Woes….

Tradition hand washing station at a Jerusalem hotel.

As Jesus was speaking, one of the Pharisees invited him home for a meal. So he went in and took his place at the table. His host was amazed to see that he sat down to eat without first performing the hand-washing ceremony required by Jewish custom. Then the Lord said to him, “You Pharisees are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and wickedness! Fools! Didn’t God make the inside as well as the outside? So clean the inside by giving gifts to the poor, and you will be clean all over. 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.” “Yes,” said Jesus, “what sorrow also awaits you experts in religious law! For you crush people with unbearable religious demands, and you never lift a finger to ease the burden. What sorrow awaits you! For you build monuments for the prophets your own ancestors killed long ago. But in fact, you stand as witnesses who agree with what your ancestors did. They killed the prophets, and you join in their crime by building the monuments! This is what God in his wisdom said about you: ‘I will send prophets and apostles to them, but they will kill some and persecute the others.’  As a result, this generation will be held responsible for the murder of all God’s prophets from the creation of the world—from the murder of Abel to the murder of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, it will certainly be charged against this generation. What sorrow awaits you experts in religious law! For you remove the key to knowledge from the people. You don’t enter the Kingdom yourselves, and you prevent others from entering.” As Jesus was leaving, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees became hostile and tried to provoke him with many questions. They wanted to trap him into saying something they could use against him.  Luke 11:37-54

Meditate.

     Woes. Sorrows. The Pharisees wanted everyone to be as strict about the Law as they were—even down to tithing from the sale of garden herbs like mint. That is pretty picky. Yet they didn’t want to help those in need. No compassion. Jesus was very compassionate—healing and helping people, no matter what day of the week it was or who they were—Jew or Gentile. He was warning the Pharisees—sorrow awaits you. I think they should expect to be sad and repentant because they were critical and not willing to help others.. They weren’t. There was one expert who boldly told Jesus that he was insulted—but Jesus put him in his place. The “experts” or lawyers were demanding more from the Jews than they could give and what’s more, the experts were not helping others with their problems. Where is the “love your neighbor as yourself” in those religious leaders? Where is the “love your neighbor as yourself” in your life? 

What do learn about Jesus from this scripture?

Prayer ~ help us to be compassionate—like You—not nit picky like the Pharisees. 

Verse of Salvation ~ So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. 1 Peter 1:13 

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© 2026 Text, photos, and illustrations by Mickey M. Hunacek. All rights reserved.  All scripture quoted from the New Living Translation (NLT) unless otherwise noted.  New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. Biblical search from Blue Letter Bible - http://v3.blueletterbible.org/search.cfm.