Luke 11–12: Hypocrisy & Hearts

Read the Bible in 2023 ◊ Week 24: Saturday

Now when He had spoken, a Pharisee asked Him to have a meal with him. And He went in and reclined at the table. But when the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that He had not first ceremonially washed before the meal.

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But the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but inside of you, you are full of robbery and wickedness. You foolish ones, did not He who made the outside make the inside also? But give that which is within as charity, and then all things are clean for you.”

Luke 11:37–41 LSB

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Saturday’s Bible reading is Luke 11–12. In these two chapters Jesus is interacting with and teaching three different groups: His disciples, the crowds, and the scribes and Pharisees.

On seeing Jesus pray, Luke 11 begins with the disciples asking Jesus to teach them to pray. There are parallel passages on prayer in Matthew 6 and 7. Jesus will later again encourage persistenting in prayer when He tells the parable of the widow in Luke 18:1–8.

As you read you can see his remarks change in tone and content according to the group he is addressing. Jesus knows the thoughts of the crowds, and He knows why they are seeking Him out.

Now as the crowds were increasing, He began to say, “This generation is a wicked generation; it seeks a sign, and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah. For just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. The Queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And behold, something greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah. And behold, something greater than Jonah is here.”

Luke 11:29–32 LSB

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A Pharisee ask Jesus to lunch, and when he is surprised he didn’t wash ceremonially, He exposes the heart of the Pharisees:

But when the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that He had not first ceremonially washed before the meal.

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Luke 11:38–41 LSB

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Jesus goes on to condemn first the Pharisees for their hypocrisy, and then the scribes.

When He left there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be very hostile and to question Him closely on many subjects, plotting against Him to catch Him in something He might say.

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Under these circumstances, after so many thousands of people had gathered together that they were stepping on one another, He began saying to His disciples first of all, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known. Accordingly, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in the inner rooms will be proclaimed upon the housetops.”

Luke 11:53–12:3 LSB

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The scribes and Pharisees became so angry and hostile to Jesus because His deeds and His words continually exposed their hypocrisy. Their pretense of godliness was revealed as just that—a pretense without any reality. That’s what hypocrisy is. Those who sin and confess their sin are not hypocrites. They admit who they are and their need for forgiveness.

A. T. Robertson has a succinct and descriptive statement on hypocrisy:

“Hypocrisy was the leading Pharasaic vice…and was a mark of sanctity to hide an evil heart.”¹

The scribes and the Pharisees had no desire to be truly godly—they wanted the appearance of godliness. They had no desire to honor God with their lives. Their sanctity only hid their evil hearts.

Hypocrisy is deadly—to ourselves and to others. Pretense prevents us from acknowledging our sin before God. Hypocrisy is also incredibly damaging to children; when they hear their parents speak sanctimonious words and then turn around and berate them or treat them harshly, it warps their understanding of themselves and of God and Christianity. Hypocrisy can help harden the hearts of those who are not believers in Christ against the gospel when they observe someone who claims to know Christ say one thing as they do the opposite. No matter how they may live, those who aren’t Christians have some idea and standards of how Christians should be living, and when they don’t see morals, ethics and kindness and compassion, they disdain Christianity. I don’t think it’s perfection they want to see—when we blow it and apologize, our humility and honesty can say a great deal to them about the reality of our faith in Christ—it’s the pretense of perfection that is detestable.

We must beware of the leaven of hypocrisy.

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Silvesterzug Laterne: Bk muc. (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Head of a Pharisee: Mihaly Munkacsy. Public Domain.
¹A. T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament, 1931, Vol. II, p. 171.

I’m using Michael Coley’s Bible reading plan (one page PDF to print) to read through the Bible in 2023. Each day my posts are on different books because he divides Bible readings into seven categories, one for each day of the week: Epistles, The Law, History, Psalms, Poetry, Prophecy and Gospels. There’s more information on his plan and other ones at Read the Bible in 2023.