Thoughts From Luke - Day 54

                                                Luke 11:44-46

 “Woe to you, because you are like unmarked graves, which people walk over without knowing it.”
⁴⁵ One of the experts in the law answered him, “Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us also.”
⁴⁶ 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 will not lift one finger to help them.


       Numbers 19:16 says that anyone who touches a grave will become unclean for seven days. A lot of the laws had to do with cleanliness and germs. For example, touching a dead body could give you the germs that killed it and in order to keep from spreading disease throughout the camp, the person touching the body should be isolated. This law has to do more with spiritual uncleanness. God is not into death, wasting, dissipation - that was never His plan. Therefore, touching a grave was symbolic with hanging out with death and God says, "I'm not into death, I'm into life - eternal life." Therefore, when Jesus says that the Pharisees are like unmarked graves, He is saying that people that come in contact with them are defiled. How? For one thing their teachings lead to death and secondly, they themselves are dead.

        How did their teachings lead to death? They taught a salvation by following the law and then clarified the law by adding multiple other addendums to it. For example, the afore mentioned tithing on mint, rue, and garden herbs is an addendum to the tithing laws. People would ask, "what should I tithe on? I want to make sure I don't miss out of Heaven because I am forgetting to tithe on something." Therefore the Pharisees came up with a list of things to tithe on. Today, people ask, "Do I tithe on my pre-tax earnings or my post-tax earnings?" I'm not sure that even deserves an answer when everything we own belongs to the Lord. The better question is, how much of the Lord's money am I allowed to keep for myself? The Pharisees and teachers of the law had missed the point and therefore their teachings and their very lives were headed to death and hell. They were teaching, like every other religion in the world other than true Christianity, if you want to go to Heaven, you have to follow a bunch of rules. They were teaching works salvation. Jesus was adamantly opposed to this because if this worked, His very incarnation was a waste of time. The reason He came was because works salvation doesn't work.

        Jesus is teaching here that the law points to the fact that no one can keep it so don't keep adding more laws that no one can keep. The Pharisees are like the guy in the crowd who asks Jesus to specify who is his neighbor that he is supposed to love when Jesus tells people to love their neighbor. The man wants to know, is it the guy on my street or does it include my whole neighborhood? Give me an addendum. Jesus basically answers by saying loving your neighbor in order to get to Heaven is an impossible task, that's why I've come. Jesus has come because the Pharisees' teachings lead to impossible demands and therefore lead to death. Jesus came not only to lift a finger to help but also to have His whole body lifted up to help. He alone gives life by fulfilling the impossible demands of the law on our behalf if we just humbly acknowledge our inability and receive His free payment on our behalf. No wonder Jesus was so upset with the Pharisees - their teachings were leading people to hell. We likewise need to stand up against false religions that teach this and not be worried about offending them. Jesus wasn't because He knew it was a matter of eternal life and death.

       Lord, help me to be bold today in rescuing people from eternal death in Hell. Help me to boldly proclaim the name of Jesus and salvation through faith alone in Christ alone. Amen