WHOA! (PART 2)

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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 Pharisees, because you love the most important seats in the synagogues and respectful greetings in the marketplaces.”

Luke 11:43

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

Over the past couple of messages, we have found Jesus taking advantage of a dining invitation from a Pharisee to address some behavioral issues that He had with the Jewish religious leaders. Not only would Jesus declare woe on the Pharisees, which essentially meant trouble or distress, but He was commanding them to stop the behaviors that were nothing short of sinful before God. In a way, Jesus was saying “Whoa!” to the hypocritical religious authorities, commanding them cease living and leading in the ways that they were.

In yesterday’s devotion, Jesus wanted the Pharisees to be as fervent in meting out justice and showing the love of God to their fellow Israelites as they were in adhering to the requirements of the Law. Today, we find Him turning to the matter of sinful pride, sinful pride that pushed away the humility that the Lord desired from His people, even those He had selected to lead. Look at this verse from our continue study of Luke 11:

“Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the most important seats in the synagogues and respectful greetings in the marketplaces.”  Luke 11:43

I remember well my military days in the Navy after I had ascended through the ranks into command leadership. I gained a new title, Command Master Chief, and everyone was to call you this out of respect for your position and rank. Failure to call someone by their proper position would often bring immediate counsel and rebuke.

There was also a certain protocol at staff meetings or any get together where the command leadership was present. The Commanding Officer would have the seat at the head of the table. The seats to immediate left and right were reserved for the Executive Officer and Command Master Chief. The rest of the seats would be filled with other meeting attendees. And again, no one would sit in those three aforementioned seats, knowing they were meant for the highest command leaders.

These two past experiences came to mind as I read the words of Jesus here as directed towards the Pharisees. We know they were the established Jewish religious leaders and authority of the day but we get a glimpse here of how they liked to elevate themselves above other believers, even though they were just as much sinners as those they taught and regulated.

Jesus first covers the matter of seating within the synagogues, calling out the Pharisees for loving “the most important seats in the synagogues”.

What was Jesus talking about?

We wouldn’t know because we weren’t there but through documentation from the period of Jesus, we know there was a semi-circle of seats that were at the front of where the other Jewish believers would be seated. These seats were typically in front of the lectern or pulpit where the main teacher would be speaking and the Pharisees in those seats would be facing the audience, not the speaker. The seating arrangement really spoke to an “us versus them” mentality and fed the overriding internal attitude within the Pharisaical community that they were spiritually set apart and superior to the other Jews they were leading. It was an attitude that led them down the road of sinful egotism and conceit, a pompousness that Jesus abhorred.

This narcissistic, vain spiritual attitude extended beyond the synagogue out into the public eye. We get a sense through Jesus’ words that the Pharisees were supposed to receive special greeting and acknowledgment when in the marketplaces, the common areas where people sold and purchased goods. One can only guess how a Pharisee would have burned with ire if not properly addressed, much like they would surely be angered if someone took one of their seats at the front of the synagogue.

And so Jesus had made His point. Woe could be expected by the Pharisees for their public showing of and expectation for religious ostentatiousness unless they heeded His direction and ceased their arrogant behavior, a behavior He was essentially saying, “Whoa!” to.

The message is still true today for anyone who finds themselves in leadership roles within the church. We  can’t afford to be accused of being like the Pharisees in the way we direct and govern others, pridefully elevating ourselves to a place where we see ourselves as somehow spiritually superior to others when in fact, we are no less sinners in need of grace as they are, no less a people called to humility than everyone else God’s word commands.

For the truth of the matter is that the King of the Jews and all mankind for that matter, the King of kings and Lord of lords, God’s one and only Son Jesus, did not flaunt His heritage and bloodline in an arrogant way over others. Rather, His life was defined by a spirit of humility manifested through the Holy Spirit, a spirit of humility that led Him all the way to Calvary’s cross where He would be crucified to pay the sin debt for all of us. As Christians, we are expected to follow that lead, allowing all to see the modest life attitude of Jesus through all that we do and say.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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