Woe to You

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

WOE TO YOU

Luke 11:42

42 "Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue 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.

NIV

Jesus is still reclining at the table in the house of a Pharisee, and we would have to believe, although Luke does not make a point of telling us, there were other Pharisees reclining at the  table. Of course, the Pharisees would make sure everyone saw them god a tenth of their mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs. There were not only about trying to keep every of the laws of God, including all the additional rules they had developed from their interpretation of the law. Jesus tells them they should not abandon the giving of a tenth, which of course, is proof to us the tithe is alive and well within the New Testament Church. However, they were not about justice and the love of God. They did not care about the divine law of God, being just. This Greek word krisis, has a direct meaning of making a right judgement, such as the judgment of God, Judgement of Jesus, however, that carries the idea if both making the right judgment about the divine law of God, and being just, which is acting or being in conformity with what is morally upright and good. When justice or being just is used as a verb, which may be the way Jesus intended it to mean, it can be seen as one guided by truth and reason. We know the Pharisees through they were guided by the truth, but refused to hear the truth of Jesus about the kingdom of God and that Jesus came to set men free from sin. They neglected the truth, they neglected being guided by the truth of God, and the love, the agape love of God. This is the affection, good-will, benevolence type of love. This is loving each other with good-will toward them, waiting what is best  for them, being giving, benevolent toward them. We know the Pharisees were not anything like that toward the common people,  the very people God demonstrates his agape love toward in the person of Jesus. We wonder if we love others as God does. We wonder if we are just, not just acting, but living in conformity to with what is morally upright and good. We try to, or at least make every effort to love others and to live uprightly. Without making excuses for our being human, we are human and have not yet attain perfection. Therefore, we might fail or fall short of the mark that Jesus is taking about here. Still. It is the desire of our heart to serve God and do what is right in his sight, which we have done in the sense of putting our trust in Jesus, which the Pharisees refused to do  But have we become too invested in following the law, or the rules and regulations then the love of God?  We should not hear any woes from Jesus aimed at our lives, or should we could we ever hear, woe to you?