Gosepl Interpretation

Luke 11:37-52

"Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying: "The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat.

Therefore, whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do."

He clarified that they instructed according to Moses ' instructions and taught his teachings, but did not follow them

That's why He said, "Observe, and do. He said," but do not do according to their works," teaching us that the priest and teacher who teach Christ's teachings and the teachings of His disciples must be obeyed in all that they teach, even though they may not follow these teachings themselves, because their teaching stems from Christ and his disciples

All those who teach the teachings of Christ and His disciples sit on their chair.

He said, "For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers" They urge people to follow the difficult and hefty Laws, but they do not abide by them.

Their purpose is to receive vainglory from people and benefit from it.

He said, "But all the works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments."

He refers to God's instruction to them on Moses tongue regarding the Law, "It shall be as a sign on your hand and as frontlets between your eyes," and also

"You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes." The scribes and the Pharisees took this image literally and wrote the ten commandments on gold plates and wore it around their necks to show people that they are stricter in keeping the Law.

"And enlarge the borders of their garments." These borders are blue threads that God ordered the Israelites on Moses' tongue to put in the borders of their garments. God made it like wrapping a piece of string around one's finger to help as a reminder.

He said to Moses, "Again the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

"Speak to the children of Israel:

Tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a blue thread in the tassels of the corners. And you shall have the tassel, that you may look upon it and remember all the commandments of the Lord and do them."

The Pharisees, therefore, exaggerated in enlarging these borders, seeking more honor from people.

He said, "They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues." The Lord forbade us from seeking glory from people and showed this as a sin.

Yet the chiefs and the teachers fought over it. God warned us against it and ordered us not to love human glory, and if the devil tempts us with the love of vainglory, we must hasten and blame ourselves for it and remove it from our souls and seek God's help in getting rid of it.

Because the chief or the teacher who embellishes himself with clothes and by presiding over assemblies is, without a doubt, insane. He thinks he gets human glory, but on the contrary, he only earns humiliation in place of honor.

He said, "But you, do not be called 'Rabbi; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren." Our teacher taught the disciples not to seek glory by being called Rabbi, for this title is reserved for the true Rabbi, Jesus Christ.

Since they taught His teachings to the faithful, they are called after Christ the Rabbi, yet they shouldn't hold themselves higher than their own disciples.

They know that they are all brethren and disciples of one Rabbi, Jesus Christ. Calling them fathers and Rabbis is not for their sake but for the sake of their heavenly Father.

They are only representatives, like a teacher who teaches his students while he and they are students to one teacher. "And whoever exalts himself will be humbled," for the power of God abandons those who exalt themselves by pride and vainglory, and they fall from their high places, "and he who humbles himself will be exalted." Those who are adorned with good qualities like humility and meekness are exalted to the highest position in Christian perfection and are aided in reaching the kingdom of God.

He said, "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!" He told them woe to you because they use hypocrisy to achieve human glory. He called the Pharisees hypocrites to show us that it is such a bad disease that it can blind the heart from seeing the true glory of Christ.

He clarifies that we should not use hypocrisy seeking vainglory, which blinds the hearts from seeing the truth.

He said, "For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in" for they did not believe in Him and blocked others from believing in Him by their teachings, especially those who wanted to believe.

He said, "Woe to you, ... For you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers.

Therefore, you will receive greater condemnation." For they were invited to pray in the houses of those who suffered death at that time, so they prayed and hypocritically

prolonged their prayers to get more money from the family of the dead in return for their prayers.

What they earned in this way was taken from the share of the widows and the orphans. They will therefore be judged more severely.

He said, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves."

For they would invite strangers, who are not descendants of Abraham, to become Jewish.

And once he converts, they would teach him the Law and make him a source of collecting silver.

He then subsequently loses faith in this Law, whose chiefs are so worldly, and turns into a son of hell; and so they become guilty on his behalf.

St. Cyril said the Scribes and Chiefs used to travel everywhere and use every trick to stop every single one from worshipping idols.

But once he does, they don't teach him the Law or Moses' teachings, but teach only their own teachings.

He therefore said, "You make him twice as much a son of hell," putting further blame on them. shoulders. He called them "blind guides" because the scribes and the Pharisees were the spiritual guides of the people.

He called them blind because they were ignorant of the road to virtue and truth. He said,

"Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing, etc."

St Cyril also called them blind guides because they preferred the gold to the altar. He said "For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold?" For the offerings of the Jews were sanctified by the altar because the priest would sanctify the altar when it was built. The altar then sanctifies all offerings placed on it.

As for the Christian offerings, the altar is neither greater than it, nor is it sanctified by the altar, but by the divinity of Christ, who is unified with it, and is

Therefore, sanctified because it turns into the true life-giving flesh and blood of God, which are by all means more honorable than altars, angels, and skies, because the creator is exalted above all of His creation.

He said, "For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, etc.

God has ordered the Jews to tithe their income to support the Levites and another tenth to give to the service of the temple, and another tithe to support the poor every third year.

The Jews disagreed on whether they should tithe mint, anise, and cumin. Therefore, the Pharisees and the scribes ruled that they should do so, but ignored the three virtues, justice, mercy, and faith.

For Justice upholds the truth, Mercy shows

kindness,

especially to those who are afflicted, and Faith is the faith in God, relying on Him. Jesus did not rebuke them for tithing mint, etc.,

but for clinging to small matters and ignoring the Law and the great virtues which they must hold on to.

He said, "Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!" They used to strain water and wine before drinking to make sure there are free from gnats lest they become unclean but they ignore the salvation of their souls. God wants us not only to hold onto the easy commandments and ignore the more difficult ones, but to hold on to all. We must do this and not neglect that.

He said, "For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence."

He means the body by "outside the cup" and the soul by "inside the cup." The Lord rebuked the scribes

and the Pharisees

because they pretended to be holy. But God knew they were full of sins on the inside.

Those who keep their bodies from sin but their hearts are full of love for it and desire for it, will eventually fall into sin in a like manner as a person with a skin disease. He can use a balm, but that won't do him good unless he drinks a medicine. Only then does he benefit.

Those who sin inside are bound to show it on the outside. That's why God rebuked them saying:

"Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also."

They pretended to be virtuous and holy before people, seeking their praise, when in reality they do the opposite.

God therefore likened them to, "whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness." He also said, "Even so vou also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness." He said," Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!

Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, etc.

"

God wanted to show them that they admit they are the offspring of prophet killers. The Lord did not rebuke them for building tombs for prophets,

for this is a praiseworthy undertaking, but because they helped their fathers in killing the prophets through their evil intentions of crucifying Christ.

Once they were successful and satisfied their desire, they completed their father's works and their evil became as complete as their fathers.

As He says, "Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers' guilt." He likened them to serpents because they attack those who do not threaten them. Because the serpent is a reptile which glides on earth, God called those who think about nothing but their earthly desires serpents.

John the Baptist also called them, "Brood of vipers," meaning the devils which are bad vipers tempt them with the love of carnal pleasures and they become their children and inherit hell like them. He clarifies, "How can you escape the condemnation of hell?" Because those who accept thoughts of loving sin from the devils can't escape the condemnation of hell.

He said: "Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, He said: "Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city,"

For when the disciples received the Holy Spirit they obtained the gift of prophecy like Agabus who prophesied about Paul,

And the gift of wisdom described by St. Paul as, "for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit."

The gift of knowledge described by St. Paul as "to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit." The apostle refers to those who accepted the grace, interpreted the divine books and taught it to people.

They did not accept the apostles who were present during this age and did not listen to their evangelical message.

Rather they prosecuted and killed

them. They did not respond to their wonders or miracles.

This is why He said, "that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar."

Some may ask why Jesus held the Jews who were living during the time of His crucifixion responsible for righteous Abel's who preceded Christ over five thousand years.

We know that the sins of the fathers are not visited upon the children from His saying: "The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son.

The

righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself."

The answer is God had inflicted some punishment on the

Israelites for their sins when they committed them,

but left some of the punishment to be inflicted on their offspring who followed them in their sinful footsteps according to His saying: "visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me."

Since the Jews wished and desired to take hold of the Lord Since the Jews wished and desired to take hold of the Lord to kill Him and because the Lord foreknew the death they would inflict upon Him and upon His guiltless disciples who will come to visit them after His resurrection, He told them this based upon their intentions.

He said: "all these things will come upon this generation," and it happened as He said because many of those who heard and saw Him endured great suffering during the days of Titus Vespasianus.

The Lord pitied them saying: "0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her!

How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!"

When blaming them, The Lord addressed the city to show leniency. He repeated the word Jerusalem to show sorrow and mercy on the people living there.

He meant the prophets and the messengers whom He sent to them but they killed them and cast them out.

He used the metaphor of the hen because it is very warm towards its chicks. He said, "but you were not willing" because man was created free to do good and abhor evil and vice versa.

He said, "Your house is left to you desolate." The house is the temple which is desolate because it lacked the support of the Lord.

It was destroyed at the hands the soldiers of Titus Vespasianus.

Even though He said "you shall see Me no more," they saw Him again. It means that they won't see Him rebuking them again, except in His second coming, where they will bless Him, saying, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!