Luke 11:33-36 The Lamp of the Body
“No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light. Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are unhealthy, your body also is full of darkness. See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be just as full of light as when a lamp shines its light on you.”
Luke 11:37-54 Woe to the Pharisees and Lawyers
“And as He spoke, a certain Pharisee asked Him to dine with him. So, He went in and sat down to eat. When the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that He had not first washed before dinner.
Then the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees make the outside of the cup and dish clean, but your inward part is full of greed and wickedness. Foolish ones! Did not He who made the outside make the inside also? But rather give alms of such things as you have; then indeed all things are clean to you.”
“But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass by justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like graves which are not seen, and the men who walk over them are not aware of them.”
“Then one of the lawyers answered and said to Him, “Teacher, by saying these things You reproach us also.”
And He said, “Woe to you also, lawyers! For you load men with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers. Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. In fact, you bear witness that you approve the deeds of your fathers; for they indeed killed them, and you build their tombs. Therefore, the wisdom of God also said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and persecute,’ 50 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 temple. Yes, I say to you, it shall be required of this generation.”
“Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered.”
And as He said these things to them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to assail Him vehemently, and to cross-examine Him about many things, lying in wait for Him, and seeking to catch Him in something He might say, that they might accuse Him.”
“No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light. Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are unhealthy, your body also is full of darkness. See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be just as full of light as when a lamp shines its light on you.”
Well, Jesus is at it again. As Jesus is finishing his teaching, he speaks about light and darkness. In humble homes, families might light a single lamp and place it in a lampstand where it will give light to the entire room. Everybody is aware of this practice and nobody in their right mind will light a lamp, only to hide it. What would be the point? Now Jesus is advising that his listeners must take care so that what they think is light in their souls does not prove to be darkness. How disappointing for someone who is looking for a person to behave virtuously, only to find the individual cannot be trusted. In that case, there will be no light, but only darkness.
Yet another Pharisee invites Jesus for a meal. Upon entering the home, Jesus deliberately passes up the opportunity to wash his hands before eating, even though he is an observant Jew. The Pharisees immediately pounce on this failure but soon realize they have made a ghastly mistake. “Then the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees make the outside of the cup and dish clean, but your inward part is full of greed and wickedness. Foolish ones! Did not He who made the outside make the inside also? But rather give alms of such things as you have; then indeed all things are clean to you.”
“But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass by justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like graves which are not seen, and the men who walk over them are not aware of them.”
OUCH! Now Jesus has really insulted these men! No observant Jew will knowingly walk over a grave, for in so doing, they will become ritually unclean. The lawyers at the table might be silently chuckling to themselves, but now it’s their turn. Jesus reproves the lawyers for hypocrisy and for throwing up barriers to people desiring to enter the Kingdom of God by their many arguments. At this point, the Pharisees, scribes, and lawyers want nothing so much as for Jesus to die a swift painful death. But how can they do it? Each time someone thinks they have found a means of tripping Jesus up, they come off looking foolish.
These verses describe Jesus’ reproaches to the religious experts of his day. The Pharisees, scribes, and lawyers have become so besotted with dreaming up new regulations and trying to force people to follow them that they have totally lost sight of the God they claim to serve. Such merciless enforcement of ridiculous rules leaves the common people with no hope, for how can they possibly follow God when they can’t follow all these regulations? Truly, the light in these men has become darkness and they are spreading that darkness to all those they teach.
Later, St. Paul will tell the Romans, “Therefore do not let your good be spoken of as evil; for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men.” (Romans 14:16-18) Paul is writing to the Romans at a time when the Roman believers are beginning to argue over some of the same petty things that were promoted by the Pharisees.
“Righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit” should characterize our lives as believers. When we insist on judging others and criticizing them, we wind up as merciless Pharisees and our light turns to darkness.
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, please help us to follow You and Your mercy and love and not get bound up in petty regulations. Help us to remember that You have freed us from the curses of sin and death and that You only ask us to love You and obey You, not to follow senseless rules. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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