Luke 11:29-44

Now as the crowds were increasing [in number], He began to say, “This [present] generation is a wicked generation; it seeks a sign (attesting miracle), but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah [the prophet]. [Matt 12:39-42] For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man also be [a sign] to this generation. [Jon 3:4-10] The Queen of the South (the kingdom of Sheba) will rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and look, something greater than Solomon is here. [1 Kin 10:1-13; 2 Chr 9:1-12] The men of Nineveh will stand up [as witnesses] at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and look, something greater than Jonah is here. [Jon 3:5] “No one lights a lamp and then puts it in a cellar nor under a basket [hiding the light], but [instead it is put] on the lampstand, so that those who come in may see the light. [Matt 5:15; Mark 4:21; Luke 8:16] The eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is clear [spiritually perceptive, focused on God], your whole body also is full of light [benefiting from God’s precepts]. But when it is bad [spiritually blind], your body also is full of darkness [devoid of God’s word]. Be careful, therefore, that the light that is in you is not darkness. So if your whole body is illuminated, with no dark part, it will be entirely bright [with light], as when the lamp gives you light with its bright rays.” Now after Jesus had spoken, a Pharisee asked Him to have lunch with him. He went in [the Pharisee’s home] and reclined at the table [without ceremonially washing His hands]. The Pharisee noticed this and was surprised that Jesus did not first ceremonially wash before the meal. But the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and plate [as required by tradition]; but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You foolish ones [acting without reflection or intelligence]! Did not He who made the outside make the inside also? But give that which is within as charity [that is, acts of mercy and compassion, not as a public display, but as an expression of your faithfulness to God], and then indeed all things are clean for you. “But woe (judgment is coming) to you Pharisees, because you [self-righteously] tithe mint and rue and every [little] garden herb [tending to all the minutiae], and yet disregard and neglect justice and the love of God; but these are the things you should have done, without neglecting the others. [Lev 27:30; Mic 6:8] Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the best seats in the synagogues and to be respectfully greeted in the market places. Woe to you! For you are like graves which are unmarked, and people walk over them without being aware of it [and are ceremonially unclean].”