To be honest, I would not have had those fights. I'd have smoothed them over, worked them out.
In Luke 11, Jesus was beginning to lower the boom a little, teaching some hard truths that people did not like to hear. And guess what? People did not like to hear it! (Duh?) They got mad. Especially the religious leaders - the Pharisees, scribes and Temple leaders.
In verse 37, we see Jesus challenged by a Pharisee about a picky issue - he wasn't following the ceremonial rules of Jewish leaders. How would I have responded? I probably would have said to myself, "Don't make waves. Don't make enemies. Go along to get along." But Jesus took another tack. He challenged that Pharisee's heart, in verses 39-40.
Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also?
Wow. He called them fools, who cleaned the outside carefully but were full of dirt on the inside. That's pretty harsh. He doubled down on the criticism in verses 42-44, accusing them of neglecting justice and the love of God, of being self-important and self-centered, of being "unmarked graves" which people step and without realizing it - a strange insult but an unmistakably harsh one.
One of the lawyers (not that kind of lawyer - someone who was an expert in the Jewish law) gave Jesus a gentle rebuke. "You are insulting all of us with those words." Surely the master would back off a little and soften his rhetoric. I would. But Jesus didn't. He went right after the lawyer and his kind, in verses 46-47.
Woe to you lawyers also! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers. Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed.
He goes on and on enumerating their sins and failings. Hypocrisy. Violence against the prophets of God. Deception and lack of understanding of God's truth.
The passage ends with a statement that ought not come as a surprise to anyone. Verses 53-54 explain how the religious leaders reacted to Jesus' provocation.
As he went away from there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press him hard and to provoke him to speak about many things, lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say.
So, the question is why. Why did Jesus provoke these men? Why couldn't
he be a little more politic, a little kinder, more positive? A few nice words
could have worked wonders here.
First of all, Jesus had one advantage we don't - complete insight into
the motives of people's hearts. He knew exactly who they were and how evil
their hearts were. Since I don't know men's hearts, I need to be a little more
careful about acting as judge like Jesus did.
But there is something else at work here, something we all would do
well to remember. Jesus realized that his primary responsibility was to God and
not to man. His job was to proclaim truth and not to win favor. He was not
standing for office or seeking to win a popularity contest. He was there to
accomplish God's work and proclaim the gospel of the kingdom, not curry favor
with people who stood in opposition to that kingdom.
It would take a book, not a few sentences of a devotional, to process
this thought. We ought not seek to be obnoxious or condemning to the world, but
neither should we soften the blow of the truth of God so that we can be popular
or accepted. We must speak God's truth faithfully and boldly, regardless of how
people respond to us.
Father, help me to remember that it is about your truth, your Son, your gospel, not about my standing or popularity in this world.
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