1. Lesson One of the Book of Daniel, Introduction to the Book of Daniel

The Book of  Luke, Jesus Questions the Scribes - Lesson 217

Luke 20:45-47,  Then in the audience of all the people he said unto his disciples, ⁴⁶Beware of the scribes, which desire to walk in long robes, and love greetings in the markets, and the highest seats in the synagogues, and the chief rooms at feasts; ⁴⁷Which devour widows’ houses, and for a show make long prayers: the same shall receive greater damnation.

This passage in Luke is but a small sampling of what Christ told the scribes.

In Matthew 23 there is a full account of this exchange, which brings one to wonder what held back the scribes and Pharisees from taking Jesus and putting him to death right there in the temple.

For especially in Matthew’s account Jesus does not hold back nor does he couch his words so as to conceal.

He uses the word beware when he refers to the scribes which means to restrain or guard yourself from them.

The old signs that used to tell us to "Beware of Dog" applies.

Beware means to stay away from lest you get bitten.

He points out their practice of parading around in long flowing robes, putting on airs, seeking formal salutations in the market place, especially hearing the address of Rabbi.

He tells them that they bind heavy burdens upon men so as to control men.

He tells them they love that which draws attention to themselves by seeking the uppermost rooms at the feasts and the chief seats in the synagogues.

He tells them they are hindrances to men and women from entering into the kingdom.

He calls them hypocrites, devouring widow’s houses which meant taking unfair financial advantage of those who sought their advice.

You can see an example of this in the popular commercial where two men, a white man and a black man, come into the house and give an insurance pitch designed to devour a widows substance.

He accused them of making long prayers to show off their piety perhaps also to cover up that which they were doing to widows.

He likened them to sepulchers that are whited but in reality are only full of that which has died, that which is rotting and putrefying.

He calls them serpents of the generation of vipers and asks how they will ever escape the damnation of hell.

This is a no hold’s barred attack on the scribes and the Pharisees and I imagine the Sadducees also felt its sting.

If you ever doubt God’s hatred of hypocrisy, God’s hatred of image building, God’s hatred of manipulation, God’s hatred of jockeying for position, God’s hatred of religion that majors on the outward and majors on the control of men for its own selfish purposes, just read Matthew 23.

Here is a vivid picture of God’s heart against all that which dams men and women to hell and Jesus Christ holds nothing back as he uncovers that which the scribes and the Pharisees try so hard to hide under a cloak of self-righteousness.

This passage should put to rest any portrayal of Christ as some weak, fragile, and dainty man which men are quick to portray Him as, who do not believe God’s word.

Jesus had just addressed the Sadducee’s issue concerning the resurrection.

For the Pharisees, it was the issue of Jesus’ deity that was the bone of contention.

In our passage for today he again addresses the Pharisees and scribes who abuse authority, that is, they move into that which belongs to God and to His Christ.

They could not step aside from their prominent position for this one who came as the Messiah, for they loved the position, prominence, power and prestige of leadership.

They saw how the people responded to Jesus and this was too much to bear for they themselves desired to be the object of men’s worship and praise.

They wanted to appear righteous, to practice that kind of "righteousness" which could be seen and applauded by men.

But the greed of the Pharisees led them to abuse their authority in another way: they used their power and position to take advantage of the weak and the powerless.

In Jesus’ words, they "devoured widows’ houses."

To cover up their wickedness, they made a great show of their "righteousness" by praying lengthy prayers.

Is there ever a time for lengthy prayers?

Don’t you suppose that if God could get worn out it would be by listening to long flowery showy prayers?

The Pharisees and scribes were supposed to be leaders of the people by showing what God desired, but they simply showed them what they desired.

Jesus had just asked the question concerning David’s son and David’s Lord.

He had reminded them of the 110th psalm which says: The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.

This speaks of a time of waiting but at the end of that waiting there will be a time of judgment of the enemies of the Messiah.

So who are the Messiah’s enemies?

Was this any longer a question after the diatribe of Jesus against the Pharisees, Sadducees and the scribes?

If Jesus were the Messiah, as He claimed, and as John the Baptist had testified, then they, the leaders of Israel, were His enemies.

They were the enemies mentioned in the 110^th psalm, whom God would overthrow.

This is the same conclusion that Jesus had reached in the parable of the vineyard and the vine-growers that we studied earlier in this chapter.

These vehement words of indictment against these self righteous religious zealots follow this reference to David’s 110^th psalm and it is very plain what God’s plan is for those who hate his Son.

We are to remember that they that are not with him are against him, for there is no neutral ground.

If you are not with Christ, the Bible tells us that you are against Him!

The enemies of Messiah are the enemies of Jesus, and these enemies are not Gentiles, but Jews.

We see here that they are the leaders of the nation, who have and are using their power and position for their own gain, at the expense of the weakest among them.

The bottom line was that the widows, the widows whom the law instructed Israelites to protect, became the victims of the leaders of Israel.

And all of their power, all of their prestige, all of their desire for notice was threatened by this man Jesus, but Jesus tells them by his reference to David’s psalm that God was about to destroy them.

What a contrast this is between how David responded to the revelation that his Son would be greater than he, compared to the attitude of the leaders of Israel toward Jesus.

David rejoiced and longed to see His Son’s day.

He did not value his position and power over His Son’s position and power.

But it was not so with the leaders of Israel and how they viewed Jesus.

The Lord’s words indicate that they came to enjoy the position, the prominence, the power, and even the riches that came with their position.

They did not wish to give this up to anyone, not even Messiah and their eyes were blinded by this greed.

David rejoiced at the knowledge that Messiah, his son, would be both God and man.

The leaders of Jesus’ day rejected the deity of Messiah but especially this person of Christ who so threatened their position and power for his very presence decried their hypocrisy.

The 110^th psalm was clear in its inference that the Messiah was both God and man but even this clarity was clouded by their hatred and forced them to reject the doctrine of Messiah’s deity even though it was clear from the Scriptures.

The 110^th psalm also brought out the fact that the Messiah was not only to be Israel’s King, but was also to be her Priest.

But not a priest of the order of the priests of Jesus’ day but of a new order, of which they had no part.

As Jesus had warned in the parable of the vine-growers, the position of the leaders would be taken away.

The priesthood of a few would become the priesthood of all believers, especially of Gentiles in the church age.

And the Great High Priest would be Christ Himself, who is a priest after the order of Melchizedek.

These were sobering words to those who hungered for power, those who sought to preserve their position, and at the same time sought the destruction of Messiah.

Luke 21:1-4,  And he looked up, and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury. ²And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites. ³And he said, Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all: ⁴For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God: but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had.

This passage begins a new chapter but it was not a new subject to our Lord for it continues the same theme of chapter 20.

For Jesus Christ continues to contrast the actions approved by men with that which God approves.

He contrasts the giving by the rich men with that of the poor widow, a widow perhaps even made poor by the very leaders standing before Him.

Jesus tells us of his observation to contrast the heart of the Pharisees with that of God’s heart.

He shows us how God’s ways differ so greatly from those of men.

The Pharisees loved riches, and they viewed wealth as an evidence of piety and God’s favor.

God, in their minds, would be impressed by the wealthy, and would be especially pleased by the size of their contributions.

But this is not true for in these verses Jesus condemned the rich men and He praises the insignificant gift of a widow.

It is not the amount of that which is given but it is a matter of what part of that which is possessed, compared to that part which is given.

The rich man gave of his abundance but the poor widow gave from her poverty.

Jesus said the Pharisees have "devoured widows’ houses," but it is the gift of one such widow which draws our Lord’s attention and praise and gives him opportunity to instruct.

It is not what you give but what you withhold.

An insignificant amount of money greatly pleased Jesus, because of what it meant to her.

It was her life, her livelihood, all that she had to live on.

In giving this money, she proclaimed her trust in God to provide for her needs, and to sustain her life.

Her trust was in her God, not in her money.

By giving God all, she was tapping into God’s storehouse and depending on God’s provision and not her own.

So poverty is no reason to stop a person from giving to God.

It seems today, as it was in our Lord’s day, that most will make sure to have all of their needs met, first, and then to give God anything that is left over, if there is anything at all left over.

What a rebuke to those of us who excuse ourselves from obedience to God because we have so little to give.

You will recall that the one steward who "hid his master’s money" was the one who thought he had so little, while those with greater amounts did more.

It was not the size of the gift, but the sacrifice and the faith which prompted it which Jesus praised.

The giving of the rich from their abundance received no such praise.

The difference between how man looks on these things is that man is always limited to just looking on the outward appearance but God has no such limitation, for He always looks on the heart.

He looked on the heart of the rich man and found a giving based on what return he would get from such giving.

This brought the rich man no praise but he looked on the heart of the widow and found a heart that loved God, a heart that trusted only in His provision.

That was a heart that delighted the heart of God.

The wisdom of this instruction is that anyone who is poor can delight the heart of God by trusting in Him.

In that sense it is a gift to be poor for that poverty gives greater opportunity to trust in God and also to delight Him by giving to him out of our poverty.