The Pharisees take center stage in today’s scripture.  The Pharisees are the religious leaders of a popular brand of Judaism in the days of Jesus ~ We tend to think of the Pharisees as the Rodney Dangerfields of the New Testament: they get no respect.  But there is something about the Pharisees that is good.  Be careful about a blanket condemnation of the Pharisees ~ we may be more like them than we’d like to admit…. The purpose of this story is not to cast stones at the Pharisees, pointing out the flaws in others, but the purpose is to consider our own walk with the Lord Jesus Christ.  It is easy to blame others for our own sins.

I like the legendary story of an elderly woman, traveling by bus, who had a layover. She purchased a package of Oreos from a vending machine in the bus terminal and sat down, placed her cookies on the table, and proceeded to read her newspaper.  She was joined by a young man, who, to her surprise, opened the package of Oreo cookies and began to eat them. The woman, saying nothing, gave him an icy stare, and grabbed one of “her” cookies. The young man, with a funny look on his face, ate another cookie. The woman again glared and grabbed another cookie. The young man finished the third cookie and offered the last to the woman. Completely appalled, she grabbed the cookie and the young man left. Outraged, the woman threw down her paper, only to find her unopened Oreos on the table in front of her.

I do not know how to change society, but I can ask the Lord to constantly correct me, to show me the better way, to continuously ask the purposes behind my patterns.  The way forward is to ask the Lord to give me a genuine and true heart before him.  

Underline Luke 11:35, NIV translates “See to it” I like another translation, “Be Careful”  This the only command in this scripture… Be careful.  Jesus is instructing his followers (us!) to be careful about the purity of our heart and mind. 

Jesus is with his followers.  In Luke 11 the emphasis is on overcoming evil ~ as we minister in the name of Jesus, we are confronted by opposition.  There are many ways to respond when things do not turn out as we imagine: give up, overreact, depression, doubt, inaction….One person described humankind accurately: “We are – each and every one of us – a tangled mass of motives: hope and fear, faith and doubt, simplicity and duplicity, honesty and falsity, openness and guile” (Richard Foster, Streams, pg. 87).  Jesus is teaching us to overcome evil by becoming more like Christ within, a transformation of our hearts.

Sometimes people are disappointed in me.  I have been no to say or do the wrong things too often so the disappointment makes sense, but often the disappointment has to do with false expectations ~ the thinking is I should behave in a certain way that is not possible.  A month ago, on behalf of the church, I helped a man get situated including paying a small amount to buy him rental space for a week.  Later he called me and wanted me to go to Lynden, buy a certain item for $40 more dollars, then take it to him.  I said no and suggested another solution.  He told me, “But it’s your job to help me.”  “Excuse me….” I said, and he got a lecture….

False or unfair expectations of other people lead to disappointment.  We do that to our leaders.  Our schools.  I like what Mark Johnson, Superintendent of NV Schools, said a couple months ago.  At a gathering everyone introduced themselves.  Mark’s turn: “I’m Mark Johnson, Superintendent.  I think sometime people think that means I have more authority than I really do.” 

We become discouraged with God when we have unfair expectations of the way the world is supposed to turn; when God doesn’t follow through the way we imagine, we are disappointed.   We are like the man in a hot air balloon that realized he was lost:  

Doctor Seuss: “The young Zoad”, a tale of a poor fellow who could not make a decision and ended up in a most embarrassing way: 
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Did I ever tell you about the young Zoad?
Who came to a sign at the fork of the road?
He looked one way and the other way too -
the Zoad had to make up his mind what to do.
Well, the Zoad scratched his head, and his chin, and his pants.
And he said to himself, "I’ll be taking a chance.
If I go to Place One, that place may be hot
So how will I know if I like it or not.
On the other hand, though, I’ll feel such a fool
If I go to Place Two and find it’s too cool
In that case I may catch a chill and turn blue.
So Place One may be best and not Place Two.
Play safe," cried the Zoad, "I’ll play safe, I’m no dunce.
I’ll simply start off to both places at once."
And that’s how the Zoad who would not take a chance
Went no place at all with a split in his pants.

Fence sitters, skeptics, doubters… There are a number of ways people resist making a commitment to Christ:  They deny the obvious, calling evil good and good evil.  They put a decision off declaring they aren’t convinced and need more proof Jesus is who he says he is.  Others rely on either their own strength/logic or their own goodness.  Anything short of a full commitment to Christ is like walking around with a split in your pants.