Jesus as the Pharisee’s Dinner Guest

“And as He spoke, a certain Pharisee asked Him to dine with him. So He went in and sat down to eat.” Luke 11:37.

When the Prince of Peace went to the Pharisee’s house for dinner, you would think that it would have brought glory and rejoicing. But when the Pharisee saw that Jesus did not wash before dinner, he marveled. This “marveling” was all it took for Jesus, who knew how to get straight to the heart of a matter and who didn’t allow himself to be fooled, even though He was the dinner guest. Contrary to all proper etiquette, Jesus said, “Now you Pharisees make the outside of the cup and dish clean, but your inward part is full of greed and wickedness.” The Pharisee had likely never had such a dinner guest before. If He had just stopped after this one remark, the whole matter could probably have been smoothed over, but He continued relentlessly: “Foolish ones! Did not He who made the outside make the inside also? . . . Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces.” You would think that would have been enough, and that at this point they would have eaten something and later would have concluded their time peacefully in return for the Pharisee’s hospitality. Yet contrary to all human understanding of appropriate conduct, Jesus continues: “Woe to you . . . ! For you are like graves which are not seen, and the men who walk over them are not aware of them.”

If the Pharisee and Jesus had been alone, we might have never heard about this episode. However, there was a lawyer sitting there who apparently felt that Jesus’ attack on the Pharisee also implicated him.

“Then one of the lawyers answered and said to Him, ‘Teacher, by saying these things You reproach us also.’” Perhaps the lawyer thought that the Pharisee needed this treatment, and he was likely ready to support Jesus’ words. But now that it had gone so far that he felt like it also implicated him, he could not remain silent.

If this had been anyone other than Jesus Himself, they most likely would have stopped after the attack on the Pharisee and instead would have tried to get some approval and support from the other people present. But that would have been contrary to the attitude of “the Master,” which is why He turned the sword against the lawyer, saying with vehement words: “Woe to you also, lawyers! For you load men with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers. . . . Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered.”

That was probably the end of the dinner, because right after that it says, “And when He left there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to assail Him vehemently, and to cross-examine Him about many things, lying in wait for Him, and seeking to catch Him in something He might say, that they might accuse Him.” [Norw.].

From this little incident we learn not to get off track when hypocrites seek to gain our favor according to the flesh.