Woes to the Pharisees

While Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him, so he went in and reclined at table. The Pharisee was astonished to see that he did not first wash before dinner. And the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? But give as alms those things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you. “But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without knowing it.” One of the lawyers answered him, “Teacher, in saying these things you insult us also.” And he said, “Woe to you lawyers also! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers. Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed. So you are witnesses and you consent to the deeds of your fathers, 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 the blood of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation, 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 required of 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.” As he went away from there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press him hard and to provoke him to speak about many things, lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say. 
Luke 11:37-54
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Woes to the Pharisees
You have heard it said of old, “do what I say, not what I do.” The human heart is good at saying the right thing while doing the wrong thing. The Pharisees did not have a corner on that specific sin. We all are accountable for our own actions regardless of what our words have been. The other problem is when we add to the Word of God and increase the burden upon our own heart and the hearts of those around us. The Law, by itself, is insurmountable. It breaks into pieces that which falls upon it and it shatters and destroys whatever it lands upon. This Law has landed on you and me already. We need no more weight. This is the reality of it all: we have not kept the Law. We cannot rescue ourselves with our words or our actions. We need a Savior. Thanks be to God that he has sent us One. He has sent Jesus Christ to us. This Christ they threw out of Jerusalem, they persecuted him, and they killed him. The blood of this Christ has covered your sins of word and deed. Three days later, this Christ rose again to have you as his own. He has taken the key of heaven’s gates and opened them wide for you and me.