And while all the people were listening, He said to the disciples, “Beware of the scribes, who want to walk around in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces, and best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets, who devour widows’ houses, and for appearance’s sake offer long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation.”
Luke 20:45-47
Introduction
There is a long exchange between Jesus and the Pharisees then the Sadducees regarding authority, taxation, and the resurrection. This culminates in Jesus’ statement in these final verses of the chapter where He warns the people listening of following after the very men with whom He has been conversing. In Luke 6:43, Jesus warns us we will know a tree by its fruit. This metaphor means a person’s deeds reveal much about his character. And so here in this passage we see the very fruit of the scribes who believe their lives are marked by piety, but are instead found to “love greetings in the marketplace, and best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets, who devour widows’ houses, and for appearance’s sake offer long prayers.”
This is in stark contrast against the way we are commanded to live.
Beware
The scribes, chief priests, pharisees, and sadducees all make an appearance in these interactions recorded in Luke 20 and Matthew 22. And all these people have some very specific issues they try to push with Jesus in order to trap Him in some trickery they had devised according to their understanding of the scriptures. So the first element of this “bewareness” ought to be a skepticism of those who leverage their knowledge of scripture to justify something you know to be sinful.
If someone cites Titus 1:12, for instance, that “Cretans are always liars” trying to apply this in some way that there are certain races prone to lying, or Genesis 9:25 that the curse of Ham is applied specially to Africans, you can dismiss them out of hand, knowing that all men are created in the image of God (Genesis 9:6, only a few verses earlier) and that they are made equal under Christ (Galatians 3:28). True teachers will harmonize with scripture and not minimize texts that fly counter to their natural tendencies. That is why Jesus commanded us to beware of men like the scribes who appear pious but instead commit the most heinous of sins.
The most heinous of sins
Few sins are more severely punished in scripture than the oppression of widows and orphans. Deuteronomy 10:18 guarantees the safety of widows and orphans under God’s decree. Exodus 22:22-24 further commands the people of Israel not to mistreat them, executing swift justice against those who do. In this passage, God even commits to killing those who act poorly against widows and orphans with a sword. This comes to fruition in the latter years of Israel and Judah as they spiral into sin and depravity.
Isaiah 1:17 for instance commands the people to return to this standard, having abandoned their support of the widow and orphan. Again, Jeremiah 22:3 exhorts the people not to “mistreat the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow.” Psalm 68:5 exclaims God is “a father of the fatherless, and a defender of the widows.” Then perhaps the pinnacle standard comes from James 1:27 where a definitive statement is made: “Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”
If you consider yourself religious, then ask yourself this: do you visit orphans and widows in their affliction? Are you a friend to the fatherless and the widow? Do you give yourself over to those who are in the greatest of need, or do you shrink behind tradition and ceremony? Find the heart of the Lord in those whom He loves, making yourself one who loves those who are in need.
May the Lord bless you and conform you into the image of His Son.
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