WHOA! (PART 6)

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“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.”

When Jesus went outside, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law began to oppose Him fiercely and to besiege Him with questions, waiting to catch Him in something He might say.

Luke 11:52-52

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Today, I end the devotional series based on a litany of woes delivered to the Jewish religious authorities, notably the Pharisees and experts of the law, by Jesus. We have spent a week on these woes which were intended to get the Jewish religious leaders to step back, see the wrongs of their ways, and hopefully change their sinful actions. In fact, we have been talking about woes for so long now that may be you are getting sick of reading about them. Maybe you are ready to say to me, “Hey Mark! Whoa with the woes already!”

You could feel that way I guess but why would we ever tire of listening and reading the words of our Savior, all His words whether they are words that bless us or words that convict us? Aren’t they equally important in the end?

I think you would agree we should embrace and cherish every word that ever was spoken by Jesus for with each one, we discover more and more how to be just like Him, how to live in a spirit of righteousness by inviting and receiving His Spirit within us.

Woe to us if we don’t!

So with all this, let’s turn to the scripture passage for the final devotion in this series as we find Jesus delivering one more woe and the Pharisees and experts of the law responding in a way that is far from surprising. Look again at these words here:

“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.”

When Jesus went outside, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law began to oppose Him fiercely and to besiege Him with questions, waiting to catch Him in something He might say.  Luke 11:52-52

The prophets of old had foretold of the coming Messiah, the One who could come to deliver and save the nation of Israel from their oppression. The experts of the law were supposed to be the ones who would interpret the words of the scriptures (to include the prophets) and then pass on the knowledge and wisdom to the people who were waiting for the consolation that was promised them, a consolation and comfort that only the Messiah could bring. The experts of the law should have recognized that Jesus was indeed the long awaited Messiah but they didn’t. They had not entered into the wisdom and truth found in the holy words of old, spoken by the messengers of God Himself, and so in turn could not share that knowledge with the Jewish people. In essence, the Israelites were hindered from knowing the Messiah was among them alive and well. Had they known, perhaps Jesus wouldn’t have been so easily falsely accused and eventually executed by His own people (remember Jesus was a Jew).

Well, would the experts of the law see the wrongs of their ways, their eyes opened by the words of Jesus?

Not quite. Instead we read where they congregated with their fellow Jesus detractors, the Pharisees, to continue to go up against Him. The scriptures tell us they went outside when Jesus departed the place where the Pharisee had invited him to dine and “began to oppose Him fiercely and to besiege Him with questions, waiting to catch Him in something He might say.” Had they only realized who Jesus truly was, they would have been worshiping and supporting Him instead of resisting Him and becoming a thorn in His side during His ministry.

But they didn’t and for that, there would be woe waiting along with this:

 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Luke 23:34

You see, Jesus is a Lord of judgment and that will definitely come to be when He returns to earth but He is also the Lord of forgiveness, a forgiveness rooted in His Father who so loved the world that He did not wish for anyone who lived within it would perish but rather have the opportunity for eternal life. We may go through our lives rejecting Jesus like a Pharisee or expert of the law but we will never go too far from the outstretched hand of the Lord that offers pardon. All one needs to do is believe that God sent a Savior because no one can save themselves from sin. It’s the only way to move from woe to saying “Whoa!” one day when you enter into everlasting glory to abide with God the Father and Jesus His Son forever.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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