The Gospel of Luke 7:31-39 This generation

Good morning. We're going to continue investigating Jesus as we proceed through the Gospel of Luke. Luke 7, 31-39 is the passage that Brad just read for us. We'll go through it a verse or two or three in some instances at a time here. One of the things I want to point out, and I put this on the top of your handout, this is the prior context. So as we come up to this passage, We understand the context in which this was said and what was done. It says there in Luke 7, 29-30, when all the people and the tax collectors heard this, they acknowledged God's justice, having been baptized with the baptism of John. Isn't it interesting? All the people and the tax collectors. Put those together.

But the Pharisees, okay? The Pharisees, you know, that's a significant... But the Pharisees and the lawyers, those are the experts in the law that are their good buddies, right? They rejected God's purpose for them. What is God's purpose for them? That they might be saved. That they might be saved, okay?

Not having been baptized by John. The baptism by John is not the thing that saves them, but it's the indicator that they believe. John called for repentance, and the word repentance is not feeling really bad and crying and breaking down and sobbing. The word repentance, although it may have various emotional things connected with it, it means a change of mind in the end resulting in belief. Repentance is a change of mind in the end resulting in belief. Very important distinction there.

Now, so we talk about the Pharisees and their friends. So last Sunday's passage, Luke 7, 18-30, was largely about John the Baptist, even though it was Jesus who was primarily doing things and speaking. It was centered on John the Baptist because John the Baptist had his disciples come and ask Jesus, are you the one, the coming one, as it literally says there, or should we look for somebody else?

That passage ended with the people in general and even the tax collectors getting it. They understood. The people and the tax collectors understood. The Pharisees and their friends did not see a need to repent, that is to change their mind, ending in belief. They thought that they had already arrived spiritually and morally speaking. The Pharisees figured, we've got it together. Why change a thing? We're just perfect. Right? That's what they thought.

So, remember that the Pharisees were the culture heroes. We'll start with, there was among the Jews a group called the Essenes. The one who likely, and this is debated, but who likely hid the Dead Sea Scrolls in jars. in caves, and they were reclusive. That is, they tended to pull themselves apart. They hated the Sadducees and the Pharisees that I'm going to talk about here.

Remember in Matthew chapter 5 where Jesus talks about, you've heard that it was said, hate your enemy. Well, the only group that taught hate your enemy was the Essenes. So they're not mentioned by name in the Bible, but that's the group. Hate your enemy. And you know who they hated? the Sadducees and the Pharisees. That was their enemy. They hated them. They believed that God chose them to go to heaven and chose the Sadducees and Pharisees to go to hell. They were that angry with them.

The Sadducees were also in Israel, but were fewer in number and centered around Jerusalem, mostly among the priests. Now, let's talk about the Sadducees. The Sadducees did not believe in a resurrection, which is why they're sad, you see. So, the Sadducees did not believe in a resurrection, they were skeptical about miracles and angels, they only went to the first five books The first five books of what we call the Old Testament, Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus and Deuteronomy, those five books was the only thing that they would look at. So when Jesus had a debate with them, Jesus would quote from only those five books.

Because that's what they took as authoritative. The Sadducees did not believe in a Messiah. Now Caiaphas, it happens, was a Sadducee. So when Caiaphas asked Jesus, are you the Christ, the Messiah? It didn't matter what answer Jesus gave, he wouldn't believe it. Because he didn't believe in one.

So this is the Sadducees. Centered around Jerusalem, they were mostly among the priests, and that's why the Sadducees and the Essenes Ended their existence at 70 AD when the Romans came in and attacked Israel and Jerusalem The third group is what we'll be focusing on here today the culture heroes.

These are the Pharisees They were more numerous. They were also more missionary about their teachings and practices They went as the Jews spread Because two-thirds of the Jews during New Testament times lived outside of Israel So who was it that went? Outside of Israel and spread their doctrine the Pharisees Okay, and that's why they survived the attack on Israel and Jerusalem Because they were actually spread all over the Roman Empire They were spread to the east over and what used to be the Babylonian Empire The Pharisees were all over the place Some a little over a decade ago, through some connections, Nancy arranged for me to sit down and meet for a couple hours with an Orthodox rabbi here locally. And very interesting, as he began speaking, and I had questions for him, and he had other things, I just volunteered, he started off by saying, we are the Pharisees. They had carried on the cloak of what the Pharisees taught. So these are the guys here.

People looked up to the Pharisees, and that was fine because the Pharisees were glad to look down on everybody else. It's a great arrangement. Everybody loves it. So the people of Israel in general looked up to the Pharisees as the culture's heroes, except the Sadducees and the Essenes. But they were smaller groups, and again, the Essenes were more recluse. The Pharisees were fine with that arrangement since they looked down. Everybody's happy, almost.

The Pharisees had all 613 individual statutes of the Law of Moses all worked out to thousands more laws. So we talk about 613 laws of the Law of Moses, they had it all worked out to thousands and thousands of additional laws in order to make sure you didn't break the 613.

For example, you're not supposed to work on the Sabbath, right? So they had 39 different principles that you could measure whether something was work on the Sabbath. So you've got to get those 39 down, and then they had the list of exceptions. And guess what? Healing on the Sabbath was not one of their exceptions. So it's very complicated, and that's just having to do with keeping the Sabbath. They had all sorts of different complexities, and also ways to get around a lot of the laws. So for example, you weren't supposed to walk more than a Sabbath-based journey, about a kilometer, five-eighths of a mile, right? You weren't supposed to walk more than a Sabbath-based journey from your house on the Sabbath.

So how do you get around that? You take several things from your house that you can put in a pocket or a purse, and you walk five-eighths of a mile, and you put one down. Hide it. Then you can walk another five-eighths of a mile, and put something down, and hide it. And walk another five-eighths... Well, you can go a hundred miles if you want to, as long as you have enough stuff in your pocket to hide. And then when you come back, you can come pick it up. That way you can get around. You can get around the law. Anyway, they had lots of additional laws to make sure you didn't possibly break the 613. Example, the law of Moses says 40 lashes is the most. Well, you might miscount, so you can actually only give 39. 39 lashes.

They thanked God. They had a regular daily prayer for the men. Thank God that I'm a man and not a woman. Because, first of all, they didn't trust women. That was number one. And there were more laws that applied to the man. Including circumcision. So these guys had it all worked out.

And they thought, man, we are the best. Nobody does it better than we do. Now, the Pharisees also figured, since we are really up there, I mean we've got it all figured out, the Pharisees figured that they were the Messiah's favorite folks. The Pharisees were so tickled with themselves that they were just sure that when the Messiah came to Israel, most certainly the Pharisees would be among the favorite of folks. We are just so good, the Messiah is going to love us! Right? That's the way they looked at it.

So this is one reason, people will ask me from time to time, why didn't the Jews accept Jesus? I don't understand that. But one reason is, Jesus was rejected by the Pharisees. He didn't come to them speaking favorably of them. But he was often in clashes with them over their teachings. So obviously, Jesus isn't the Messiah. Because the Messiah is going to love us. We're so good. So that's one of the reasons why they rejected Jesus as the Messiah. They figured that the Messiah loving them was just going to be the gold standard for, is this the real guy?

Okay, so here's Luke 7, 31 through 32 that begins our passage. To what then shall I compare the men of this generation and what are they like? And by the way, he's very likely saying this with Pharisees right there with him, right in front of him. Oh, and they're going to love this comparison.

They're like children. who sit in the marketplace and call to one another and they say, we played the flute for you and you did not dance. We sang a dirge and you did not weep. What does he mean by this little ditty here? Okay, so Jesus takes on the culture of heroes. Jesus had to tell his disciples a message that was contrary to the rest of the culture. Everybody else is adoring The Pharisees, in thinking these guys have it all right, or at least they sure act like they do and talk like they do, Jesus had to give his disciples a contrary message, even though it was a message the Pharisees didn't like to hear. So he compares the Pharisees to children in the marketplace calling out. These children expect that the music that they play or sing will generate the response in other children that they desire for them to have. They want to dictate the behavior and sentiment of others and are disappointed when they don't and can't. Oh, you guys don't respond. We play the flute and you don't respond to that. We sing a funeral dirge and you don't respond to that. We want to always call the shots and we want you, like a marionette, to be doing exactly what we tell you to do.

So John and Jesus were not quite of the same character. I mean, John was kind of a different character than Jesus. And, of course, that is to be expected. The Pharisees were not inclined to like either one of them. Isn't that interesting? Now, when we play a light and lilting melody, you guys don't dance to it. That was the Pharisees' essential complaint. And when we sing a sad and mournful funeral dirge, you guys don't weep either. What can we do? How can we ever manipulate you if you won't respond to it?

So here's Luke 7, 33-35, for John the Baptist. And by the way, John the Baptist, he wasn't Baptist. Has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, he has a demon. And the Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard. and a friend of tax collectors and sinners, yet wisdom is vindicated by all her children." So, the first part, eating no bread and drinking no wine. Here's John the Baptist. Why would Jesus say that of him?

Because he lived off the land. Locusts, which are probably not grasshoppers, but rather these pods that come off of some of the trees, and the honey would be wild honey. So here's John, the term would be ascetic, it would be rather ascetic, he has a very simple lifestyle, kind of a wild guy by any comparison. What's interesting is here's John the Baptist and instead of going into Jerusalem or some of the bigger cities, like Jesus actually did, He would stay out in the wilderness and have people come to him. That's a very interesting marketing strategy. You go out of the way and make people come to you. That's real curious. That's kind of crazy smart.

John did not eat bread nor drink wine, products of agriculture and processing. He didn't do that. Living off the land, which is why Jesus would say, no bread or no wine. John would not baptize the Pharisees because they would not repent, changing their minds. So John, who started off, as we saw earlier, saying things like, you bunch of snakes, which of course endeared the Pharisees. And so the Pharisees come back with, you have a demon.

So, understandable response. So they both loved each other. Jesus, on the other hand, he certainly lived simply. I mean, you could summarize that for Jesus and John. But it doesn't appear that he lived off the land in any great degree. Rather, he did eat of the agricultural products and processing. Actually went down, sat down with people, that sort of thing. So their lifestyles were, in general, radically different. Certainly their diets, as this would put it, radically different. as he was willing, he, Christ, was willing to associate with people whom the Pharisees would not call friends. Tax collectors and prostitutes and actual real live sinners. Here is this, he's a glutton and a drunkard claim.

It comes out of Deuteronomy 21. And particularly verse 20, but I'll read the whole context, this is actually applicable in the law of Moses on how a stubborn and rebellious son would be dealt with. And it reads like this, if any man has a stubborn and rebellious son who would not obey his father or his mother, and when they chastise him, he would not even listen to them, then his father and mother shall seize him and shall bring him out to the elders of the city at the gateway of his hometown. And they shall say to the elders of the city, This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us.

He is a glutton and a drunkard. That's where that set of words comes from. Verse 21, Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death, and you shall remove the evil from your midst, and all Israel will hear of it in fear. So you get the idea from this. There was no juvenile hall. No need for it.

But anyway, that's where this phrase comes from, and so if someone would try to stick that label on Jesus, it would be equivalent to saying, he deserves to be stoned to death. As a matter of fact, they would say he deserves to be stoned to death a long time ago. But what the problem was here is actually guilt by association. In New Testament times, the tax collectors and sinners became even a standard expression as pretty close to being equivalent, synonyms. It was an expression among the Jews describing those who were morally the very, very worst.

And it's in Matthew 9, Matthew 11, Mark 2, and Luke 5, and then this passage here, and then we'll see it again in Luke 15.1. So that tax collectors and sinners are just kind of a cultural term for the worst of the worst.

The worst of the worst. So we ask the question here, was Jesus actually a glutton and a drunkard as the Pharisees claimed? Do we have any evidence that that's the case? No, we do not. He was not in fact a glutton and a drunkard, but he was willing to associate with tax collectors and sinners for the sake of ministry to them. And that stuck in the Pharisees' craw. That they really didn't like.

So here's Matthew 21, 31 and 32. We see how Jesus speaks here. Jesus said to them, Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you. Who's he talking to? These are the Pharisees. These are harsh words. Imagine they went bang instead of going into their ears.

The tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you. Wow! For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him but the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him and you seeing this did not even feel remorse afterwards so as to believe him. This is why the Pharisees said he can't possibly be the Messiah. Words like this. This is very strong words. You see these guys that you think are just horrid, awful people? They'll get in the kingdom before you do. Now, how about this set of words?

Wisdom is vindicated by all her children. What on earth does that mean? This is verse 35. So what's Jesus say in this verse? In the early chapters of Proverbs, notice the gender. It's her, children. Wisdom is pictured as a woman to be followed, a woman to be followed for chapters, in the early chapters of Proverbs. Wisdom is pictured in the female sense. Her children are those who follow her. So that's what Jesus is drawing from, this picture that's for a number of chapters in the early chapters of the book of Proverbs. That's the picture. Wisdom is female and the children are those who follow.

So let's describe it this way or explain it this way. Wisdom is shown to be the righteous path for all those who follow the truth and not the Pharisees' harsh manipulations. Got that? So that's what he's saying there. When he says wisdom is vindicated by all her children, That last part there, wisdom is shown to be the righteous path for all those who follow the truth and not the Pharisees' harsh manipulations.

Here's Luke 7.36, and now one of the Pharisees was requesting him to dine with him, and he entered the Pharisees' house and reclined at the table. So this Pharisee was going to prove Jesus wrong, is my best guess. Jesus spoke to the Pharisees directly in what he said to them, and this one Pharisee was apparently going to prove that Jesus was wrong about him. Or was he? So this Pharisee actually invited Jesus to his home. That was actually a pretty bold move, after what Jesus just said. For a meal with him. I'm going to have Jesus over and prove him wrong.

I'm different. Now, the sense of privacy and private property was not the same as in our own culture. When we think of inviting somebody over for a meal, it's not like they did. And we have to kind of adjust our thinking about how things would go. Peering in and commenting on somebody else's meal was allowed.

We probably called 911. But in those days, that was an allowable behavior. And so you'd have people at the front door and sometimes, because the windows tended to be high and small, sometimes people would even get up on top of some kind of bench or a rock or something to peer in these high, small windows as well. So you'd have people commenting and coming by and even walking into the house. and sampling things and talking to the people that were there.

So anyway, our idea of privacy and private property and all that, forget it, it's not the same. Okay, so reclining at table is also different too. In addition to having people outside look in at the doorways and sometimes even the windows, it was also customary to recline on pillows at mealtime. next to lower tables, not the ones like we have where you sit at a chair and the table's up. These were lower to the ground.

So rather than using chairs and the tall tables like we do, the one who was invited might bring guests with them, innumerable guests, unannounced, and allow others to be present. And it was especially permissible for somebody to walk in if the guest was a rabbi. Isn't that interesting? Interesting social norms there.

But one aspect of this event was not going to be acceptable for the host Pharisee, as we're soon going to see here. So here's Luke 7, 37 and 38. And there was a woman in the city who was a sinner. And when she learned that he was, Jesus, was reclining at the table in the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume. and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissing his feet, and anointing them with perfume."

Now, at this particular thing, okay, she's standing at his feet, and then she gets down closer to his feet. There were two possible explanations for how Jesus was postured in order for this to be the case. One is that he might have been sitting sideways to the table, and so then his feet would be available. Another possibility, and it was under some circumstances a way to eat, is actually to lay down on your front side and have your feet behind you while you ate. Interesting.

So anyway, very different from our culture, and you just have to kind of accommodate that. So the woman entered the house of the Pharisee as was socially allowed in general, and especially because Jesus was considered a rabbi, that gave her greater permission than usual because these rabbis were to be accessible. The only thing that was a little bit questionable was, you know, she's a woman, and so approaching in that way was a little bit of a difficulty. But this one woman was known to the Pharisee living in that city, whichever one that was, to be a sinner.

Oh, I've seen her. I've seen her. We're not told what pattern or kind of sin this woman was known for, but people love to speculate. Yeah. This woman did not come here to continue in her sin, however, even though that would be the assumption of the Pharisee.

John 12, 1 through 8, which is Mary doing something similar to what we're going to read about here, is likely a different event. This takes place in connection with the raising of Lazarus, which is a later event. So it's likely not the same event here. So this woman's tears and perfume wet Jesus' feet and she was quite apparently very deeply moved. very deeply moved. This is more than just an emotional moment, however, for the woman, and a shocking moment for the Pharisee. We'll see next Sunday that this woman, because this story continues, this is part two, that this woman who had been known to be a sinner will have her sins forgiven and that she will be saved by faith. We're going to see that very clearly as we take a look at next week's passage. But I'm getting ahead of myself here.

One thing to keep in mind is that the culture, and specifically the culture of the Pharisees, had developed a definite bias against women. And the males had all kinds of little rules and exceptions and things like that in which they were repeatedly biased against women. The Jewish culture, this time in general, was biased against women, and the Pharisees were at the lead of it.

Women were not allowed to be witnesses. The Law of Moses says, at the word of two or three witnesses, Deuteronomy spells it out, everything is to be confirmed. And that principle is even carried forward in the New Testament. But women were not allowed to be witnesses. By the way, Who was the first witness of Christ's resurrection? Women. But they weren't allowed to be witnesses.

Men, as I mentioned earlier, thanked God daily that they were not born as a woman. They said a daily prayer, thank you that I was not born a woman. Prostitutes were looked down upon more than the men who went to them. Why is that? It was acceptable to bring a woman caught in adultery for punishment, but not the man, even though the law of Moses says you bring both. Again, extremely biased against women. What we find in Dr. Luke's writings, and in the writings about Jesus, was that he displayed, contrary to the culture, a unique sensitivity toward women.

And Jesus did not treat them, nor did Dr. Luke write about women, as if they were of any lesser standing. It was a long-standing custom that the rabbis would not teach women. Wouldn't do it. But when Jesus comes up to Martha and Mary, who do they call Jesus? The teacher. Jesus would disciple women, and none of the other rabbis would.

We've seen this before in Dr. Luke's account, and we'll see it again as we continue on in our investigation of Jesus through the Gospel of Luke in the weeks and months ahead. Here's Dr. Luke, and he makes note of particular things about women, even about Mary, who put up last week as a part of the Mother's Day Opening slide. Two times when Luke writes, and he writes uniquely, about Mary pondering things and treasuring things in her heart, Luke cared about what Mary was thinking and feeling. Luke cared. He expressed that. We saw just recently, here's the widow at Nain. She was a widow. This was her only son. who had just died. Luke notes those things and doesn't discount anything because she's a woman.

Here's the last verse of today's passage, Luke 7.39.

Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, now so what's going on here is known at least by usual means known only to the Pharisee. If this man were a prophet, he would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching him, that she is a sinner. He knows because, you know, she's in the city and he's seen her, taken note of her. But Jesus, being one who's traveling and a guest here, he wouldn't know. Except, if he was a prophet, he should know.

That's the Pharisee's reasoning. How did Dr. Luke find out what the Pharisee was thinking? He was likely not an eyewitness to this event. So how did he know? Well, he doesn't say. But Jesus would certainly know the man's thoughts. Because as the Gospels say, Jesus knows the hearts and thoughts of men. And women too, by the way. Okay. This man has concluded that Jesus was not a prophet. And that's the way the Greek reads here. If this man was a prophet, and he's not... If this man was a prophet, he would know. He would know even not knowing this woman, but just because he's a prophet, he should know that. He expected Jesus to live out his own morals and ethics as a Pharisee, to live by their rules. This Pharisee, and we're going to find out his name next week, this Pharisee thought that Jesus ought to be living according to Pharisee rules.

So this brings us to a question, I think it's relevant for us as Christians to ponder, whose principles govern? And so the question comes to this, and this is a relevant question for us as believers in Christ. Do we listen carefully to what God says and seek to learn what God is doing? Looking in his word for both of those things.

Or do we demand that God do things our way and according to our expectations? I've known Christians who have gone through all sorts of turmoil because they're mad at God about something. They think God should have done something differently than the way God did it. Is it God's job to keep you from having any trouble? Or does he have a purpose in the troubles that come our way? A purpose greater than our supposed perceptions of how things ought to happen.

I've even come across people who have left the Christian faith altogether over this very question. If God is God, then He should do this. If God is actually God, a God who loves us, then He should not do that. And so since God doesn't meet my expectations, I'm walking. If there is a God, I'm ticked at Him.

One final thing, this Pharisee doesn't know who he's having a meal with. He doesn't even recognize Jesus as a prophet, much less anything else, and having to deal with. He doesn't know. But by God's grace, we do. Thank God. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you that as we look at this, we can see, oh boy, this Pharisee really doesn't get it. And we even wonder, why does Jesus bother with this guy? And yet, we look at it and we say, well, maybe there's some things in there for us to take a look at. And maybe there are things for us to see. And we ask that, Lord, that we would indeed go about with our eyes open, looking carefully for what you're doing and why you're doing it. and especially who you are. We just pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.