I’m Insulted!

“What sorrow awaits you Pharisees! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore justice and the love of God. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things. “What sorrow awaits you Pharisees! For you love to sit in the seats of honor in the synagogues and receive respectful greetings as you walk in the marketplaces.  Yes, what sorrow awaits you! For you are like hidden graves in a field. People walk over them without knowing the corruption they are stepping on.”  “Teacher,” said an expert in religious law, “you have insulted us, too, in what you just said Luke 11:42-45

…but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles          I Corinthians 1:23

Jesus was pretty hard on the “religious experts”. He chastised them because they were so intent upon meeting the letter of the law that they missed its deeper content. In this passage from Luke, he “insults” the religious leaders, and they were not happy! They were, after all, the interpreters of the law, and he was just some itinerant teacher who was stirring up the rabble with his teachings and his healings.

So, when he challenged them about their hypocrisy, or even their lack of understanding of the law itself, they were naturally upset. It is no surprise that Jesus had opened himself up to his eventual arrest and execution. The religious leaders did not kill him. They simply made sure that the Roman authorities did their dirty work for them.   

The deeper message of the Gospel, that we are to show mercy and grace to those who are poor or oppressed, is often still lost today. The law that the religious leaders failed to understand was too simple. It did not require tedious attention to tithing laws and dietary laws. It did not include picking out those who were not of the same tribe for exclusion and shaming.

Jesus said that there would be a stumbling block. It was a stumbling block because it was too simple.

Love God by loving others as yourself.

Prayer: Open us, Lord, to your simple truths. Amen