Though the Lord knows the ill-will of the Pharisees, He nevertheless dines with them because they were crafty and in need of correction. For He dines with them in order to have an occasion for the improvement of their morals.
Lk. 11:38. And when the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that He had not first washed before dinner.
For example, even now, looking at their senseless custom of washing before eating food, He teaches that the soul must be cleansed by good deeds, since rinsing with water cleanses not the soul but the body. They, foolish ones, thought that through immersion in water and washing of the body, their soul was also cleansed along with the body. Therefore the Lord made use of the excellent example of the cup.
Lk. 11:39. But the Lord said to him: Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, but your inside is full of greed and wickedness.
And since it was mealtime, He mentions the cup and the dish and, drawing His testimony from what lay before their eyes, persuades the Pharisee that just as there is no benefit if a cup is clean on the outside but filled with all manner of filth on the inside, so too there is no benefit if, while the body is washed, the soul is filled with all manner of impurity, such as "greed and wickedness." The Lord alluded to two dominant passions of the Jews: by the word "greed" — to covetousness, and by the word "wickedness" — to envy and the consequences of envy. Thus, there is no benefit whatsoever if the soul remains in such a condition.
Lk. 11:40. Foolish ones! Did not He who made the outside also make the inside?
Foolish ones! Is it not the same One who created the soul, who also created the body, upon which you dwell so much? Therefore you ought to cleanse the soul as well.
Lk. 11:41. Rather give alms of such things as you have, and then all things will be clean for you.
Then He teaches them how the inner man is cleansed, namely: He points to "almsgiving." See, if you will, how by pointing to almsgiving He heals both of their passions, I mean envy and plundering. For he who is truly merciful will neither plunder the one to whom he gives alms, nor envy him. Therefore, since He was reproaching two passions in them, He drives them out with a single remedy, namely almsgiving, which is the first door of deifying love. And where there is love, what covetousness and envy can there be? "From what you have," that is, from your possessions. He said well: "from what you have," and not simply: "from what there is," because possessions reside in the heart of the covetous man and rule over him. This is why David also commands not "to set one's heart" on riches (Ps. 61:11), that is, not to nail it fast and not to bind it to them.
Lk. 11:42. But woe to you, Pharisees, for you tithe mint and rue and every kind of herb, and neglect justice and the love of God: these things you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.
The Pharisees, precisely in order not to transgress the Law, tithed even from the most insignificant items, and if anyone reproached them for pettiness, they would appeal to the Law, which commanded that a tithe of everything be brought to the priests (Deut. 14:22–23). Therefore the Lord says: just as you do not neglect these things, so you ought to practice justice and the love of God. Since the Pharisees were unjust, oppressing widows and orphans, the Lord says: you ought to have "justice," that is, righteousness. And since they were contemptuous even toward God, laying their hand on sacred matters without due reverence, the Lord commands them to have "the love of God." For whoever loves God does not approach His works with negligence. And it seems to me, since there are two kinds of love — love of God and love of neighbor — that perhaps the Lord is alluding to these two kinds: by the word "justice" He denotes love of neighbor, since righteousness and not oppressing one's neighbor arise from love for him; and by the phrase "love of God" He undoubtedly denotes wholehearted devotion to God. And when someone loves his neighbor not out of any worldly or shameful inclination, but for God's sake, then this love too may be called the love of God, since it is commanded by God and is well-pleasing to Him.
Lk. 11:43. Woe to you, Pharisees, for you love the chief seats in the synagogues and greetings in the public assemblies.
They (the Pharisees) loved for every person to pay them honor and for people "in public assemblies" to call them by the title "teacher" (Matt. 23:7); this is what the words "greeting" and "chief seat" mean.
Lk. 11:44. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you are like hidden tombs, over which people walk and do not know it.
The Lord says: you are like tombs that are full of every kind of rottenness, but on the outside gleam with marble; people by their outward appearance do not know what principles they are guided by in life (by what they walk), but if they knew, they would turn away because of the inner foulness.
Lk. 11:45. At this, one of the lawyers said to Him: Teacher! by saying this, You insult us as well.
The lawyer recklessly subjects himself to exposure. The lawyers were different from the Pharisees. The Pharisees were considered ascetics and separated from the rest, while the lawyers were scribes and teachers who resolved questions from the Law for those who wished.
Lk. 11:46. But He said: Woe to you lawyers as well, for you load men with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers.
They (the lawyers) laid upon people "burdens heavy and hard to bear"; but they themselves did not touch these burdens "even with their finger," that is, they themselves observed nothing of what they commanded others. For when a teacher himself does what he teaches, then he lightens the burdens, providing in himself an example and encouraging the disciples. But when he does nothing of what he teaches, then the burdens seem to the disciples truly heavy, since even the teacher cannot fulfill them.
Lk. 11:47. Woe unto you, for you build the tombs of the prophets, whom your fathers killed.
Lk. 11:48. By this you bear witness to the deeds of your fathers and consent to them, for they killed the prophets, and you build their tombs.
Lk. 11:49. Therefore also the wisdom of God said: I will send to them prophets and Apostles, and some of them they will kill, and others they will persecute,
Lk. 11:50. That the blood of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation,
Lk. 11:51. From the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the temple. Yea, I say to you, it shall be required of this generation.
The Lord also reveals that the Jews are descendants of Cain and heirs of his malice, when He says that all "blood shed from Abel to Zechariah shall be required of this generation." You, He says, killed the prophets, your brothers, just as he killed Abel. Therefore, not without reason some have taken Cain as a type of the people who slew the prophets, for which vengeance was taken on them sevenfold, that is, with a lighter punishment, and Lamech as a type of the people who killed Christ, for which vengeance was taken on them seventy times sevenfold (Gen. 4:24), namely: by dispersion into an irreversible captivity.