do this kind of thing? Should we not “call a spade a spade”? For the benefit of those of you who are speakers or readers of English as your second language, this is an idiom which means, to be forth right and to the point and tell it as you see it. Should you be so forthright and to the point and tell it as you see it? If you need to challenge somebody on something, should you just come right out and say it? Not going round and round trying to find some gentle way of saying it, for fear of offending someone by what you say? Is it allowable to speak to others like Jesus did? WWJD – what would Jesus do? Well, in this case we know what He would do. We have the evidence right here before us. More to the point, is it permissible for us follow suit or should we be nice and gentle always? I will leave you to ponder on that one.
Also take the time to look at this section and determine what the elements are that need our attention.
- What stands out to you that requires you to dig deeper?
- Are there any difficult portions?
- Anything that is not clear and needs to be explained?
- Any portions that offend you? (Maybe you can sympathize with the Pharisees and the experts in the Law).
In short, interact with the text before you and see what you find. We will dissect it next Gem
One way to understand the difficult parts of the Bible is to first read and obey the easy ones.
Ian Vail
Another way is to ask the author, He is right beside you.
Ian Vail
The Bible is the only book you can read where you can ask the Author what He meant whenever you need to.
Ian Vail
Of course you won’t get a blinding flash of light filling the room bringing the answer; but you will get an answer In His Time.
Ian Vail
There are times when Jesus doesn’t give us revelation on a passage that we are struggling with because we are not mature enough for the revelation yet.
Ian Vail
There is a layering to the truth of God.
Ian Vail