The Key to Knowledge

I remember in elementary school when the teacher would ask a question and I knew the answer. I would raise my hand and nearly rise out of my chair trying to get the teacher’s attention to call on me to answer the question. I really wanted to be the one to answer the question. Why? So my classmates would know that I knew the answer. I was taking pride in my knowledge.

The teaching method used frequently by rabbis is to have someone ask a question and then the rabbi could teach around that question. Good students asked good questions and good rabbis could answer them well. This was also how rabbis tested each other as they sought after truth and tried to further understand and define their laws. So when a Pharisee invited Jesus to eat with him, it would be easy to conclude that either the Pharisee respected Jesus’ teaching and wanted to learn more or that he wanted opportunity to further question something that Jesus was teaching and ‘correct’ his errors. It seems that other Pharisees and experts in the law were invited as well.

“But the Pharisee, noticing that Jesus did not first wash before the meal, was surprised.” Luke 11:38 I’m kind of thinking that Jesus may have done this on purpose. He was a storyteller and liked to use visual aids when they were available. He had something to teach the religious leaders he was dining with and I wonder if he didn’t set them up by not washing before he ate. Then he responded to the raised eyebrows and smug “got cha” expressions on the faces.

“Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? But give what is inside to the poor and everything will be clean for you.” Luke 11:39-41 Is this any way to speak to your host, telling them they are full of greed and wickedness? I wonder if jaws didn’t start dropping here.

As if that wasn’t enough, Jesus went on. “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. Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the most important seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. Woe to you, because you are like unmarked graves, which men walk over without knowing it.” Luke 11:42-44

When Jesus paused, one of the experts in the law said, “Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us so.” Luke 11:45 When Jesus is with the common people, we don’t see this side of him so much. But when he is with Pharisees and teachers of the law, it seems we see another side of him. Why is Jesus so hard on these religious leaders? After all, they have worked very hard to define God’s laws and follow them. Shouldn’t he be praising their good work? Shouldn’t he be holding them up as examples for the people to follow?

After accusing them of killing the prophets, Jesus goes on, “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.” Luke 11:52 This may be the key to this whole portion of Scripture. What is this “key to knowledge” and how have they taken it away?

To understand this, I need to look back at what Jesus was ‘attacking’ in the behavior of the religious leaders. First he said they were clean on the outside but wicked on the inside. This looks like good appearances but wrong motives in the heart. The heart is very important to God. In a search in the New International Version of the Bible, the word heart appears 743 times.

Samuel was looking for whom the Lord would want him to anoint as king over Israel. “But the LORD said to Samuel, ‘Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.’" I Samuel 16:7 It would do us well to take notice of what God has to say about the heart.

Then, Jesus told them that while they were keeping the letter of the law with tithes, they were neglecting justice. God cares deeply about the poor, the fatherless, the widow, the prisoner – those that society tends to trample. And while the religious rulers were measuring their herbs for tithing, they were not caring for those around them who were in need.

Jesus also attacked their pride. They were doing things to be noticed by others. They were feeling good about themselves because they had seats of honor and people made way for them when they walked through a crowd. Their hearts were stone cold while they were busy looking good.

And not only that, they were burdening the people with these interpretations of the laws so that they could hardly function. Jesus was saying, “Enough already! You guys need new glasses!” I think he was saying to them that the key to knowledge lies not in the letter of the law but in the heart that is totally yielded to God and listening for his instruction. And I believe he was being especially hard on the religious rulers because they were not only messing up themselves, but they were making it difficult or impossible for others who followed them to love and honor God. They were not helping the work of God, they were hindering it!

God cares very much for all of his sheep and he doesn’t take lightly to shepherds leading them to stagnant water or dried up grass. Jesus wants those who lead to lead people straight to the heart of God – to his mercy and grace for healing and to be set free. “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10