Luke 11:37-52

The Woeful State of Those Whose Light Is Darkness, And Who Therefore Come Under His Woes (11:37-52).

But sadly there are those whose eyes turn away from the light. Instead of their eyes being fixed on His words they are turned to other words. And those words keep them in darkness, as the next incident reveals. This incident is said to take place in the house of a Pharisee to which Jesus was invited for a meal, but it is clear that there are a good number of Pharisees and Scribes there. This suggests that there were many of them who were still willing to eat with Him and to give His words consideration. But they clearly only did it on sufferance. They were giving Him the opportunity to conform to their ways. When He rather showed them the failings of their ways they were not pleased, and rather than admitting the truth and opening their eyes to His light, they sought to deal with Him. They could criticise each other (and did), but they would not accept criticism from Him. It was necessary for Him to conform Himself to them.

The ways of the Scribes and Pharisees described here were precisely the opposite of His teaching about the light. They illustrated walking in darkness. Instead of seeking for the divine light to shine into men's innermost hearts they turned the searchlight on external practises, and in general ignored the inner heart. Their eye was not opened to the light so that it could enter within. They did not want the light in their inner heart. The Samaritans, with whom they are paralleled in the chiasmus (Luke 9:52), rejected Jesus because of the physical place to which He was going. They did not consider His inner heart. These reject Him because of the physical things He refuses to conform to. They too do not look at His inner heart. So neither looked at the heart. But in the case of the Scribes and Pharisees this will lead them into woe because of their privileged position. They will be ‘brought into testing'.

This is the final passage in the Section of Luke that relates to the Lord's Prayer. In relationship to the Lord's Prayer these are they are who will be ‘brought into testing' because their eyes are not fixed on Him. For them there is no protection. All that awaits is judgment.

Analysis.

While in general the chiastic pattern is held here, the need not to alter Jesus' word patterns and to introduce the two threefold woes, prevented a simple chiasmus. Compare the speech in Luke 6:20 where it was even more so.

a Now as he spoke, a Pharisee asks him to dine with him, and he went in, and sat down to meat, and when the Pharisee saw it, he marvelled that he had not first drenched himself before dinner (Luke 11:37).

b The Lord said to him, “Now you the Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the platter, but your inward part is full of extortion and wickedness” '(Luke 11:39).

c “You foolish ones, did not He who made the outside make the inside also?” (Luke 11:40).

b “But give for alms those things which are within, and behold, all things are clean to you” (Luke 11:41).

d “But woe to you Pharisees! for you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and pass over justice and the love of God, but these ought you to have done, and not to leave the other undone” (Luke 11:42).

d “Woe to you Pharisees! for you love the chief seats in the synagogues, and the salutations in the marketplaces” (Luke 11:43).

d “Woe to you! for you are as the tombs which are not visible, and the men who walk over them are not aware of it” (Luke 11:44).

e And one of the lawyers answering says to him, “Teacher, in saying this you reproach us also” (Luke 11:45).

d And he said, “Woe to you lawyers also! for you load men with burdens grievous to be borne, and you yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers” (Luke 11:46).

d “Woe to you! for you build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. So are you witnesses and consent to the works of your fathers, for they killed them, and you build their tombs, therefore also said the wisdom of God, “I will send to them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and persecute, that the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I say to you, it shall be required of this generation” (Luke 11:47).

d “Woe to you lawyers! for you took away the key of knowledge. You did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered” (Luke 11:52).

a And when he was come out from there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press on him vehemently, and to provoke him to speak of many things, laying wait for him, to catch something out of his mouth' (Luke 11:53).

Note how in ‘a' Jesus ‘comes in' and the Pharisees concern is that He has not ceremonially washed His hands, while in the parallel He ‘goes out' and the Pharisees and Scribes are out to metaphorically ‘throw dirt' at Him. This is then followed by a small chiasmus contrasting outward and inward cleansing (b, c), and a larger chiasmus contrasting the two sets of ‘woes', one on the Pharisees and the other on the Scribes (d, e).