Woes to those with the Long Nose

Luke 11:37-54

Woe to the Pharisees and Lawyers

37 And as He spoke, a certain Pharisee asked Him to dine with him. So He went in and sat down to eat. 38 When the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that He had not first washed before dinner.

39 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. 40 Foolish ones! Did not He who made the outside make the inside also? 41 But rather give alms of such things as you have; then indeed all things are clean to you.

42 "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. 43 Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. 44 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."

45 Then one of the lawyers answered and said to Him, "Teacher, by saying these things You reproach us also."

46 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. 47 Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. 48 In fact, you bear witness that you approve the deeds of your fathers; for they indeed killed them, and you build their tombs. 49 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, 51 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.

52 "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."

53 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, 54 lying in wait for Him, and seeking to catch Him in something He might say, that they might accuse Him.

Jesus pronounced woes upon those with the long nose of judgment and self-righteousness.  The greatest were the religious leaders of the day in Israel, the Pharisees and lawyers also known as the scribes.  The Pharisees were a religious sect that seemed to have started after the Jewish exile and accumulated many rules added to God’s actual Law.  Strongs describes them so, “They sought for distinction and praise by outward observance of external rites and by outward forms of piety, and such as ceremonial washings, fastings, prayers, and alms giving; and, comparatively negligent of genuine piety, they prided themselves on their fancied good works.”  The scribes added most of the extra scriptural rules which the Pharisees then enforced with the rigor of the slave masters of Egypt (Exodus 1:13-14) as another type of bondage (John 8:33-34).  The lawyers mentioned here are almost synonymous with the scribes as both words describe those who spend their lives adding to the meaning of scripture to settle difficult matters and ending up changing the content and meaning God intended.  Jesus called them all hypocrites, those who act under assumed characters as pretenders of true righteousness and truth with religious ceremonial trappings much like what evolved in Rome to what we see presently.  The Lord exposed them as those who make a good outward show of ritual cleansing but leave the inside of the man full of sinful uncleanliness.  They took the best for themselves in all things as if they deserved it by earning through faux righteousness as they walked over others for their own gain.  They did not understand Jesus when He told them and us to consider others and not just ourselves (Matthew 7:12, Philippians 2:4) as they made clear by the way they looked down on others they considered less righteous than themselves.  We now know that there is none righteous (Romans 3:10-12) and nobody who claims to keep the Law is truthful (James 2:10-11), but plays a part on their own stage of denial and deception (Romans 3:19-20).  The lawyers were offended when Jesus exposed the scribes and Pharisees like this, and the Lord went on in response to unveil their own hypocrisy as they rejected all whom God sent with the unadulterated Law of the scriptures by the tongues of the prophets and apostles and even murdered many of them to silence the truth and propagate their own interpretations and explanations.  This is a continuing warning for us to cut the word (2 Timothy 2:15) straight in interpretation by scriptural and historical context and not by our own personal interpretation (2 Peter 1:20) which changes the meaning and intent of God.  We are to validate all by scripture as the final authority (2 Timothy 3:16-17) over our proclivities of comfort to ourselves or pride of life (1 John 2:16) as self-proclaimed experts of the word of God as these had done and mislead others.  We who teach the word of God are held even more accountable (James 3:1-2) and are called to learn from the mistakes (1 Corinthians 10:11-12) which these religious leaders of the past had done.  We are held accountable and responsible for teaching and proclaiming the whole counsel of scripture as well.  May we not keep the key of knowledge from others by bad teaching which adds or removes anything from what the Lord in when He spoke and as it has been written for our edification.  May we not keep others from the kingdom of God and of heaven with false hopes that sound good and are not right.  The religious of that day were exceedingly angry at being exposed on stage and looked for ways to attack Jesus by catching Him misspeaking or speaking words they could twist to their own destruction (2 Peter 3:16), just as we also must be aware will happen to us as we speak the same unsettling truths to those with their own agendas that do not align with God’s word.  We need therefore to be wise as poisonous snales but remaining harmless as pure doves of peace in reconciling the hearers with God through the gospel of Jesus Christ who is God in the flesh, the divine Son of Man and Son of God.  We will be accused and suffer persecution (1 Peter 3:14, 17) but be delivered by the Lord as well (Psalm 34:19, 2 Timothy 3:12).  Remember and consider the end of those with the long nose as we set our faces like a flint and run the good race towards Jesus Christ our Lord.