When We Find Jesus Insulting ~ Luke 11:45-54

May 17, 2015 ~ New City Church of Calgary ~ Pastor John Ferguson
Intro: We live in a day in which we are encouraged to have a DIY spirituality. We take a little of this, and a little
of that, and presto, we have something of a vague belief about God and our place in this world and perhaps
the next. And whether or not we admit it, we dont like our DIY spirituality challenged, do we?
For those of us living in Canada, we pride ourselves on being the politest people around, and for anyone to
have the audacity to presume to correct what someone sincerely believes, well, that just downright
impolite.
We place this cultural restriction upon the Scriptures as well, assuming that our sensibilities should have
priority. Popular culture has even produced whats called The Buddy Christ who likes & affirms everything
you do.
Question: Does Jesus have the right to contradict you?
This is a great question to ask b/c whether you are a follower of Jesus, a skeptic, or just simply curious, theres
a lot a stake here. Think about it this way: by all accounts, Jesus is at the top or near the top of everyones list
of the greatest people who have ever lived. Even other religions call Jesus great. He spoke like no one else,
and his teachings about God and life simply left the crowds amazed wanting to hear more.
Wouldnt it be wise to listen to Jesus? To take him seriously? To give him the right to speak directly about
our lives? To confront us and to even contradict us?
Think about what we might lose if we dont. What if we miss out on something vital by ignoring Jesus, even
when he has some hard words to say? What if ignoring him in some sense puts our relationships, our lives,
and even our souls in danger? What if the beliefs we base our lives upon are mistaken?
I want to invite us to a dinner party that Jesus went to at the house of some religious leaders, and I want us to
put ourselves in the place of those religious leaders, and lets hear Jesus critique some of the beliefs we hold
most dear.
Context: 11:37-54
Woe was a prophetic exclamation design to grab attention and to awaken people to their spiritual danger.
Bottom line: We can try to impress others with the outside, but God knows whats on the inside.
45One of the lawyers answered him, Teacher, in saying these things you insult us also.
1. Lawyers were scribes, i.e., professional interpreters & teachers of the OT Law.

2. The audacity of Jesus was shocking, and here a lawyer puts in a word of caution, because, surely Jesus
wouldnt intentionally oend them; they are the spiritual elite of Israel, fine upstanding citizens.

But the stakes are high, so high in fact, that Jesus ignores what is culturally appropriate and risks being
personally oensive in order to grab attention and to awaken this group to their spiritual danger.

46And he said, Woe to you lawyers also! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you
yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers.
1. Example. At the core, the OT contains 10 Commandments (Gods blueprint for the flourishing of people).
To this, there are an additional 613 commands that regulated their national, cultural, & religious life. To this
the scribes added some 6,000 regulations and laws.

(1) 4th Commandment: Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy. REST.

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(2) E.g. from the Mishnah (ie., a collection of oral traditions) & Talmud (commentary Mishnah):

Talmud, Eiruvin 42a, one may walk a distance of no more than 2,000 paces (~ 0.5 miles) at moderate
pace. This is the Sabbath limit.

Mishnah, Shabbath 7.2 lists 39 classes of labor. E.g., Nothing + or > a dried fig was a burden.

Mishnah, Shabbath 10.3, A man may not carry on object on the Sabbath in his right hand or in his
left hand, in his bosom or on his shoulder. But, he may carry it on the back of his hand, or with his
foot or with his mouth or with his elbow, or in his ear or in his hair or in his money belt (mouth
downwards), or between his money belt and his shirt, or in the hem of his shirt, or in his shoe or in
his sandal.

2. Graceless.
(1) NLT: For you crush people with unbearable religious demands, and you never lift a finger to ease the
burden.

(2) Mt. 11:28-30, Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke
upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
47Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed. 48So you are
witnesses and you consent to the deeds of your fathers, for they killed them, and you build their tombs.
1. Honour or betrayal? The scribes thought that they were honouring the prophets by building tombs /
memorials to them, but Jesus saw things a little dierently: they were actually accomplices with their
fathers in murder. How so?

The issue: just like their fathers, they refuse to listen to the prophet God has sent them. The prophets
were messengers sent by God to his people to call them back to God. Often, these people were
outwardly very religious, but inwardly very corrupt.

2. Glimpse into the future? What they will do to the greatest prophet of all? Jesus is greater than Moses &
Jonah; Ezekiel or Daniel. Hes greater than Elijah & Elisha. Hes greater than Jonah, Jeremiah, & John the
Baptist. Jesus is the greatest prophet of all come to call people back to God and to provide the way to
God. And all the suerings of the prophets will culminate in the crucifixion of the Son of God.

49Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they
will kill and persecute, 50so that the blood of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world,
may be charged against this generation, 51from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who
perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation.
1. Truth. These religious leaders would unite and conspire to put the Son of God to death.

Mt. 27:25, His blood be on us and on our children.

2. Family likeness. Just like their forefathers murdered the prophets, so this generation would crucify the
Son of God, and so join their forefathers in taking out the messengers of God.

In ancient Israel, the best way to honour the prophets is not by erecting memorials, but by heeding what
they said. And the best way to honour Jesus the Son of God is not by wearing crosses or getting tattoos,
its not by hanging a cross in your house (none of these are wrong btw), but the best way to honour Jesus
is by heeding his message: repent and believe the gospel about Jesus Christ.

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52Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves,
and you hindered those who were entering.
1. Irony, b/c the lawyers read and studied and taught the Scriptures, they were supposed to put their trust in
the Messiah.

Like Abraham, they were supposed to rejoice to see the day of Jesus (John 8:56).

Like John the Baptist, they were supposed to point people to Jesus and say, Behold, the Lamb of God
who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29).

From all their knowledge of the OT, they should have known that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God.
They should themselves have repented and believed in Jesus, and called others to follow suit. But by
resisting Jesus, and opposing his message, they themselves were encouraging others to do the same.

2. 6 Woes. So Jesus pronounces 6 these religious leaders. These woes are prophetic utterances designed
to grab their attention and to awaken them to the spiritual danger that they are in.

The only question left is how will they respond? Will they acknowledge the right of Jesus to contradict
them? To correct them? To lead them in the way of salvation?

Jesus throws down the gauntlet: If he is correct, their entire idea of spirituality was wrong. And the only
response is to acknowledge their error and the danger they are in, and embrace Jesus the Messiah.

53As he went away from there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press him hard and to provoke
him to speak about many things, 54lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say.
Why does Luke record this account in his historical biography of Jesus?
Jesus isnt interested in making religious people, but in bringing real people into a right relationship with God,
and part of that involves the declaration of woe.

We must be willing to hear Jesus pronounce a woe upon our Christ-less spirituality. IOW, If Jesus says
woe to us, then we should acknowledge that truth by responding woe is me and casting ourselves upon
his grace.

Main Idea: The antidote to woe is the grace that Christ bestows.

Tim Keller in The Reason for God says that many of us like having the idea of a Stepford God. Based on the
movie Stepford Wives in which the husbands of Stepford, Connecticut, create a computer chip that turns their
wives into mindless robots who simply reply to their husbands, Yes Dear. They never argue, disapprove, talk
back, or complain. They only tell their husbands what they want to hear.
Do you approach Jesus this way? Have you made Jesus into a Stepford god?
What if we had the courage to let Jesus confront us and correct us? What if we risked having Jesus look at
our beliefs and our lives and pronounce a woe upon us, and what if we risked that so that we could
receive the antidote of grace that Christ bestows?
Conclusion:
The Apostle Paul did that. Before he was the Apostle Paul he was the Pharisee Saul. The cream of the crop,
advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age alone my people, so extremely zealous was I for the
traditions of my fathers (Gal. 1:14). The overseer of the first Christian executed for his faith.
Then he met Jesus alive after he was crucified, and Jesus said in effect, woe. And not only were Pauls eyes
opened, but his life was forever completely changed. The man who was so zealous for the traditions of his
fathers that he hated Jesus and sought to wipe out his followers, became the most courageous proclaimer of
the gospel of Jesus.
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 Philippians 3:4-9 (NIV), If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more:
circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as
to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law,
blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything
as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suered
the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not
having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ,
the righteousness from God that depends on faith.

Paul found out that the antidote to woe is the grace that Christ bestows.

Assignment: Give Jesus carte blanche over your life. Initially & continually.
NCC, may you be a people who are willing to listen to Jesus, even when he has some tough things to say,
even when he needs to confront us, even when he needs to say woe in order to grab our attention and to
awaken to spiritually dangerous territory that weve found ourselves in.
And may you be a people who know that the antidote to woe is the grace that Christ bestows.

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