Sunday School Lesson 1: Jesus Confronts Hypocrisy, Juke 11:37-44, September 3, 2023
Key Text: The Lord said unto him, Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of raving and wickedness (Luke 11:39).
The power of the Pharisees lay in the reputation they had with the people for piety. However, they had a tendency to despise those who did not agree with them. Even when Christ hung on the cross, they taunted Him with, “If he be the King of Israel, let them now come down from the cross, and we will believe him” (Matthew 27:42). If Christ would only give them that sign, then they would acknowledge Him to be the Messiah. When Christ secured a deeper popularity than the Pharisees, they combined with their opponents , the Sadducees and lawyers against Christ, their common enemy.
The Pharisees were very careful to maintain cleanliness, but sometimes were unconcerned about the inside. They were concerned with ceremony, not hygiene. Jesus probably ate without washing on purpose to point out the hypocrisy of his opponents. There is nothing in the law which would command such washings, but the Pharisees practiced them, believing the ritual cleansed them of any accidental ceremonial defilement. Just over the age of 30, Jesus uttered His first woe and He called them fools and hypocrites. Jesus rightly accursed them of deceit v 41, pride v 43, inconsistency v 44, condoning murder and conspiracy v 47, and hindering people from being saved v 53. Alms are to be given not for show, but as an expression of a faithful heart. True almsgiving is not the external act, but one’s attitude before God. The opponents had carefully concealed their own inward corruption, but still was a source of defilement.
The rebuttal from a young Jesus, did not sit well with the older generation, and made for a heated discussion. Christ was their thorn in the flesh. His opponent made attempts to provoke Christ into speaking about other subjects where viewpoints were different in hopes of being able to accuse Him of something in order to put Him to death. AMEN!
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