Allen Jackson - Synagogues and Pharisees - Part 1
How many of you have read the Gospel of Luke with us in these last few days? Good, I think. I've asked you to invest a little time beyond your normal Bible reading patterns to read the Gospel of Luke. We've spent several sessions now walking through it. In that repetitive reading, it changes entirely the way you engage with Scripture. It really does and if you've never had that habit or you've never had that opportunity, I would encourage you to, even if you haven't begun yet.
Come on, there's only 24 chapters in Luke. You can read it in a single sitting in less time than it takes to watch a ball game. Maybe you can read it once a day if your schedule permits. If that's beyond what your current calendar would provide for, maybe you can read it a couple of times a week, whatever that would look like. I understand it's a sacrifice, but it's an investment in the Word of God and I've never done that without having God respond to me and so I would invite you towards it. I've been going back and forth through Luke now for a few weeks and I'm amazed at what it has unlocked in my own heart.
In this session, I wanna talk to you about synagogues and Pharisees. In fact, we're gonna go to dinner with some Pharisees. We're gonna slip in with Jesus as if we were invited. Luke gives us multiple instances, we'll go to at least three Pharisees's homes, good Lord willing, for dinner with Jesus. And it's quite an enlightening, it's one of the habits that Luke has of repetition. Jesus's message wasn't unique everywhere he went, he often said things that were very similar. The miracles that were performed, the ministry that was extended, are often very similar city to city or location to location. I don't believe it's an accident. I believe Luke is telling us something, he's presenting to us a narrative of opportunity, expressions of mercy in the power of God.
As I've walked back and forth through these chapters, it's also become pretty clear to me that there's something of a tragedy in what Luke is presenting. There's the triumph of the arrival of Messiah and there's certainly the victory of the resurrection over death. I wouldn't diminish those or distract from that, but there's also a story of the rejection of God's invitation too often by a majority of the people to whom it's presented. In reality, if you read the Gospel and you're paying much attention, it's a relatively small percentage of the people who engage the message and engage with transformation.
It's the larger crowds and the louder voices that are either ambivalent, indifferent, or they are aggressive in rejecting Jesus. We've read several examples. If you were paying attention, when they crossed the lake to the Gentile side of the Sea of Galilee, there was a man there who'd been demonized and tormented. He lived in a graveyard naked. He met Jesus and the disciples and he was delivered and set free, restored to his right mind. The people from the community wanted Jesus to leave. I assure you he wasn't the only troubled man in the community. He was just the worst of the worst.
That pattern is repeated over and over in Luke. And I'm not gonna take the time to present it in this session, but Jesus the prophet walks through the Gospel of Luke. And by the time we get to the concluding verses, there are some things that have been said to that generation. The Gospel of Luke encompasses about a 35 year window of time if we begin with the announcement to Zechariah and we follow it all the way through Jesus's crucifixion, plus or minus just a bit. So it's a really relatively small period of time and the majority of the gospel falls into about a three year window, when the greatest of the Hebrew prophets has something to say to a generation of people.
Oh, I know we read it for the highlights that go along with the Jesus story, the circumstances of his birth and the remarkable nature of that, the ministry and some of the parables he talks and perhaps the miracles and then his betrayal and his crucifixion and his resurrection. I understand the highlight reel, but there's much, much, much more in the Gospel of Luke. Jesus has much to say. He tells the people that, because of their choices, because of their inability or unwillingness to embrace the purposes of God, that there'll be an interruption of their life patterns. Sobering stuff. He says your annual plans will no longer be annual, your habits are going to change, your opportunities are going to be different.
The generational progress that you presume upon that the next generation will be better than this one and it'll be much better than the one that was before that and it'll just continue to get better, he said that generational progress is over, it's done. Jesus said those things. He said there are chaotic forces that'll be focused on your disruption and your diminishment. Jesus did. He said there will be a forfeiture of your stability and your security. You'll face lawlessness and deception, tremendous financial loss and even displacement. He said you'll be driven from your homes. All of that's in the Gospel of Luke from Jesus.
And as I've lived with it and walked with it and thought about it, it seems inescapable to me that, in some very similar ways, we too are at a crossroads. I don't know the outcomes, I wouldn't presume to. But I do know the character of God. And I know that if the people of God will come in humility and repentance, those are powerful factors in eliciting God's engagement. I know it to be equally true that if we stand in our pride, in our indifference, in our stubborn unbelief, in our self-righteousness, that we will attract the judgment of God.
So all of those prophetic messages that Jesus was delivering to the audience in Luke's gospel I believe are relevant to the church in the 21st century in our nation. I believe if we stubbornly refuse to change, to embrace the message that is before us and choose the truth, that we will face the interruption of our life patterns and the removal of our annual plans, the generational progress will stop, that there'll be chaotic forces unleashed with the intent of bringing great disruption and diminishment, that we will forfeit stability and security, that lawlessness will increase, deception will multiply, that there'll be great financial loss and even displacement.
I'm not telling you I think that has to be, I'm telling you the status quo is not sustainable. That we will either seek the Lord and change and know him better and be transformed more completely, and through that awakening there will come a new season of opportunity and stability for the generations following us or we will face the consequence of forfeiting the opportunity. Luke 11:23 is as close to a key verse as I've identified in the gospel. Jesus is speaking. It's in your notes. There's hope, I'm back to your page. Jesus said, "He who is not with me is against me, and he who doesn't gather with me, scatters".
See, in contemporary America, we create all these other categories and I don't find them to be prevalent in Scripture. Jesus said, "You're either with me or you're against me. You're either gathering with me or you're scattering". There's no gray area, there's no third rail, there's no alternative. So I'll leave that with you for a bit of meditation this week. Is there ample evidence to suggest that you are with Jesus to the people that you spend your discretionary time with?
Think of you first and foremost as a person who's with Jesus. You're a UT fan, I promise you they know you're with UT. Not opposed to that, I'm not saying it's wrong, but you don't want to identify with something more than you identify with Jesus or I would submit there's significant question whether you're with him. He said, "You're either gathering with me or you're scattering". Are you actively, purposefully, focused, intentionally engaged in gathering for the kingdom of God? And in the same chapter, chapter 11 of Luke in verse 29, Jesus again, "As the crowds increased, he said, 'This is a wicked generation. It asked for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.'"
Jonah was in the belly of a fish for three days and nights and Jesus would step out of time for those three days before his resurrection. What intrigued me was his description of the generation he came to minister to. He said, "It's a wicked generation". Those are Jesus's words, Jesus's words. The Bible tells us that some generations seek the Lord and some generations are wicked. Some are cooperative and some are ungodly. What will be written of this generation? They were technologically advanced?
We presided over a communications explosion? I don't know that the answer is complete on that yet, but I tell you this to the degree that I have a voice and I have any influence and I would encourage you to use yours. Let's not be a wicked generation, let's be a godly generation. Let's be a generation that strives for righteousness and holiness and purity, that repudiates ungodliness and immorality, that will stand for our children, that will honor the rights of the Jewish people to be in the land that God promised them, they will embrace our heritage of the Christian faith in the United States. What will be said of this generation? You've got to decide. You have a voice. You say, "Well, my voice is small". Small voices together are loud. It's cowardice to hide in the shadows and say I'm insignificant.
The synagogue in the first century was the place of worship in each of the communities. Roughly synonymous to a church. Maybe the church in the part of the world where we live as you would have seen it 50 years ago. All the small communities that would have dotted the countryside in the south had their local church. If there were enough people, more than one. Well, in all the Jewish communities, Capernaum and Nazareth and Bethsaida and Korazim, there was a synagogue and the person that presided over the synagogue were the Pharisees.
Now beyond that was the temple, the temple was in Jerusalem. There was only one temple. It was the center, the establishment of the religious life of the whole nation. Three times a year, all the people were commanded to go to Jerusalem to the temple. But the weekly worship, the weekly gathering of the people of God to to read Scripture portions and to discuss them took place in those synagogues. So the Pharisees were the leaders in the synagogues. The temple in Jerusalem was overseen by the Sadducees. That was the grandest of all the buildings in the nation. It was the center of their national pride. It was their national bank. Jesus ministered in both.
The conclusion of his ministry took place significantly in the temple area in Jerusalem. But particularly in the northern part of the country he traveled and spoke in the synagogues. In Luke chapter 4 in verse 14, it says, "Jesus," this is after his baptism, "he returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and the news about him spread throughout the whole countryside. And he taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him". That was his pattern. He would go to the synagogue in the community and address the people.
So the people that would gather in the synagogue would be the people who had a heart more interested in learning of the Lord. There were people in the communities that didn't go to synagogue, in the same way we have people who don't go to churches. I hear people saying, "I don't have to go to church to be a Christian". Oh, you're right. You don't have to go home to be married either, but it'll work better. So Jesus is going to the synagogues. Same chapter, Luke 4, he says, "'I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.' And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea".
Judea is the southern part of Israel. So in Galilee in the north, and in Judea in the south, Jesus had a habit and a pattern of going to the synagogues and teaching the people. That's why so many of the miracle stories take place in synagogues on the Sabbath. That was Jesus's pattern. Now, Luke records for us that, on more than one occasion, Jesus went home with a Pharisee to have a meal. And we're not gonna... some of these are familiar. We've looked at one of these already. I'm not gonna read you everything that's in your outlines, but I wanted you to have the larger context, but I do want you to walk with me through Luke into these three separate meals.
These are the people who are shepherding the people of God and Jesus is interested enough that he's ministered in the synagogue and now he's going into their home to have a meal. I'm gonna ask you to think about it in the terms of all the messaging that you know about Jesus. The one that's this unrelenting drumbeat that Jesus was all about love, and we've imagined that all he said was happy. We've heard that in almost in an unending loop for as long as I can remember. So we're gonna go to dinner.
How many of you would like to go be a fly on the wall while Jesus has dinner with a Pharisee? Cool, Luke's gonna let us, we get to go three times. Luke chapter 7, "Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table. And a woman who lived a sinful life in town learned that Jesus was eating in his house". Oh, we've already looked at this, a woman with a sinful life. Warning, Will Rogers, warning. Luke doesn't tell us what the sinful life was. We've kind of assumed that it was some sort of sexual immorality. She just may have been a cat burglar. I don't know, but she was recognized across the community as not being godly, sinful.
And she approaches Jesus at this meal and begins to weep over his feet and wipe his feet with her hair and then anoint his feet with an expensive perfume, and the Pharisee is very offended. Not so much at the woman's behavior, he's offended at Jesus because Jesus would tolerate. He's imagining that if Jesus were truly a man of God, he would know the character of the woman and would have nothing to do with her. And that's the nature, and Jesus engages. Verse 39: "When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said, 'If this man were a prophet, he would know who's touching him and what kind of woman she is, that she's a sinner.' So Jesus said, 'Simon, I have something to tell you.'"
Now, I've been to dinner in lots of people's homes. I'm not sure I have found the same kind of courage that Jesus is gonna show us through his dinner engagements. And he said, "'Well, tell me, teacher.' So Jesus turned toward the woman and he said to Simon," he's looking at the woman but he's speaking to Simon, "'Do you see her? I came into your house and you didn't even give me water for my feet,'" which was the custom. You didn't show me the customary kindness that would have been due a guest. You made your resentment obvious in the way you treated me. You tolerated me in your home, but you didn't welcome me. You didn't roll out the the mat of friendship, you didn't embrace me as if you were grateful for me being here. You brought me in with the eye of a skeptic to see if there was any inconsistency that you could identify and exploit to diminish what I'm doing.
That's the Living Bible interpretation. Let's go on. Luke's gonna take us to another dinner. Luke chapter 11: "When Jesus had finished speaking, a Pharisee invited him to eat with him; so he went in and reclined at the table. But the Pharisee, noticing that Jesus didn't first wash before the meal, was surprised". Okay, the Pharisee didn't like Jesus's observance of ritual ritual. So he's listened to him teach the Scripture, he has no comment and Luke doesn't say that the Pharisee said, "You ministered to me. It blessed my heart. Would you come back on the next Sabbath"?
There were places where they begged Jesus not to leave. But again, the keeper of the local community of faith invites Jesus into his home and the tone of this interaction is not one of affirmation, we're looking for weaknesses. So Jesus is gonna respond to him. He was surprised that Jesus didn't wash before the meal. "And the Lord said to him, 'Now, then,'" I'm already thinking, whoa. "'Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you're full of wickedness and greed. You foolish people! Didn't the one who made the outside make the inside also? But give what is inside the dish to the poor, and everything will be clean for you.'"
Can we safely say Jesus is being rather direct? I mean, they haven't even gotten the meal and Jesus said, "'You foolish people! You wash your hands but inside you need cleaned up.'" Well, you can hear the response, "Who are you to say what I need on the inside"? Isn't that what we hear all around us? We're offended by the truth of God's word. And if you look this up in your Bible, it says they're the Six Woes. Not like whoa to a horse, like stop. It's the woe, W-O-E, meaning I'm about to come upside your head. I mean, that's not really the definition, so Jesus goes right on, "'Woe to you Pharisees, you give a tenth of your mint, and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone.'" He said, "You are so pretentious that you give a tithe".
You know, people say to me that tithing is an Old Testament concept. Well, Jesus believed in it. And last time I checked, he's kind of the pivot point of the New Testament story. But Jesus said, "You'll leave a tithe of the mint that you get at the market. But," he said, "you should have loved God". And he said, "You shouldn't have ignored the other. The tithing was okay, but you should have been focused on loving God". But he doesn't stop there. "'Woe to you Pharisees, you love the most important seats in the synagogues and the greetings in the marketplace. Woe to you because you're like unmarked graves, which men walk over without knowing it.'"
In Judaism, to step on a grave makes you unclean. Think of going to a strip club. Does that make you unclean? How many of you think that would not be a good idea? About six of you. That was underreported. That is not a good idea. Well, it was a similar, and Jesus is pulling that, he said, you know, "but you allow the people to be unclean. Woe to you!" he said. I mean, he's at dinner. He's not asking for recipes, he's not commenting on the decorations in the synagogue. He's not offering commentary on the people that have gathered in the leadership being provided by the... he is actually providing some commentary, but this is not a comfortable conversation.
How many of you think if you were Jesus's associate, you're squirming. You say, "Well, if I get out of this dinner, I'm not going back to dinner with him". Awkward. So Luke slips in, "One of the experts in the law answered him," in verse 45, "'Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us also.'" As if Jesus were so socially inept, he didn't understand that "woe is you, woe is you, woe is you" might be a little off-putting.
I wanna pray with you before we go. Let's ask God to help us see anything that limits us from effectiveness in his kingdom.
Father, I thank you for your Word, for its truth and power and authority. If there is any way we have made a choice that limits what you could do through us, help us to see it. We want to change. In Jesus's name, amen.