Needing Jesus

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

NEEDING JESUS

Luke 11:45-54

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. 47 "Woe to you, because you build tombs for the prophets, and it was your forefathers who killed them. 48 So you testify that you approve of what your forefathers did; they killed the prophets, and you build their tombs. 49 Because of this, God in his wisdom said, 'I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and others they will persecute.' 50 Therefore this generation will be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning of the world, 51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, this generation will be held responsible for it all. 52 "Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering."  53 When Jesus left there, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law began to oppose him fiercely and to besiege him with questions, 54 waiting to catch him in something he might say.

NIV

After Jesus said what he did to the Pharisees with his three woes, now a teacher of the law, who thinks he must be above a Pharisee complains about Jesus insulting them when he spoke to the Pharisees. So three more woes and these are pointing directly to the teachers of the law and that would also apply to us, otherwise it would not be in there. The fact they were teaching people that they had to adhere to the law was true, but Jesus was telling them they did not even abide by what they were teaching. He was telling them to walk their talk, or practice what they preach. Isn’t that something we should be doing? We cannot tell people how they should behave when we cannot behave correctly. The gospel is not about rules and regulations which many denominations burden down their people with, rules and regulations which no one can actually keep. It is true we should live in a manner which pleases God and he has established certain behaviors which are required and the ones which are not acceptable. But the point Jesus was making is that these teachers of the law required people to obey the law when they themselves did not. We all fail, we all fall short, and all of us, not a single person can ever abide by every single law, or denominational rule or regulation. We cannot fulfill every requirement of God for righteous living and that is why we need Jesus. Without Jesus we are doomed. The rest of the woes continue this same theme. The fact they decorated and adorned the graves of the prophets which their forefathers killed is in fact a practice that still continues in Israel today. Jesus was telling them how they lifted up the dead who in fact they killed, which is related to their hindering others from the knowledge of God. They could not be truthful about the past, they could not admit their ancestors murder the prophets because they spoke for God, and spoke against the behavior of the Israelites, warning them of the coming wrath of God upon them if they did not repent. The reason for this was because they wanted to be like the prophets in the sense of warning the people about how their need to abide by the law otherwise God would not be pleased. The whole idea was they held themselves up while keeping others down. They were not truthful about human error and the need for the Messiah, the Christ who would take away their sins. This is our lesson as well. We cannot go around telling everyone how righteous they need be. The fact is we all fail, we all fall short, not one of us can live a perfect life, and so we should not be preaching perfection, but preaching Jesus. It is not about how we should do this or that or what we should not be doing, but it is about Jesus. The key to knowledge is not the law, but it is Jesus. They were not only hiding the key from others, but by burdening them with the law, they were hindering others from finding Jesus who is the key to all knowledge. We should not be preaching denominations and their doctrines. We should not be preaching perfection. We need to be showing Jesus. When we fail, we need to be open about our failure, because that is why we need Jesus too. No one is better or worse than another, as both the Pharisees and the teachers of the law thought they were. We cannot get into that trap for we are but sinners saved by grace. We all need Jesus.