The Teachings of Jesus in Luke: Leadership Hypocrisy

While he was speaking, a Pharisee invited him to dine with him; so he went in and took his place at the table. The Pharisee was amazed to see that he did not first wash before dinner. Then the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You fools! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? So give for alms those things that are within; and see, everything will be clean for you.
“But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and herbs of all kinds, and neglect justice and the love of God; it is these you ought to have practiced, without neglecting the others. Woe to you Pharisees! For you love to have the seat of honor in the synagogues and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces. Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without realizing it.”
One of the lawyers answered him, “Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us too.” And he said, “Woe also to you lawyers! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not lift a finger to ease them. Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your ancestors killed. So you are witnesses and approve of the deeds of your ancestors; for they killed them, and you build their tombs. Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute,’ so that this generation may be charged with the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be charged against this generation. Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.”
When he went outside, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be very hostile toward him and to cross-examine him about many things, lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say. ~ Luke 11:37-54

It's discouraging to think how many people are shocked by honesty and how few by deceit. ~ Noel Coward

These are some of Jesus' strongest words in the gospels. In fact, generally speaking, the strongest words of condemnation Jesus ever had were for leaders who were hypocrites and who did not care for their people. It was for leaders who neglected the needs of those who were left out by society. He condemned the outlandish expectations leaders had of their people and of their false piety.
Faithfulness for Jesus wasn't about shows of piety. It was about caring for neighbor and for those who were forgotten. 
It wasn't about having the seat of honor, it was about giving up the seat of honor.
It wasn't about displays of status and looking the part of being pious. It was about being who God called one to be.
For the leaders who listened to Jesus, the truth was shocking. It was shocking to have such pointed words directed at them. It was shocking to have a mirror of their own sinfulness put in front of them.
It's not easy to have the truth spoken to us that we don't want to hear. It isn't easy to realize that, as Jack Nicholson so eloquently stated, "we can't handle the truth."
The truth is that God cares about those we sometimes don't even think about. God cares about those who are suffering; those who are persecuted; those who are left out of civic conversation.
Lately you probably have heard people complain when churches get "political." There is a difference between "political" and "partisan." Jesus was political. He was engaged in the public forum, which is what being political means. He was engaged in it for the sake of those whom leaders had forgotten, so that they might know that they were part of God's beautiful kingdom.
God cares about those whom we find it difficult to care about.
And God calls our leaders to do the same.

Prayer: Lord, help me to be political in the best sense of the word - by loving my neighbor as myself with every action of my being. Amen

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