Meals with Jesus – woe!
Jesus is on the way to Jerusalem to die on the cross, rise again and ascend to the Father so the Spirit can come!
Along the way, there's a series of meals with Jesus where we learn much about the gospel and the Christian life
1) Levi – the traitor to Israel has repented and joined the kingdom and had a banquet mixing his Christian and non-Christian friends, so we can learn about mission through meals and that repentance, turning to God in your thinking is the way in,
2) Simon the Pharisee and the unclean woman – at this meal we get to see the kingdom is for anyone, no-one is too messed up or too religious to repent and join and the Kingdom reconciles us together from all sorts of backgrounds into God's family
3) At the feeding of the 5,000 we discover we are sent on a humanly impossible mission, which becomes possible when we trust Jesus
4) At the home of Mary and Martha we discover that our call is to love God first and allow that to fuel the mission of loving our neighbour. It's both/and not either/or.
As we reach Luke 11 – Jesus gets invited to a Pharisees house for luncheon as he is teaching.
He's taught about prayer, taught that it is in his name we can cast out demons, that if you were set free from a demon you need to be be filled or you will end up worse. Then he reveals the sign of Jonah – an enigmatic prophetic statement that he will die and 3 days later like Jonah come back bringing repentance and forgiveness in a greater way than Nianevah received. Then just before luncheon he tells us our eyes are the window of our souls and thus Christianity is an inside job first and foremost.
Let's read Luke 37:37-54 here we see that Christianity is an inside job not external observance.
There are certain ways you could tell the Old Covenant people of God apart and they were external boundary markers – Sabbath observance, food observance and circumcision.
The new covenant replaces these with internal boundary markers – because Christianity is an inside job. We are a Spirit filled people.
So with that in mind Jesus addresses the hypocrisy that is so easily goes hand in hand with external observance. If you can be a good Jew or acceptable to God, just by external observance, then your heart doesn't need to change.
So for those that could bear to watch The Secret on ITV recently – For Colin Howell in the traditional Northern Irish Baptist scene – divorce meant excommunication. An external thing meant he wasn't a good Baptist. So he came up with a way of murdering two people, making it look like it was suicide, so he didn't to divorce to get the woman he loved and still be a good Baptist.
The trouble with external markers of being a good Christian or Jew is that our hearts can be rotten and sin can be hidden and shame can linger, but as long as we put on a good show we are okay.
Jesus shows us the inside needs cleaning up – and the outward lifestyle results from that.
So Jesus turns up at the luncheon – I call it by it's posh name, because reclining at a table at luncheon implies the Pharisee was wealthy enough to be at leisure in the middle of the day. The Pharisee is shocked that Jesus doesn't do the external rituals of washing before the meal like a good Jew should do.
The law [in this case out of the Talmud, not the Law of Moses] laid it down that before a man ate he must wash his hands in a certain way and that he must also wash them between courses….large stone vessels of water were specially kept for the purpose because ordinary water might be unclean; the amount of water used must be…enough to fill one and a half egg-shells. First the water must be poured over the hands beginning at the tips of fingers and running right up to the wrist. Then the palm of each hand must be cleansed by rubbing the fist of one into the other. Finally, water must again be poured over the hand, this time beginning at the wrist and running down to the fingertips. To the Pharisee, to omit the slightest detail of this was to sin.”
Now with that in mind why didn't Jesus wash his hands before he sat down? Was it just an oversight on his part? Did he just forget, like our children sometimes do? I don't think so. I believe Jesus had no intention of washing, because He knew what kind of reaction He would get from the Pharisees and He wanted to take this opportunity to let them know exactly what He thought about them.
So Jesus takes a cup – and shows them what the Pharisee wants him to do is just cleaning the outside of the cup leaving the inside dirty.
Cleaning the outside is observing the law, especially the visible bits of the law, whereas what Jesus offers us is grace that cleans the inside permanently. When Jesus washes the disciples feet later in Luke – Peter misses the point and asks for his whole body to be washed. Jesus tells him he's missed the point. Grace has given him a bath, he is clean. He only needs a foot wash along the way when his feet get dirty! Grace does the inside job permanently and begins to clean the outside – that's sanctification.
The Pharisee has missed the point – he's concerned with the outside, the bits people can see, but inside he is a mess still.
Unfortunately, many people today are making the same mistake that the Pharisees made. They put their Sunday clothes on, and come to church every week. They want everyone to believe they are faithful Christians. When in reality all they're doing is playing church.
So Jesus begins to tell some home truths to the Pharisees, who represent for Luke those who play at church, while living utterly non-Christian lives the rest of the week
In v41 Jesus tells him give to the poor and everything is clean for you – what does Jesus mean? Is he saying the opposite again? Is he saying if we give to the poor our inside, our soul and spirit will be cleansed by that outward act? Not at all
It's an example of where our treasure is our heart is also – what we do with our money is a sign of what is going on inside.
To make it really clear Jesus then gives 6 woes – a woe is opposite to a blessing – In the beatitudes Jesus said Blessed are the… Now he does the opposite for the religious folks who think it is all about the outward. Woe, woe, woe, woe, woe, woe!
Woe to the people who know tithing is good news for the rich
If you a rich like the Pharisee in this story, who can host a luncheon, instead of working, then tithing is easy.
You can tithe your mint and rue and other herbs and carry on oppressing the poor and selfishly using the 90% for your own ends.
The Pharisees – by which Luke writing to the early church means Nominal Christians who do the external stuff can tithe and still have a rotten heart.
If you earn the UK national average of £26,500 you are in the top 0.88% of richest people in the world. If you are on Jobseekers you are in the top 24% global with 6 Billion people poorer than you. So most of us are rich. The more you have the more the 90% is.
Money is one of those markers for how your heart is. Grace makes us generous and caring for others. Jesus nails those who outwardly do the Law of giving 10% but inside they are selfish.
The second woe is focussed on outward honour
The front seats in the local synagogue were the best seats for two reasons: (1) You could see and hear everything that was going on in the service, and you could be the first to greet visiting rabbis. Not to mention the fact that everyone else could see that they were sitting in the most prominent seats. You see the Pharisees did not go to the synagogue to worship or to hear the word of God proclaimed. Instead they went to the synagogue to get their egos stroked, which was also the main reason they went into the marketplace.
They wanted to be recognized as Pharisees because it made them feel good about themselves. They liked feeling superior to everyone else. They were driven by their desire to have men's approval, rather than God's. Consequently they could not interpret the Scriptures or teach them accurately. Their attitudes and their preconceived ideas kept them from being able to rightly divide the Word of God.
The third woe to the Pharisees was the hardest hitting
You are like unmarked graces and people walk over them without knowing them.
To a Jew touching a dead body made them unclean. They would be unclean for 7 days and not able to go into the Temple or synagogue. The Pharisees thought of themselves as righteous and holy people. They also believed they were making a positive contribution to the Nation of Israel in leading it in the direction of Holiness.
Jesus told them that in reality they were leading the nation of Israel farther and farther away from God.
Jesus is telling these Pharisees that they are dead bodies that make people unclean without knowing it.
Their lives and their external law observance focus is making people's standing worse off before God than they would be otherwise. Ouch!
Now the experts in the law come to Jesus – they are like the theologians, the Christian paperback book writers of the day.
They are feeling the insult of those first three woes to as it is their interpretations of the old covenant that are causing the issue.
If you have read your Old Testament you'll know that God is not concerned with outward appearance, he looks at the heart – that's how he picked David to be King.
The fourth woe is that the law was a burden not a blessing
God had chosen Israel by grace, showered his steadfast love on them and given them the law to guide them. It was always impossible to do – they needed the grace and mercy of God – it was a schoolmaster to drive them to Christ. But the teachers of the law had added to it, made it even more burdensome and very complicated, but weren't helping.
Now Jesus was coming to be the first to fulfil it, to release us from it and to give us the Holy Spirit to dwell with in us.
The fifth and sixth woes are that they ignored the prophets and focused on the minors of the law
They completely ignored the Prophets who were calling Israel to turn to God with their hearts and pointing to Jesus coming as the Messiah. Instead just like their forefathers they killed the prophets and were focusing on minor ritual details and adding to them. The law could be summed up as Love God and love you neighbour and they were doing neither.
Jesus accused the Scribes and Pharisees of hindering people from knowing and responding to the Truth.
In the Gospel of Matthew Jesus was even more direct when he said “that they were blind guides, who were leading people astray.”
Instead of teaching the people how they could renew their relationship with God they were pushing people away from God. This is why Jesus was so upset with them.
But instead of repentance, they responded with rejection and resentment. From now until the cross they are looking to discredit him with questions, ways to catch him out and ultimately to arrest and kill him.
So the challenge here is this…
If your life was like that cup – where is your focus – the outside or the inside?
Grace deals with the inside first
Is Christianity going to church and doing the right things? Or is it the grace of God operating in your heart?
Do you want to look good to others? Or have you received God's goodness and allowed it to transform you?
How do you tell?
Money – what do you do with your money?
Are you more concerned with what you look like to others than the state of your heart?
Are you carrying shame that you can't share with someone for fear of embarrassment and rejection? There's no shame here, just process.
The gospel of grace is an inside job. Jesus loves you and offers you a free heart transplant – giving you a new heart for your old heart of stone. He cleanses you on the inside giving you a new nature – the old has gone and the new has come.
He gives you the precious Holy spirit to dwell within and transform your thinking and your acting.
How to live in an age of rage
| Speaker: | Andy Moyle |
| Series: | Hall of Mirrors |
| Date: | 8th Jun, 2026 |
| Download: | How to live in an age of rage |
| Plays: | 0 |
| Views: | 5 |
| Sermon notes: | How to live in an age of rageHow to Handle Living in an Age of RageSeries: The Hall of Mirrors | Scripture: 1 Samuel 20:30–34; Galatians 6:8; Matthew 12:34; Ephesians 4:31 (AI generated from spoken recording transcript) Introduction: The Age of RageWe live in a mad age of unrestrained emotion. Political leaders speak incoherently out of anger. Politicians stoke rage and riots follow. Social media algorithms are engineered to provoke fury. The media profits from keeping us angry. This is the world we inhabit. The chapter we have reached in Steph's book is titled 'Unrestrained Emotions' — and it asks how we navigate the traps the enemy sets for us through our relationships and emotional responses. A Masterclass in What Not to Do: King Saul1 Samuel 20:30–34 gives us a vivid picture of what happens when emotions go unchecked. Saul had nursed jealousy — the girls sang that Saul killed his hundreds but David his tens of thousands — and he caressed that jealousy until it festered into rage. The result? He vented at his own son Jonathan, cursed his wife, demanded David's death, and hurled a spear at his own child. Venting, cursing, violence. Saul is the masterclass in how not to handle emotions. His unrestrained feelings ultimately led to his undoing — and, in the end, to his suicide. Many relationships break down because we simply believe whatever we are thinking and feeling in the moment — without pausing to ask whether our hearts might be getting it wrong. Three Patterns of Handling Emotions (and Why None of the Defaults Work)1. The Stiff Upper Lip — Bottling It InThe traditional British approach was to suppress emotion entirely — to be reserved and unexpressive. The Falklands War story says it all: 'I've lost my leg.' 'No, you haven't — it's over here.' While this avoided emotional explosions, repression is not the same as health. Pushed-down feelings do not disappear; they fester underground. 2. Numbness — When Trauma Shuts Feelings DownIn deeply difficult or traumatic seasons, emotions can become inaccessible altogether — a protective numbness sets in and we cannot name what we are feeling. Sometimes we need a friend, a counsellor, or even a simple 'feelings chart' to help us identify and put language to our inner state. 3. Venting — The Age of Rage DefaultThe modern reaction to emotional suppression is the opposite extreme: just let it all out. 'It's good for my mental health to vent.' But spewing emotions at others is not healthy - not for us, and certainly not for the people on the receiving end. We live in an age that profits from our anger, but that does not make unbridled venting good. What Emotions Actually Are: An Engine Warning LightFeelings come - that is simply a fact of being human. But they do not come first, and they should not rule. Emotions are a God-given means of discerning what is going on around us. They reveal our goals and motivations. They are like an engine warning light: the answer is not to ignore the light, nor to panic - it is to open the bonnet and check what is actually going on. The trouble is that our hearts, as Jeremiah reminds us, can be deceitful. We process things wrongly. We feel things inaccurately. That is why feelings cannot be allowed to rule - we must think and work things through. As Galatians 6:8 puts it: whoever sows to the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life. If we allow feelings to come first, we will give up just before the breakthrough. Many people quit five minutes before the blessing arrives. A Better Way: King David and the Psalms of LamentDavid was far from perfect, but he learned to process his emotions well. Read the Psalms — about half of them are laments. He told God exactly how bad things were, processing honestly what he was going through. And then, at the end of those psalms, he would arrive at praise. He processed his way through to a revelation of God's goodness. When everyone wanted to kill him, 'David encouraged himself in the Lord' (1 Samuel 30:6). A lament, perhaps — and then: but God, you are good. David used good friends too; Jonathan was one of his closest. The pattern: express the pain honestly to God ? process it through ? arrive at praise and breakthrough. Practical Steps for Processing Emotions Well1. Name what you are feelingIt can be genuinely hard to identify our emotions — especially in difficult seasons. Seek out a trusted friend or counsellor who can help you put words to what is going on inside. Do not go through it alone; isolation makes processing harder and distortion more likely. 2. Bring it to God — go for a walk, lament, prayPrayer walks, time outdoors, the Psalms — these are practical ways of processing with the Lord. Even when it does not feel like it is working ('I feel just as bad as when I left'), God is still working: 'Even when I don't feel it, you're working.' He may speak through the next day's Bible reading. Stay in the habit of daily Scripture. 3. Wait before you respondBefore hitting reply, posting, or firing back — pause. Someone texts you to moan? Ring them. Someone sends a voice note? Go and see them in person. Go up a level relationally instead of down. Write the reply, then delete it. Sleep on it. The response you give the next day will almost always be better. Matthew 12:34 is a good filter: 'The mouth speaks what the heart is full of.' If that verse sat at the top of every social media feed, most posts would never be written. 4. Remember who is standing in front of youWhen someone vents at you, it is painful — words have power because people are made in the image of God. But that also means the person doing the venting is an image-bearer too: a precious, loved person, whether or not they love the Lord. Watch your heart in response. The Counter-Cultural Response: Ephesians 4:31–32'Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.' When there is rage and bitterness around us, Paul's instruction is radical: be kind. Be compassionate. Show the opposite of what has just been done to you. And the engine of that kindness is forgiveness — because God has forgiven us so much, we are able to forgive others. We have well-rehearsed excuses for holding on to anger. Paul does not let us stop at 'be kind' — he adds 'just as in Christ God forgave you.' That redefines everything. ConclusionGod is not calling us to the old British default of bottling everything up, nor to the modern default of letting it all out. He is calling us to a third way: process well, lament honestly, think before you respond, and treat others with the kindness that flows from knowing how much we ourselves have been forgiven. Do not give up just before the breakthrough. Lament your way through to the place where God breaks in. Closing Prayer Father God, thank you that we can live well in this age of rage. When algorithms around us are designed to increase anger, you have given us something radically different — the power of forgiveness, bought at the cross. Help us to be kind and compassionate, to lament well, and to reach the place of your breakthrough. In Jesus' name, Amen. |
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