In Greek mythology, the trickster king of Corinth, by the name of Sisyphus, is punished for tricking Hades the god of death. His punishment was to spend eternity pushing a large stone up a hill, only to have the stone roll back down again. So, over and over again, he must push the stone up the mountain. The meaning of this story is debated, but most agree that it has something to do about fruitless labor. Work without results for all eternity. Now that would be horrible. But what if our approach to God is similar; what if we are merely pushing a stone up a mountain? Sure, it is hard work and while the stone is moving upward it looks good and we can defend our actions. But what if all of that work ends up with the stone merely rolling down again? Is the work moving us any closer to the goal? And what is the goal?
Luke 11:45-54 is Jesus’ pronouncements of woe upon the lawyers (or scribes). They understand that when Jesus pronounces woes upon the Pharisees, that he includes them. Most of them were Pharisees. Interestingly, they call Jesus “teacher” which would be a term of respect. This almost seems to be a polite, “Ahem, I don’t know if you are aware or not, but when you pronounce your horrors upon our friends the Pharisees, of which, maybe you didn’t know, we are proud members, you really are insulting us.” Maybe they expected an apology, but Jesus launches into more woes and this time specifically upon them. Probably not what they anticipated.
Jesus accused them of burdening men with burdens that are difficult to carry. The verb and noun were used for the idea of loading a ship with cargo. This became a metaphor for loading up a heavy load on people. This, in and of itself, is not wrong. As teachers of the law, their job was to load up the teachings of the law upon people. But they made this load heavier than God intended with their hedges around the law. They place this heavy load and then didn’t even touch it with their finger. It is not enough to tell people what to do. It is not enough to set them to rolling boulders. Teachers were intended to help people with the burden. Heaping without help is bad. Rolling with zero results is not the goal. There is another adage that may apply here. Keep the people busy and befuddled, or something similar.
The second woe is pronounced concerning their agreement with the killing of God’s prophets. Ironically, this connection is made through their honoring of the prophets. Building tombs was about honor. But Jesus claims they did it to agree with the fact that their ancestors killed them in the first place. Good job progenitors! We’ll acknowledge your achievement by building a monument to your success. Like that. And then, in the tradition of the Old Testament and other Jewish literature, Jesus personifies Wisdom. It is Wisdom that Jesus heard say, “I will send to them prophets and apostles . . .” The word “send” and “apostle” are verb and noun of the same word group. In this context, apostle most likely has the broader meaning “messenger.” And notice that this is future tense. Jesus’ point is that the current generation of Israelites are just as prone to mistreat God’s emissaries, as were their ancestors. This is no longer something Jesus heard; it is his proclamation; an “I say” with authority. Case in point would be John the Baptist, Jesus himself, and Jesus’ followers. Therefore, the guilt of all the blood shed will be charged against them. In Numbers 35:33 they were told that blood spilt polluted the land and the only way to cleanse the land was the death penalty. The land is polluted from Abel – the first murder victim in the Bible – to Zechariah – the last in the Jewish canon (2 Chronicles was the last book in the Hebrew Bible).
The third woe is about the key of knowledge. The key would allow people to enter into the house of Wisdom (Proverbs 9). But the lawyers don’t want people to enter the house. Then they would be able to gain knowledge and would stop listening to the Scribes yelling at them to keep pushing the stone. If they would have used the tools of learning God’s wisdom and shared the tools – the keys – then all could come to know God. And isn’t that the goal? To know God and his will? But the scribes wanted to keep the people busy and baffled. To make sure no one could enter the house of Wisdom they took away the keys. The section comes to a close with the scribes and Pharisees earnestly seeking – furiously scanning everything Jesus says and does – not to learn, but to capture. The key to knowledge was standing right in front of them. They knew this, but they wanted to keep the people pushing the stone up the mountain. This is not about us exercising our control. The goal is to give people the tools to know God.