Jesus eats with a Pharisee, parts 1 and 2

Lynne Baab • Tuesday January 13 2026

Overall theme for the next few months: God’s law is love

Lesson 1: Jesus eats with a Pharisee (Luke 11:37-44)

Key verse: The Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.” Luke 11:39.

1. Stepping into the Word

Jesus was a creative and effective teacher. He often began by intriguing his listeners with his actions. He drew on scriptures, images, and lessons that were already familiar to his hearers, and he used them as a foundation to present new ideas. He seemed remarkably comfortable with conflict and confrontation, so he was able to press home his teachings in ways that sometimes must have felt extremely uncomfortable to his listeners.

In addition, Jesus’ teaching was effective because he knew exactly what he wanted to teach. His message was clear, solid, and consistent, and he wanted to nurture rich and deep faith in his followers. He wanted people to respond to the good news of the Gospel with their whole beings, inside and out.

In this week’s story, a Pharisee has invited Jesus over for dinner. For much Christian history, Pharisees were painted as the enemy, people who distorted or got wrong everything about faith in God. With that view of the Jewish leaders, we might hypothesize that this particular Pharisee invited Jesus to dinner in order to get to know him better for the purposes of tripping him up or revealing a scandal about him.

Today scholars often view Pharisees as people of faith whose hearts were at least sometimes in the right place but whose strategies were far too legalistic. In that scenario, perhaps the host wanted to learn more about how Jesus viewed faith. Perhaps the host was intrigued by the picture of faith that Jesus had been presenting in his teaching and healings.

At the dinner party, Jesus engages his remarkable teaching skills. He omits a ceremonial action that the Jewish leaders considered necessary, raising concerns. In response, he draws on Old Testament law, powerful metaphors, and direct, confrontive statements to make his point about consistency in our outer and inner beings.

Jesus, teacher and friend, help us hear your voice in stories where you confront people who can seem distant and unrelated to us. Help us grasp what you consider to be essential about how to love God with our whole beings.

2. Love that comes from the whole self

The middle chapters of the gospel of Luke contain a mix of Jesus’ teaching, healing, and encounters with individuals and groups. In response to Jesus’ teaching, a Pharisee invites Jesus to dinner. Upon arrival, Jesus chooses not to engage in the ritual hand washing, which included dribbling water on the hands, practiced by faithful Jews at that time. Jesus’ host was amazed at this omission, providing Jesus with an opportunity to speak bluntly.

Jesus’ confrontive words in Luke 11:39-41 center on God’s desire for consistency between the outside appearance and the inside realities of every person. Jesus uses an everyday metaphor of dishes and cups, which need to be cleaned both inside and out. Jesus indicates that not only did God make the outside and inside of each person, but God also desires that both be clean. The remedy for greed and wickedness on the inside of a person, Jesus indicates, is to “give for alms those things that are within; and see, everything will be clean for you” (v. 41). Alms are gifts of money or goods given to the poor, and Jesus does not explain what it looks like in practice to give the inside of ourselves as alms. Many Christians interpret this verse as a call to confession. When we bring our whole selves to God in confession, God cleanses the greed and wickedness inside us.

Jesus continues his bold criticism by focusing on the Jewish leaders’ inadequate priorities (v. 42). Yes, they give ten percent of the harvest as commanded in Leviticus 27:30-34, but they neglect God’s equal priorities of justice for the poor and love for God. The Greek word for love here is agape, used throughout the New Testament to indicate faithful sacrificial love. According to Jesus, they have chosen to focus on measurable actions while neglecting more challenging concerns.

Jesus indicates that the Jewish leaders also seek to look good to others (v. 43), one more way they prioritize the outside of the cup over the inside. Because they have set themselves up as a model of faith, while neglecting significant priorities that God desires, they are damaging, even polluting, the lives of the people who look up to them. Jesus uses another powerful metaphor in verse 44, comparing them to unmarked graves, significant to the Jewish people because contact with the dead made people unclean for seven days (Numbers 19:16). Therefore, graves needed to be clearly marked so people could avoid them. The Pharisees’ hidden uncleanness in their inner being was in fact toxic, contaminating the nation.

The Jewish leaders were concerned about externals, appearances, and easily measurable details. Where do you see this tendency in the church and in yourself today?

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Check out my latest book: Almost Peaceful: My Journey of Healing from Binge Eating.

Next week: Jesus eats with a Pharisee, parts 3 and 4. Illustration by Dave Baab, one of his 2025 watercolor sketches: The Lost Bird Project, Bellevue Botanic Garden.

This lesson appeared in the Fall 2023 edition of The Present Word adult Bible study curriculum published by the Presbyterian Publishing Corporation. Used with permission.

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Lynne Baab