Lent Day 27: The Pharisees

Pause

Focus your heart and mind on Jesus today. Ask Him to renew your mind (Rom. 12:2) so that you may focus your heart and mind solely on Him.

Read & Journal

Read Luke 11:37-54. Consider these questions:

• What do you learn about Jesus’ character from His interactions with the Pharisees? What does this passage reveal about Jesus’ mission or purpose?

• How do you see Jesus entering into human brokenness in today’s verses?

• How was Jesus helping the religious leaders see a deeper reality or greater truth? When has He done the same for you?

Ponder

I’m a rule follower to the core. Give me a set of rules, a wrong way and a right way, and I’m good to go! Rules can add clarity to a situation; they create boundaries within situations and circumstances. Rules are great—until they aren’t.

Just like the Pharisees in today’s passage, we can become so enamored by the rules that we forget to examine our motives. The Pharisees knew every bit of the Law and they laid that Law on the people like a heavy burden. Outwardly, they were pious and obedient, but inwardly, they were “full of greed and wickedness” (v. 39), caring more for the rules and appearances than people. Their actions were good, but their motives weren’t. The Pharisees were obsessed with outward purity, but Jesus challenged them to look deeper inside their own hearts. Inward purity is what God desires, He stressed.

The Pharisees’ brokenness stems from the fact that they had their hearts set on the wrong thing. They were obedient, but that obedience wasn’t fueled by love. They did the right things outwardly, but inwardly, their hearts were far from God.

That’s not to say that outward obedience doesn’t matter. Clearly, the whole of Scripture and Romans specifically (Rom. 6 and 7) tell us that God’s grace toward us is no license to sin. The Book of James tells us that we are called to a life characterized by both faith and works. As believers, our outward lives should bear the marks of our inward focus.

But it’s so easy to focus on the wrong thing. To do what’s right but with the wrong motive in our hearts. Be honest with God about your motives today. Lay them bare before Jesus and ask Him to cleanse your heart so you may serve Him out of love rather than a checklist.