URC Daily Devotion Thursday 6 February 2025
St Luke 11: 37 – 54
While Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee invited him to dine with him; so he went in and took his place at the table. The Pharisee was amazed to see that he did not first wash before dinner. Then the Lord said to him, ‘Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You fools! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? So give for alms those things that are within; and see, everything will be clean for you. ‘But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and herbs of all kinds, and neglect justice and the love of God; it is these you ought to have practised, without neglecting the others. Woe to you Pharisees! For you love to have the seat of honour in the synagogues and to be greeted with respect in the market-places. Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without realizing it.’ One of the lawyers answered him, ‘Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us too.’ And he said, ‘Woe also to you lawyers! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not lift a finger to ease them. Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your ancestors killed. So you are witnesses and approve of the deeds of your ancestors; for they killed them, and you build their tombs. Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, “I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute”, so that this generation may be charged with the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be charged against this generation. Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.’ When he went outside, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be very hostile towards him and to cross-examine him about many things, lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say.
Reflection
What an uncomfortable Dinner Party: first the host criticises the guest and then the guest harangues the host. Perhaps we should note that New Testament writers did not have the space available to modern authors who seem too often to confuse quantity with quality! Luke may have chosen to set records of Jesus’s criticism of those who elevated actions over intentions within this social occasion; whenever it was that Jesus criticised the Pharisees and lawyers we need not question the report that they “began to be very hostile towards him.”
An emphasis on actions over intentions, form over substance; how does this challenge us? The phrase about being treated with respect in the market-places made me reflect – I write this during the year when I am our Town Mayor and can quite enjoy the respect accorded to the office – but am aware of a sense of imposter syndrome. I am still the same flawed human being; how well it has been said that those who stand on their own dignity have a very insecure platform. As Burns put it, “A man’s a man for a’ that.” Maybe I am not the only one who needs to be reminded….
When I was young we had some Devon Motto Ware crockery; the plate inscribed “Actions speak louder than words” seemed to be in my place quite often. When we drill into this passage we may hope that we are “not like that” but however well we succeed in giving a good impression may we be sufficiently self-aware to be honest with God and with ourselves about what we are really like and what our motives are.
[GB Caird suggested that the phrase “give for alms those things that are within” arose from a mistranslation of the original Aramaic and should read, “Cleanse the inside and behold all is clean for you” – which is a lot easier to understand.]
Prayer
Dear Master, in whose life I see
all that I would, but fail to be,
let thy clear light for ever shine,
to shame and guide this life of mine.
Though what I dream and what I do
in my weak days are always two,
help me, oppressed by things undone,
O Thou, whose deeds and dreams were one.
John Hunter: R&S 493