Luke 20:45-47 Robes of Proud Tyranny
Good morning! Turn with me once again to the Gospel of Luke. We are going to finish off chapter 20 of Luke’s Gospel, looking at verses 45-47, and that’s on page 880 in the pew Bibles.
I want you all to know that the reason that we study the Scriptures chapter by chapter and verse by verse is so that we don’t skip over difficult passages or topics. The downside to this approach to studying Scripture is that we don’t get to skip over difficult passages or topics.
Today’s passage is one of those passages. It’s not difficult because it’s difficult to understand or too complicated, it’s difficult because it’s simple and easy to understand, it’s just hard to do.
In our passage for this morning, Jesus is still in the Temple in Jerusalem, and He had been in dialogue with the Scribes and the Pharisees and Sadducees, the religious leaders of Israel at the time. After this event Jesus would no longer dialogue with them, this was kind of His parting words to them, even though they were not spoken directly to them.
45 And in the hearing of all the people he said to his disciples, 46 “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, 47 who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”
Let’s pray.
Jesus addresses His disciples here, but He addresses them loud enough that everybody could hear Him. This would have included the Scribes and the Pharisees and the Sadducees that had been questioning Him earlier in the chapter.
The great difficulty with this passage is the instant urge to go straight to self-examination, and maybe that’s exactly where we should go.
Jesus warns His followers about the deadly philosophy of ministry of the Scribes, their pride, and greed, and hypocrisy, and against the dangers of a type of spiritless formalism in ministry.
This is one of those passages where we can look at it and say, the clear teaching here is: don’t be like that. Let’s close in prayer.
But Jesus doesn’t just stand there and say, “you guys are a bunch of jerks,” instead He warns His disciples, and us, to not follow their example. But we wouldn’t need the warning if we weren’t ever tempted to be the same way.
Luke’s account of this event is much more compact than that of Matthew, you can read that on your own later in chapter 23, verses 1-12, but it is still clear here that the Scribes were much more interested on what was on the outside than what was going on on the inside.
Pasquier Quesnel wrote, “Proud, ambitious, avaricious teachers are more dangerous that the greatest sinners among the people.”
Remember that the Scribes that Jesus was talking about weren’t separated and far off from the people without any real influence, these were the teachers and leaders of the people, and people listened to them. These were the people teaching in their synagogues and instructing them in the Bible, these were the shepherds, these were their pastors.
And as Quesnel said, they were proud, ambitious, and avaricious.
The long robes they wore were symbols of piety and importance and they loved the attention and the deference they received from people, they liked being the rulers, they liked all the influence that came with their lofty position among the people.
They had been trying to make Jesus look bad with their tactics and spies and questions because looks were what were most important to them.
“Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts…”
The Scribes used their lofty position to fuel their egos, they loved it when people bowed to them, and called them all sorts of nice names, “O holy most, revered, pious, dignified, reverend so and so…”
They liked being given a seat at the head table, after all they deserved those seats as holy most revered servants of the Most High… They never had to sit by the bathrooms in the restaurants, they were always in the best seats at the best tables. You get the idea.
These were supposed to be teachers of the Bible but they served only themselves, not the Lord, not the people.
47 [They] devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers.
Warren Wiersbe said, “Of all rackets, religious rackets are the worst.”
These guys used their position and influence to take advantage of widows in their distress and difficult condition. Instead of the pure religion, as James 1:27 calls it, of looking after widows in their affliction. These guys instead would milk them for all they were worth, devouring their houses and goods.
For a pretense they made long prayers, heaping up empty words and going on and on to show how spiritual they were, but Jesus said that it was all fake and they would receive a greater condemnation.
They would not get away with their way of life, they might have fooled the people but they had not fooled Almighty God who does not look on the outward appearance but looks on the heart as it says in 1 Samuel 16:7.
Now again, we could just be content with the lesson: Don’t be like that, and be done with it. Rule #1, don’t be a jerk.
But what happens when it may not be us living this way but our teachers, our pastors, those we look to for spiritual guidance and teaching? What do we do when the lives of our shepherds does not match their teaching?
In Matthew’s record of this event Jesus said, “Do what they tell you, but don’t do what they do.”
I’ll tell you one thing, you don’t get this job by being perfect, but there is certainly a responsibility to practice what you preach, and there is great danger in doing otherwise.
James 3:1 says, Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.
Why will teachers be judged with greater strictness? Because of their influence on others by their teaching and by their example. There is great temptation to wear the robes of proud tyranny and use the weapons of guilt and shame to get people to do what you want, just as there is great temptation to live one way on Sunday morning and a different way on Saturday night.
John Calvin wrote, “People think themselves at liberty to do whatever they see done by their rulers, whose corrupt manners they form into law… There is no reason why bad examples of pastors should hinder the children of God from holiness of life.”
The truth of the matter is that we always have to go back to the Word of God. I’m not saying to never trust people, but people are not worthy of your trust. We have to always go back to the Bible and measure everything that we see and hear.
Hebrews 4:12-13 says, 12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
The Bible is our only rule of faith and practice, church order and discipline. We must always go back to the Word. We must always ask the question, “What does the Bible actually say?”
The Scribes may have been teaching the Word of God but they were not living the Word of God and they used their influence to manipulate the people of God.
John Calvin said, “The highest honor in the church is not government but service.”
People are going to let us down. I am going to let you down. The lives of those we look to may not always correspond with their words. We must get in the habit of leaning more on the Bible than we do on teachers, we must always measure their words by THE Word.
The reason that I give the references from the Bible is so you can go look it up yourselves and see if I’m off base, and if I am, please tell me! And if my life does not match my teaching, please tell me!
But we all need to hold that standard for ourselves and pray with David from Psalm 139:23-24, Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!
God opposes the proud, just as Jesus opposed those Scribes, but He gives grace to the humble. May we not seek government but service as the highest honor in His church.
Amen.
