Luke 11:37-12:3 Unmasking Hypocrisy: Part 1 – The Pharisees

Intro: We’re all like Jesus in one sense In many sense Jesus is unlike all of us. He is perfect, sinless, full of love, possessing of every virtue and gift, really the penultimate human being who is the standard for all other beings. In some senses we are like him, however. We Christians strive to be like him and he has enabled us to do that by the power of His Spirit who live sin us. But there is at least one sense in which probably every person on the planet is like Jesus Christ. All of us, believers and unbelievers alike, are like Jesus in that we all detest hypocrisy! In fact, in our passage today we will see one Jesus’ strongest condemnation discourses in all of the Bible.

Hypocrisy Defined The dictionary define hypocrisy as a person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that he or she does not actually possess This person, or at least the hypocrisy in them, is odious to us.

In our passage today, Jesus is invited to a banquet at which he rebukes his hosts for their hypocritical lives as religious leaders. In doing so, Jesus unmasks hypocrisy for us.

In the NT = Actor Throughout the NT the greek words hypókrisis and hypokrités̄ are used. These words reflect the classical and Hellenistic use of the words to refer to “acting” and “actor.” In Greek literature the hypokrités̄ was a person who played a part on the stage. He usually wore a mask, and in speech and action imitated the character whom he represented in the stage production. In the NT the terms are invariably negative in that they persistently refer to a person who is pretending to be what they are is not - especially in the areas of religion and morality.

Let’s read the text and then walk through it verse by verse as Jesus unmasks hypocrisy

Read 11:37-44

I. The Invitation (37) Lk 11:37- While Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him, so he went in and reclined at table.

A formal invitation to lecture It is bet for us to understand the historical and cultural setting of this invitation. This is not an informal meal, this is a formal invitation. This invitation comes as a part of the normal movement and workings of the religious society at the time. The Pharisees would have meals and invite prominent teachers of the day to come and lecture there. They would do this so that a teacher could speak and then they could discourse together on the topic.

We can think of this somewhat like a Kiwanis prayer breakfast of something like that where people from the community gather to socialize, but there is also a more formal speech given as a part of the banquet.

The Pharisees Another historical comment on this verse is related to the Pharisees. Who were they? Originally they were laymen who decided to do their best to take the Law seriously. They were not upper-class, like the Sadducees, but came from the common people, as did Jesus. They were committed to holy living. The very name Pharisee means “the separate ones.” They were thought to be holy men, the true community of Israel. When a man became a Pharisee, he first endured a probationary period up to a year in length, during which time he had to prove his ability to keep the rituals of the Law – especially the laws of purity and tithes (which we will soon see were a major part of Jesus’ rebuke)

Many of the Pharisees were scribes, experts in the Law who so revered it that they hedged it in with extra protective laws. As the Mishnah says, “Tradition is a fence around the Law” (Aboth 3.14). The Pharisees drew a hard line between themselves and the masses, who did not keep the Law as meticulously.

Jesus sits down Jesus accepts their invitation, goes into the home where the banquet was held, and sat down at the table. Perfectly fine right? No! At least not in the eyes of the Pharisees. This brings us to the offense.

II. The Offense (38) Lk 11:38- The Pharisee was astonished to see that he did not first wash before dinner.

Ann offense of religious purity When Jesus sat down to eat without washing his hands, the Pharisee was astonished and offended! This was not simply a cleanliness issue, but as I said a moment ago, it was an issue of purity – more accurately, religious purity.

This was ceremonial cleansing not commanded by the Old Testament, but added by Pharisaic tradition. The Mishnah, that code of traditions that the Scribes developed to help them keep the law, talked about ritual purity in this way related to washing hands. More specifically the Yadaim was one section of the Mishnah that dealt with the washing of the hands for ritual purity and it is 4 chapters long with 22 paragraphs! The hands are susceptible to uncleanness, and they are rendered clean [by the pouring over them of water] up to the wrist. Thus if a man had poured the first water up to the wrist and the second water beyond the wrist, and the water flowed back to the hand, the hand becomes clean; but if he poured both the first water and the second beyond the wrist, and the water flowed back to the hand, the hand remains unclean. If he poured the first water over the one hand alone and then bethought himself and poured the second water over the one hand, his one hand [alone] is clean. If he had poured the water over the one hand and rubbed it on the other, it becomes unclean; but if he rubbed it on his head or on the wall [to dry it] it remains clean. (Yadaim 2.3)

Jesus purposely neglected it altogether. Well Jesus just bypassed all of that, purposely in my opinion so as to instigate the ensuing conversation, and did not wash his hands at all. It is not like he tried and failed, no He purposely neglected the tradition altogether! And the Pharisees were scandalized.

III. The Response: Unmasking Hypocrisy Jesus, either seeing some outward evidenced of their offended scruples, or by reading their hearts, responds with a straightforward, in-your-face serious of verbal blows intended to break the mask of their hypocrisy.

4 rebukes that identify/expose their hypocrisy He addresses their hypocrisy in four rebukes. But what he is doing is showing the Pharisees by way of their own actions that they are hypocrites. He is identifying what hypocrisy looks like by way of these four rebukes.

A. Identified You might be a hypocrite if… So for our purposes of edification and application, what we are going to do right now is wee what sort of behaviors identify a hypocrite. You have probably heard Jeff Foxworthy help people identify themselves as a redneck, right? Let me share a couple of my favorites:

• You might be a redneck if you think you have a set of matching luggage because you have two shopping bags from the same store • You think Taco Bell is a Mexican phone company • You were stopped by a state trooper and he asked you if you had and I.D. and you said “’bout what” • You mowed the lawn and found a car

Well we can really think about this section of Scripture as “You might be a hypocrite if…”. Jesus is identifying for these Pharisees what hypocrisy is. Let’s hear what He has to say.

1. It is externally clean, but internally neglected (39)

Lk 11:39- 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.

Jesus’ meaning here is clearly understood. He gives a sort of umbrella identifying mark of hypocrisy. It is like washing the outside of your coffee mug, but leaving the inside unclean. In that case it would look good to other people as you drank your coffee, but the reality is that you are drinking a sick and foul cup of coffee with who know what kind of defilement.

The essence of hypocrisy is that a person gives all their attention to appearing one way, but inwardly they are not that way. They are wearing a mask to cover up their true selves. They are acting – they are a hypocrite.

Jesus says, yes you have 22 paragraphs about how to wash your hands to be clean, but on the inside you have totally ignored and neglected the greater problem – you are a bad person, you are full of greed and wickedness.

YMBAH You might be a hypocrite if all your efforts on external appearances and little to none of your attention is spent on the state of your heart and character and true spirituality – if you are externally clean, but internally neglected.

2. It majors on the minors of religious tradition and neglects the major necessities of true religion (42)

Lk 11:42- “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.

Woe Just a brief comment here on the word “woe”. I talked about this once before, but it is important to be clear on what “woe” means. Many think of it as a condemning word or a damning kind of word, but the word is actually an interjection. It is the Gk word ouai and it is an exclamation of grief or sorrow. It is kind of like the English word alas. It is a sorrowful groan over people and practices that send people away from God

Their strict tithe beyond the Bible and the Mishnah! Jesus is here addressing their strict tithe in that they would tithe one leaf in ten even on their tiny herbs of mint, rue, and every herb! According to Deuteronomy 12:17; 14:22–23, the Jews were to tithe the grain, the new wine and (olive) oil, but nothing was said about them adding these other plant products. But even further than this, note that they even went beyond what was required. For example, the Mishnah states that “Rue, goosefoot, purslane, hill-coriander, celery and meadow-eruca are exempt from Tithes” (Shebiith 9:1)—yet they tithed them anyway!

Yet missing the majors And yet the Pharisees who would tithe their household spices were neglecting the biggies that God would have them spend their time and effort on, namely justice and the love of God. They would tithe their herbs like an amazing religionist, but if they saw a person in need, they turned into a scrooge.

This had always been despised God had already spoken to this majoring on minor religious issues while neglecting the necessities of true religion.

Amos 5:21-24 - “I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies. Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!”

Why? Because when you do not personally care and give aid to others, you do not really love God. Listen to the Apostle John on this: 1 John 3:17-18 - “If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth”

YMBAH You might be a hypocrite if you are so focused on minor issues of religious tradition and you are neglecting the love of God that He calls you to major in. If you are so focused on performing the religious traditions of your church or group of friends and you are neglecting the larger issues of a life of service and love, you might be a hypocrite.

3. It loves the public esteem that comes from doing religion well (43)

Lk 11:43- Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces.

They love public esteem The second woe rebukes the Pharisees for seeking attention; it alludes to the pride that comes from receiving such honor. There is a constant desire for such attention. These leaders enjoy the seats of honor at the synagogue and the attention in the public square. The greeting in the public place is not so much a quick hello as an involved salutation of respect.

YMBAH You might be a hypocrite if you find yourself enjoying and becoming addicted to the praise of others for doing religion well.

Why? Jn 5:44- How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?

4. It leads unwitting people to death (44)

Lk 11:44- Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without knowing it.”

Unmarked graves The key to knowing what Jesus means by this rebuke is knowing what he meant by unmarked graves.

Graves = tombs = defilement Firstly, they are more like tombs or ossuaries which are rooms or containers where the bones of dead people are placed. The issue here with the tombs is that if a person comes into contact with them, they are rendered unclean. Here is what it says in Number 19

Nu 19:13-16 - Whoever touches a dead person, the body of anyone who has died, and does not cleanse himself, defiles the tabernacle of the Lord, and that person shall be cut off from Israel; because the water for impurity was not thrown on him, he shall be unclean. His uncleanness is still on him. 14 “This is the law when someone dies in a tent: everyone who comes into the tent and everyone who is in the tent shall be unclean seven days. 15 And every open vessel that has no cover fastened on it is unclean. 16 Whoever in the open field touches someone who was killed with a sword or who died naturally, or touches a human bone or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.

Unmarked And Jesus calls them unmarked tombs. What does he mean by that? Well each spring before the Passover the Jews would go out and whitewash the tombs and ossuaries in their area. This was so that during that time when people were travelling to Jerusalem for the Passover, they would not unwittingly touch one and become unclean and then make the temple unclean too.

At one point, Jesus calls the Pharisees whitewashed tombs, but here is calling them un-whitewashed tombs. Why?

Because they are impure on the inside, but look religious on the outside, they have influence on other people. But that influence is not for life, it is for death. The Pharisees, because of their position as leaders and as “religious” men have influence, but they are having a destructive influence on others. Rather than leading people to heaven, the Pharisees’ pseudo-spirituality leads them to the grave

If you are a hypocrite, then you are leading people away from Christ.

B. Danger Unmasked (The insidious progression of hypocrisy)

The Anti-God mission Now, I want to walk quickly back through what Jesus said. He has identified what hypocrisy looks like and how it results in destruction of other people. But what He is also doing is unmasking the insidious progression of hypocrisy in a person’s life and how it, by its very nature, works against the mission of God.

Hypocrisy actually serves as an anti-God mission. It works in the opposite direction of God.

The progression Let’s look at what we have already learned all at once so we can see the insidious progression of how hypocrisy works itself out. It is not a static issue, but it progresses as it moves through a life.

1. I am clean outside, but unchanged inside 2. So I neglect true religion and get really good at the external trapping of religion 3. So I get adulation for being good at religion and I fall in love with and need that esteem 4. So I influence away from life and into death

God’s Mission 1. Begin inside and work outward 2. To empower people to be zealous for love and justice 3. To have people quest for His glory, not their own Jn 5:44- How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?

4. So that others will be led to life in Christ

IV. The Cure for Hypocrisy (40-41) How many hypocrites am I talking to today?

I have hope for us. I skipped two verses in this passage because I wanted to save them for this moment. This moment when we sense our need for a savior to free us of our hypocrisy.

What do I do if I am a hypocrite?

Lk 11:39-41 - 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. 40 You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? 41 But give as alms those things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you. Jesus is giving the Pharisees the cure for hypocrisy.

Step #1 – 40 You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? recognize you are a fool! What is this? It is a person who tries to love without God’s help or guidance. Jesus tells the Pharisees to realize something. They needed to realize that God sees their heart and that God is concerned with their heart and that they cant hide their heart and that they need to be honest with God about what is in their heart. Know that you are a fool and go to God and tell him that you have neglected the starting point of your relationship with Him.

Step #2 – 41 But give as alms those things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you. What does he mean by this? I’m supposed to give away something that is inside? Yes! What does he mean? Give your sin away, that is, give away your greed and wickedness, get rid of your sin, and everything will be clean for you—the outside and the inside.

We have to be like that leper in Mk 1 Mk 1:40–42- 40 And a leper came to him, imploring him, and kneeling said to him, “If you will, you can make me clean.” 41 Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I will; be clean.” 42 And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean.

If we are his and born again, we give our sin away Col 3:1–17- 1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all. 12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.