Allen Jackson - Synagogues and Pharisees - Part 2

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Isn't that what we hear all around us? We're offended by the truth of God's Word. We're told not to talk about it, it's a cultural conversation and we shouldn't have it. Baloney, it's biblical. And if you're not having it, we're abandoning the field, and there's consequences. But Jesus doesn't stop there, 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. But, 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 even tithe of the mint that you get at the market, but, he said, you should have loved God. Now, 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 under reported, that is not a good idea. Well, it was a similar, and Jesus is pulling up, 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 and the leadership being provided by the... well, 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? Say, well, if I get out of this dinner, I'm not going back to dinner with him, awkward! So Luke slips it, "And one of the experts in the law answered him," 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. "Teacher, you insult us too". So at this point, you would think, well, maybe Jesus will dial it back a little bit, tap the brakes, build the bridge, establish a little community, right? Find some commonality, what's the Scripture portion for next Sabbath? Your scroll was beautifully cared for.

Well, Luke gives us Jesus's response: "Jesus replied, 'And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves don't lift a finger to help them".' Well, that's not conciliatory, you're lousy leaders. "Woe to you, because you build tombs for the prophets, and it was your forefathers who killed them. So you testify that you approve of what your forefathers did; and they killed the prophets, and you build their tombs". Look at verse 50: "Therefore this generation will be held responsible".

Remember where we started, disruption of patterns, annual, it wasn't in your notes, sorry, but their annual schedules will be disrupted, the anticipation of generational success is gone. It's the message in the gospel of Luke. You can't ignore the opportunities that God puts before you and imagine the blessings of God will continue to insulate your future. Now, Jesus is at dinner with the Pharisee and this is what he says to the Pharisee and to the experts in the law who have joined him, "This generation will be held responsible for all the blood of the prophets that's been shed since the beginning of the world, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. I tell you, this generation will be held responsible for it all".

Do you ever... remember, Jesus said that was a wicked generation, do you ever think about generational responsibility? You know, the focus of the gospel that we've heard has been so often upon personal salvation, and I believe in conversion and salvation, but we have very little thought, very little invested in the sense of community and generational responses to God. "To whom much is given," the Scripture says, "there is much required," there is a great deal of accountability. We are more blessed, we have more affluence, more freedom, more liberty, more access to the gospel, more access to the Word of God, more leisure time to engage with it than any group of people in the history of civilization.

I don't say that to bring guilt and shame, I say that it should stir within us an awareness of the opportunity with which we've been presented. Verse 52: "Woe to you experts in the law, you've taken away the key to knowledge. And you yourselves haven't entered, but you've hindered those who are entering". Look at verse 53, Luke's giving us a commentary. He said, "When Jesus left, when he left dinner, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law began to oppose him fiercely and to besiege him with questions, waiting to catch him in something he might say". Nobody said, you know, he had a point. I mean, he's opened blind eyes and raised the dead. We heard he made merlot in Cana, maybe we should listen. None of that. We're gonna shut him down, we won't tolerate it.

Folks, it sounds eerily like the attitude we have around conversations about a biblical worldview and what's happening in our culture, we don't talk about that, it's inappropriate, you shouldn't do that. Well, I believe we should. I believe we have to. Luke's gonna take us to another Pharisee's house, chapter 14: "One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being watched carefully". Now, by now, we kind of know the drama. "In front of him was a man suffering from dropsy. And Jesus asked the Pharisees and the experts in the law, 'Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?' They didn't say anything. So he took hold of the man, and he healed him and he sent him away".

You know, at that point... again, if we kinda used our contemporary models, you'd just move on. Maybe you've been invited to somebody's house and they don't believe in miracles, they don't pray for the sick, but there's somebody there that's sick and so you kind of quietly pray for the sick person, right? And then you go back to going, "Your green beans are awesome. Best chicken I've had in a long time". But that isn't Jesus's pattern, it's not his habit. It's not what Luke is reporting to us. After he sent the man away, he says, "He said to them," his host, "If one of you has a son or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath, wouldn't you pull him out"?

Look at their stubbornness, "They had nothing to say". We're not gonna talk to you about this, we're not conceding anything. We're not gonna be grateful that the man was healed. He's one of our constituents. He's a part of our community. He was delivered from sickness and disease. We're not gonna be happy for him, we don't like you! Jesus goes on, he gets up into their business. "When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them a parable". He just exposes their hearts, verse 11: "Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted". Verse 12: "Then Jesus said to his host," I mean, he's not gonna leave well enough alone! I doubt we would go to the third Pharisee's house with Jesus, we'd be too raw after the first two visits. It makes you nervous when you just read it.

"When you give a luncheon or dinner, do you not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your rich neighbors? If you do, they may invite you back and you'll be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the people that can't invite you back". I mean, he's up in his business. And then he tells them this parable and they're wise enough, they're astute enough, they're educated and culturally sophisticated and scripturally aware, they understand Jesus is pointing this parable at them. It's about someone who holds a feast, in the kingdom of God, Jesus said, and he invites people, and the people he invites, don't wanna come to the feast.

So the instruction is given in verse 22. Verse 21: "The servant came back and said, the owner of the house became angry and he ordered, 'Go out quickly into the streets and alleys and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.' The master said, 'Go out into the roads and the country lanes and make them come in, so that my house may be full. I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.'"

I assure you, the Pharisee and his friends knew whom Jesus was speaking about. So what's Luke telling us? It's not a single instance, it's not like a grumpy Pharisee. In multiple places, in multiple communities, after ministering in synagogues where the people are celebrating healings and miracles and the authority with which Jesus teaches and demonized people being set free, he's having meals with the leaders in the synagogue. Jesus is doing his part to engage, to try to bring change, because if the Pharisee changes, the synagogue changes, the community changes.

When Luke says, Jesus said, "You're a wicked generation," it's not some theoretical observance from a great distance. It's not 1,000-foot view, he's been in their homes having meals with them and they do not wanna listen, and so destruction is coming. Jesus weeps over Jerusalem in Luke's Gospel. On the day of his triumphal entry when all the people are celebrating and the children are worshiping God, Jesus begins to weep and he said they're gonna tear you apart.

We're gonna go to one more meal with Jesus. It's not a Pharisee this time, it's worse, it's the biggest thief in town. He's not a religious leader, folks. He's not convening services, he's not reading Scripture portions, he's a thief. Everybody knows he's a thief. The most hated people in town were the tax collectors. The Roman habit was to choose a local citizen because after all, they tended to know where the money was. And they would appoint them as a tax collector and then they would give them Roman soldiers to be the enforcers. So that the tax collector, while he was local, had the muscle of the Roman soldiers to collect the taxes. And human nature being what it is, most frequently, the tax collector would not only collect what Rome was asking for, he would line his own pockets.

So you can imagine how the local people felt about the tax collectors, right? Well, Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem and he comes through Jericho, and the tax collector there is Zacchaeus. And apparently, he was a man of slight stature and he wanted to see Jesus when he comes through town, he's heard about him, so he climbs the tree to see over the crowd. And when Jesus is coming through town, there's no doubt the women's bazaar has fixed lunch for Jesus. They have tomatoes and tuna fish and some gelatin something. And Jesus stops under the tree where Zacchaeus is, it's in your notes, it's Luke 19. "When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said, 'Zacchaeus, come down. I must stay at your house today.'"

Now, this is Luke 19. We've been to three Pharisees homes by now with Luke, we know what's coming. Dear me, if he said that to the Pharisee, can you imagine what he's gonna say to the tax collector? He's about to get flayed! "Zacchaeus, I must stay at your house today," and all the women are a huff, what's gonna happen to our tuna? That's in the Living Bible. That's not really in Luke, okay? "So Zacchaeus came down at once and welcomed him gladly". Well, that's weird. The synagogue leaders don't welcome him gladly, they welcome him skeptically. They're looking for a reason to accuse him, they don't have any intention of cooperating with him.

"And all the people saw this and they began to mutter, 'Jesus has gone to be the guest of a sinner.'" There's the spirit we're looking for, see! "But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, 'Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything,'" can you see the crowd? Can you see the eye rolls, if you've cheated anybody? "'If I have cheated anybody out of anything, I'll pay back four times the amount.' And Jesus said to him, 'Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is the son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.'"

Folks, we don't wanna stand in our self-righteousness. We don't want to be oblivious to the needs that are around us. We're gonna close with communion. When you came in, I think you received those elements. If you're joining us online, you got a minute, you go grab a saltine and a cup of water. I meet people pretty regularly now that join us on livestream and they tell me they keep communion handy because we don't give them enough time to get ready. Sorry about that. But if you'll allow me, I wanna suggest that we come tonight in humility and say to the Lord, we're a people in need of healing.

We have an abundance of churches, easy access to the Bibles, we have Christian broadcasting, and it's more frequent to hear us say, "I don't like that style" or "I don't like that translation," or "That doesn't minister to me". We're far more ready to say those things than we are to engage the sin that is bringing disintegration to our culture. The sacrifice of our babies, offering our children up to predators. Hundreds of thousands of children have come into our country through an open border, that there is no accounting for.

I was given the report yesterday, hundreds of thousands of children unaccounted for. They don't know where they are. The presumption is a significant percentage of them have been trafficked. An open border is not compassion, it's a tool for evil. And it's easy to come into our churches and sing our choruses. I've read multiple reports about the church in the 30s in Germany, that we were reminded of earlier. And the trains would come past, loaded with Jews headed to the death camps. They would be crying, screaming for help. And when they rolled past the churches, the churches would sing more loudly so they didn't have to hear the cries of the people. God, be merciful to us.

Can we come to the Communion table tonight and say, Lord, have mercy on us, we're a people in need of healing? We have tolerated ungodliness and immorality and wickedness, we've looked the other way. We've wanted to assert our self-righteousness. Lord, we need healing, we need forgiveness. We'll have changes in leadership and authority when we have changes in the hearts of God's people. Can we come to the Lord that way? Jesus put this in place, not pastors or bishops or presbyteries, Jesus did. The Passover meal was a very familiar part of the Jewish religious life, a holiday, and Jesus takes it and he repurposes a bit and it found its way into cultures far beyond the Jewish culture. He took bread at the end of the Passover meal and said, "This bread is my body broken for you".

At that point, he hadn't been to the cross yet. The meaning of that, the revelation of that, would be to come in the days ahead. We come to the Communion table because it's through the broken body of Jesus that we have access to the kingdom of God, not the church we join or our good works or our generosity. Through the broken body and the shed blood of Jesus, we can receive the gift of righteousness. We don't earn it, we certainly don't deserve it. We hold it, we nurture it with the humility to acknowledge we need a Savior. And because we are willing to call him Lord, then we will stand for the values and the principles that he gives to us, we don't choose them.

I'm amazed at what people say they can be Christian and then hold worldview issues that are diametrically opposed to Scripture. After what we just read, that seems really awkward to me. And if you've been guilty, let's talk to the Lord tonight and say, Lord, I am sorry, I want to put you first. I want to give you first place. I'm not looking for a reason to criticize you, I wanna be more like Zacchaeus, "You all know I'm a thief and I want to make it right," he said. So we come to the communion table. Jesus said, "This is my body broken for you. As often as you eat it, do this in remembrance of me". Let's receive together. Then he took a cup and said, "This cup is a new covenant sealed with my own blood. As often as you drink it, you proclaim my death until you see me again". Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. We had to have a Savior, we needed one. We can't save ourselves. Let's receive together. You stand with me for that prayer?

Heavenly Father, I thank you for your love for us. Thank you that we have access to the Word of God, that we can gather in churches without fear of reprisal, that we can call on the name of Jesus in a public place. We come tonight to acknowledge Jesus as Lord of our lives. As we've received the bread and the cup, we thank you for your great sacrifice for us, what you endured that we might gain access to your eternal kingdom. We praise you for it tonight.

But apart from you, we are nothing. Apart from you, we are weak and frail and fractured. But in you, we have been made righteous, we've been justified, sanctified, set apart for the purposes of God. And you have called us to this generation and to this unique season, and Father, we ask for your mercy. We've been indifferent or silent or when we have supported ungodliness and wickedness, forgive us. When we've looked for reasons to diminish what you were doing rather than to be ambassadors for you, forgive us. Give us boldness now to be people of the truth in our homes, with our families, with our friends. May you be pleased with us, look upon us with mercy and bring healing to us once again. In Jesus name, amen.