Journey of Stones --- Hearts of Stone Page 1 of 8 Journey of Stones Hearts of Stone Ezekiel 36:26, Luke 11:37-53 INTRODUCTION TO THE SERIES I hope you ve been with us for this whole journey through Lent, but in case you ve just joined us today, let me fill you in. We are traveling a Journey of Stones on our way to Easter and the Cross. I first encountered this idea in a book, with that same title, written by Steve Molin. I want to give him plenty of credit for shaping my work, but no blame. Hopefully, you picked up a stone on your way into the sanctuary. Please hold that stone in your hand throughout the sermon and the rest of this service. Each week the stone we ve held has connected us to a Biblical stone, but those stones have been for us more than just a physical connection to the Scripture; they have been a way of allowing God to touch us in new and powerful ways. With different bits of stone, we ve come face to face with our own attempt to make ourselves God, with those times when we have broken our promises to God and to others, with our rejections of Christ as the Cornerstone of our lives, and with the criticism and judgment we have endured and have extended. And here s the good part, friends: every week, we ve left those heavy stones at the foot of the cross. Today we turn to a different kind of stone. The stone you hold in your hand today represents a stone that cannot be seen by human eyes, but it can be felt. As I read this single verse of Scripture from Ezekiel the prophet is speaking for God to God s beloved people I want you to simply close your eyes and concentrate on the way that stone feels. Press it against the palm of your hand. Squeeze it tightly. Use both hands. Discover for yourself exactly what a stone feels like. Ezekiel 36:26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. INTRODUCTION TO NEW TESTAMENT TEXT Hearts of stone - we ve all encountered people with hearts of stone. Jesus does too. God didn t much like it. And Jesus didn t like it either, especially when those hearts of stone were beating in the chests of the religious leaders. Now before I read the next Bible text, I want to pause for a little teaching moment and just clarify the difference between three New Testament groups that often seem to be in opposition to Jesus: the Sadducees, the Pharisees and the Scribes. The Sadducees and the Pharisees were both religious and political parties. Priests came from both groups and members from each formed that Supreme Court like group called the
Journey of Stones --- Hearts of Stone Page 2 of 8 Sanhedrin that condemned Jesus. But there were significant differences between them. The Sadducees were generally the wealthy elitists who controlled the high levels of the priesthood. They did not accept the oral tradition as law, only the written. They did not believe in life after death. They were not very popular with the common man and sought to get along with the Romans. Since they were far more interested in politics than religion, they weren t all that concerned with Jesus early on. The Pharisees, in contrast, were more popular with the common man and more resistant to the Romans. They did believe in resurrection and recognized the oral tradition, as being equal to the written law. They were more interested in religion than politics, so their conflict with Jesus began earlier in His ministry. Now for the third group. The Scribes were the lawyers of that day. And since the laws were all religious laws, they too were religious leaders. A Scribe could also be a Pharisee but the primary role of the Scribe was to be a professional interpreter of the law. As we proceed through the Gospel stories, Jesus comes up against all these groups at one time or another. But that is not always the case. In fact in two other places, Luke tells about Jesus going to dinner with a Pharisee (Luke 7:36, 14:1) as He does here. And it is actually the Pharisees who warn Jesus of Herod s plans to kill Him. (Luke 13:31) Now with those bits and pieces of insight, let s look at the text. Only two of these groups appear with Jesus here --the Pharisees and the Scribes. Luke 11:37-53 37 While he was speaking, a Pharisee invited him to dine with him; so he went in and took his place at the table. 38 The Pharisee was amazed to see that he did not first wash before dinner. 39 Then 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. 40 You fools! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? 41 So give for alms those things that are within; and see, everything will be clean for you. 42 But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and herbs of all kinds, and neglect justice and the love of God; it is these you ought to have practiced, without neglecting the others. 43 Woe to you Pharisees! For you love to have the seat of honor in the synagogues and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces. 44 Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without realizing it. 45 One of the lawyers (Scribes) answered him, Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us too. 46 And he said, Woe also to you lawyers! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not lift a finger to ease them. 47 Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your ancestors killed. 48 So you are witnesses and approve of the deeds of your ancestors; for they killed them, and you build their tombs. 49 Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, I will send them prophets and
Journey of Stones --- Hearts of Stone Page 3 of 8 apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute, 50 so that this generation may be charged with the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world, 51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be charged against this generation. 52 Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering. 53 When he went outside, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be very hostile toward him and to cross-examine him about many things, 54 lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say. HANDWASHING With this teaching, Jesus does something very similar to what we are doing with our stones. His failure to wash His hands piques the interest of those around them. We hope the stones you pick up each week do the same thing for you. Let me explain the hand washing that is referred to in this text. This is not a matter of sanitation. The hand washing, expected by the Pharisee, was ritual hand washing. Even the exact amount of water to be used was specified. It must be a quarter of a log the amount needed to fill one and a half eggshells. First, the water had to be poured over the hands beginning at the tips of the fingers and running up as far as the wrist. Then the palm of each hand was cleaned by rubbing the fist of the other hand into it. Then water was again poured over the hand this time beginning at the wrist and running down to the fingertips. Now to the Pharisees, omitting even the slightest of these details was to commit a sin. This whole process was to be done before the meal and between each course. (William Barclay gives these details in his commentary on Luke.) It was a big, big deal. And Jesus just skipped it and sat down at the dinner table. If He wanted their attention, He got it. But He doesn t stop there. Jesus holds nothing back. His scathing attack of the Pharisees is only halted when one of the Scribes dares to object and then Jesus simply changes aim. What is it about these Pharisees and Scribes that upsets Him so? CRITCISMS Well, Jesus states six specific criticisms, three aimed at the Pharisees and three aimed at the Scribes but overall, they can be summarized pretty easily. These religious leaders are concerned about the wrong things. They are worried about the state of their hands when they should be worried about the state of their hearts Their hearts of stone. Jesus has three specific complaints each of these groups and since we are neither Scribes nor Pharisees, we are tempted to dismiss this passage has having no relevance for us. But Beloved, listen now. We do so at our own peril. Scribes and Pharisees, in one form or another, exist in every culture, in every age, in every religion, and in every
Journey of Stones --- Hearts of Stone Page 4 of 8 church. I confess that I have, at one time or another, been both. I ve been self-righteous, I ve been legalistic, I ve been judgmental, I ve been petty, I ve loved the church more than Jesus, I ve been concerned about the wrong things. Perhaps you have too. So I suggest that we clutch our stones tightly, take a look at these six criticisms and do our very best to determine how they might manifest themselves in our world today and even in our lives. Doing so just might help us keep our hearts from taking on the nature of the stones we hold in our hands. PHARISEES CRITICISM ONE Jesus criticizes the Pharisees for honoring the tithe in meticulous ways, while neglecting the bigger issues of justice and love. In other words, they were honoring the ritual side of the faith but ignoring the relational side. It s a struggle we all have. We focus on making sure we ve done every thing right in church, and forget we are called to make things right in this world too. Let me ask a few questions to help us determine if we are in danger of making this same mistake. Do you sometimes find yourself being critical of what someone is wearing to church rather than simply rejoicing in the fact that they are in church? Do you find yourself unable to listen to the words of certain Christian songs because you just don t like the style? Do you sometimes feel a bit put-out when this or that church event hinders your use of a given room or space rather than rejoicing that others are here? Do you sometimes let going to church be a substitute for doing God s work in the world actually serving the poor or working to right the wrongs in our world? Well, that s what happens when hearts turn to stone. PHARISEES CRITICISM TWO Jesus second criticism of the Pharisees is that they love the seats of honor in the synagogue and they love to be greeted with respect out in public. In other words, they want to be seen and noticed. Now you probably don t want to sit where they sat in worship up here facing the congregation but have you ever come in to take your regular seat only to find someone else sitting there and felt, well you just didn t like it? Be honest. I ve seen how hard it is for some of you to change seats. You know, there are actually people who have never returned to worship at a church simply because someone told them they were sitting in their seat. The Pharisees wanted to be noticed. We all want that, don t we? With 4 services, it s hard to know whether people are absent on Sunday or just worshipping in another service. But of course, God knows. That s what really matters. God knows when we have come to worship no matter where
Journey of Stones --- Hearts of Stone Page 5 of 8 we sit. But the Pharisees weren t thinking about God. They were thinking about themselves. They were concerned about the wrong things. You see, the Pharisees had lost the ability to serve for the joy of serving. Recognition became their reason. That s what happens when hearts turn to stone. PHARISEES CRITICISM THREE But it was the third and final criticism of the Pharisees that must have been the hardest to hear. It s the hardest for me to hear. Let me read that verse.woe to you because you are like unmarked graves, which men walk over, without knowing it. (11:44) In Jewish law, walking across a grave, even if it was unmarked, still made a person unclean. In other words, you could be made unclean by something you did not even realize was contaminating you. Jesus said that was exactly what the Pharisees were doing to the people. They were corrupting others by the distorted way in which they practiced their religion. The same thing is happening today. Extensive research about the attitude of young adults, churched and unchurched, is reported in a book called UnChristian. The findings should be disturbing to anyone who loves the church and believes it to be the true hope of the world. What s the problem? Well, it s what those young folks observe when they look at people claiming to be Christian self-righteous, judgmental, hypocritical, intolerant. sounds a whole lot like Jesus Pharisees to me. Those who should be drawing others to the faith are too often pushing them away. I wonder if it s because we make being a Christian too easy. I wonder if we are guilty of what E. Stanley Jones said long ago about the church We have been inoculating ourselves for so long with a mild case of Christianity that we are now just about immune to the real thing. When our sons and daughters, our neighbors, our family members, co-workers, classmates when others see the way we practice our religion, do they see real Christianity or a watered down form? That s a question that really gets to me. Could I be weakening the faith, the commitment, and the power of other Christians without their even knowing it? That s what happens when hearts turn to stone. SCRIBES CRITICISM ONE Well, I m just guessing here but I imagine the Pharisees in the group were absolutely too shocked to even speak. So a sympathetic Scribe dares to speak on their behalf. Teacher, you insult us too when you say those things. And with that, Jesus turns his attention to the lawyers. I ll bet that Scribe wished he d kept his mouth shut. Now, remember, the Scribes were experts in interpreting the law. Jesus first criticism of them is that they use their position and their wit to burden others with the ceremonial law, while using that same wit and position to evade the law themselves. I fear we do the same kind of thing. We choose which are the most important laws and
Journey of Stones --- Hearts of Stone Page 6 of 8 the really big sins and then we hold that up as a standard for others. That often means, in effect, that we dismiss the laws that we have the most difficulty with. We point our fingers at those who commit adultery while ignoring our own greed. We are quite certain that stealing from others is sinful but seem to ignore that teaching about how failing to tithe is actually stealing from God. We pick and choose the laws we honor. That s what happens when hearts turn to stone. SCRIBES CRITICISM TWO Now the second criticism of the Scribes might seem a little confusing about prophets and killing and tombs. Here s the point: Jesus says that they are willing to honor the dead prophets but they still behave in ways that led to their death. And they certainly don t offer any honor to living prophets. They seek to kill them too, which is exactly what happens as this event concludes. They conspire for Jesus downfall. Living prophets are hard to take. That s why so many of them die at a young age. Prophets speak the truth about the past, the present and the future. And the truth is always difficult for someone to hear. As I reflected on how this criticism might apply to us today, I thought first of how much we honor the teachings of this Book or say we do. And yet, how few of us really take the time to study these words and let them speak to us. Isn t that a way of killing off the prophets of old - simply ignoring them, living our lives as though they don t even exist? That s what happens when hearts turn to stone. SCRIBES CRITICISM THREE Jesus final criticism of the Scribes is that they confused the people. They cut the people off from the simple teachings of Scripture with all their elaborate interpretations. They refused to apply the plain teachings of Scriptures in their own lives and hindered others from doing the same. Aren t we in danger of that when we engage in Bible Study? Seems to me there are basically four questions that need to be answered when studying a text: 1) What happened? 2) What did it mean at that time? 3) What would it mean for today? 4) If I take it seriously, how will I have to change the way I live? The problem is we spend most of our Bible Study on the first three questions and never get around to applying the teaching to our own daily lives. In doing that, we model the same for others. Look, I know there are lots of difficult things to understand in this book. But truth be told, I feel pretty much like Mark Twain: It s not the parts of the Bible I don t understand that bother me; it s the parts I do understand. Sometimes study of the Scripture can itself become a substitute for living the Scripture. That s what happens when hearts turn to stone.
Journey of Stones --- Hearts of Stone Page 7 of 8 CONCLUSION But how do we stop it? Well friend, seems to me the answer to that question is found in the name Pharisee. You see the word Pharisee means the separated one. These religious leaders prided themselves on being separate from others, which in their eyes meant better, more righteous, more holy. But their separateness came with a great price, for with separateness comes a heart of stone. When we remove ourselves from the struggles of others, ignore things like hungry children, homeless people, persons with mental illness, those fighting addiction, people who don t know that Jesus loves them, the sick, the lonely, the grieving when we separate ourselves from those people, we harden our hearts. Oh we avoid the heartbreak that is inevitable when we dare to connect with those people but that, my friends, that s bad. Because it is that heartbreak that keeps our hearts good and soft. And, there are believers who attempt to be Christians without being part of Christian community. That separation is dangerous too. It is here in worship, growing together, serving together that we are reminded of who we are and who God is. That too keeps our hearts good and soft. You see, friends, little by little, separate lives lead to hearts of stones. And the only way I know to avoid those hearts of stone is to simply refuse to walk away, refuse to walk away from each other, refuse to walk away from the hurting and struggling even the obnoxious people in this world and above all, refuse to walk away from Jesus. Ultimately, that is the consequence of a heart of stone. Jesus just can t live there. In a heart of stone, there s no place for others and there s no place for Jesus. But no heart of stone has to stay that way. The offer God made through Ezekiel He still makes today: I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. Let s take Him up on that offer. Today as you leave, I m hoping you will leave all hardness of heart along with this stone right there at the foot of the cross and take with you a new heart the heart of feeling, the heart of faith, the heart God longs to give you. In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Life Application Questions 1. The sermon suggests that Scribes and Pharisees exist, in one form or another, in every generation, church, etc. and that we have probably been a scribe or Pharisee ourselves at some point. Do you think this is true? When have you experienced this? 2. The first criticism of the Pharisees was that they were honoring the ritual side of the faith but ignoring the relational side. Jesus used the way they tithed on the
Journey of Stones --- Hearts of Stone Page 8 of 8 tiniest of herbs but ignored the issues of justice and love as his example. What example of this do you see in our church? World? Our lives? 3. The second criticism of the Pharisees was that recognition had become their reason for serving. They wanted seats of honor and special greetings in public. Is this a problem in the church today? 4. The third criticism of the Pharisees is hard to understand without a little bit of contextual explanation. Basically, Jesus was saying that they were corrupting others by the distorted way in which they practiced their religion. How do Christians do that today? How might we do that without knowing it? 5. The first criticism of the scribes was that they burdened others with their interpretation of the law and used that same interpretation to evade the law themselves. The sermon suggests that we do this by making some laws and commandments the important laws and some sins the big sins while down playing others. What do you think about that? Is that a fair application? Why or why not? 6. The second criticism of the Scribes is very confusing. Basically, they claimed to honor prophets but did not. What about us? The sermon suggests we kill the prophets but not studying the scriptures and by immediately rejecting hard teachings? Could you be guilty of that? What might you do to stop killing off the prophets in your life? 7. The third criticism of the Scribes involved their complex interpretations of the law. These prevented them and others from applying them effectively to their lives. The sermon suggests that we sometimes do this by bogging down in the parts of scripture we do not understand rather than concentrating on what we do understand. Take time to write down three principle teachings of scripture that are absolutely crystal clear to you. Now concentrate on living by those principles this week. 8. The conclusion of the sermon asserts that the only way to avoid a hard of stone is to stay connected --- connected to each other, connected to people who are struggling, and connected to Jesus. How do you stay connected?