Scripture Daily

Context No. 1365 of 4322 · Luke

Context · Reflection

Luke 20:39-47: in context

39Some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, you speak well.” 40They didn’t dare to ask him any more questions. 41He said to them, “Why do they say that the Christ is David’s son? 42David himself says in the book of Psalms, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, 43until I make your enemies the footstool of your feet.”’ 44“David therefore calls him Lord, so how is he his son?” 45In the hearing of all the people, he said to his disciples, 46“Beware of those scribes who like to walk in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts; 47who devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation.”

After Jesus has silenced his questioners, so that no one dares ask him anything more, he puts a question of his own about how the Christ can be both David's son and David's Lord, and then, in the hearing of all the people, he turns to his disciples with a warning about the scribes. Beware of them, he says: they like to walk in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the places of honor at feasts; they devour widows' houses, and for a show they make long prayers. These, he says, will receive the greater condemnation.

Jesus exposes a religion turned into a costume for status and a cover for exploitation. The scribes he warns against loved the trappings of piety, the long robes, the public greetings, the seats of honor, all the visible marks of religious standing, and they used their reputation for holiness to advance themselves. Worse, behind the pious front, they devoured widows' houses, preying on the very people God had charged them to protect, while covering it with long, showy prayers. It is a devastating portrait of piety used for self-advancement and as a mask for greed, religion practiced for the honor it brings and the cover it provides rather than out of any love for God. And Jesus says such people will receive the greater condemnation, precisely because they used the things of God to serve themselves and to harm the weak. There is a warning here that reaches past the scribes to anyone who wears religion for what it can get them. It is possible to love the standing that comes with looking devout, the respect, the seat of honor, the reputation for prayer, while the heart underneath is set on self and even on gain at others' expense. Jesus reserves stern words for this, the use of God's name as a means to status and a screen for greed. The love of the seats of honor and the devouring of widows' houses go together more often than we would like to think.

Do I ever wear my religion for the standing it brings, loving the respect and the reputation for devotion, while the heart underneath is set on myself, and does Jesus' warning against piety used for status and cover search me?

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