Woe To The Legalists

When Jesus had finished speaking, a Pharisee invited him to eat with him; so he went in and reclined at the table. But the Pharisee was surprised when he noticed that Jesus did not first wash before the meal. Then the Lord said to him, “Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? But now as for what is inside you—be generous to the poor, and everything will be clean for you.
“Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone.
“Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the most important seats in the synagogues and respectful greetings in the marketplaces.
“Woe to you, because you are like unmarked graves, which people walk over without knowing it.”
One of the experts in the law answered him, “Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us also.”
Jesus replied, “And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them.
“Woe to you, because you build tombs for the prophets, and it was your ancestors who killed them. So you testify that you approve of what your ancestors did; they killed the prophets, and you build their tombs. Because of this, God in his wisdom said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and others they will persecute.’ Therefore this generation will be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning of the world, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, this generation will be held responsible for it all.
“Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering.”
When Jesus went outside, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law began to oppose him fiercely and to besiege him with questions, waiting to catch him in something he might say.
Luke 11:37-54

Pharisees sometimes invited Jesus to a meal, most likely to get a feel of exactly what He was about and find a way to sabotage His mission. Jesus accepted, because it gave Him opportunity to make His mission clear to even the most negative religious leaders. They were without excuse for their rejection of the King of Israel. Also, they seemed to enjoy heckling Him about false religious practices He paid no attention to. Such as not ceremoniously washing before the meal. These washings were not law, but "tradition of the elders" as described in Matthew 15:2. This did not mean dirty hands, but hands not cleansed in the Pharisaic method to free from ceremonial defilement. As always, the legalists keep adding prohibitions and rules, complicating the law.

Jesus' response was a series of woes: upon Pharisees who made a to-do of unnecessary washings, when a right attitude toward God and fellowman would make everything clean for them; upon Pharisees who meticulously paid tithes of the smallest herbs, not required in the Levitical tithes, yet they disregarded God's justice and love, which is the basis of the tithe system. That system was established for the support of the priests, Levites and the poor (Leviticus 27:30, Numbers 18:12, Deuteronomy 14:22-23) and sometimes for the tither himself to enjoy as a feast, in the sanctuary! (Deuteronomy 14:26-27). The tithe was a national obligation, similar to our income tax. It was not an indicator of spirituality. The important thing, Pharisee, is to demonstrate God's love to those in need, and while you're at it pay the correct tithes, not the contrived ones.

More woes (!) in verses 43-52 on the Pharisees for their phony self-righteousness, their pretentiousness, their materialism. They were like camoflaged tombs. The people who encountered them didn't realize they were dealing with death. Woe to the lawyers who were heaping burdens upon the people that they themselves had no intention of carrying.

These were the offspring of all the generations of evil men and false religionists who were directly responsible for the deaths of all of God's representatives, from Abel in Genesis to Zechariah, whose murder is described in II Chronicles (the last book in the Hebrew Bible). Now, in the generation of Jesus' incarnation, all the blood of all those prophets and apostles would be called into account. The lawyers who should have been teaching the people the Word of God not only didn't avail themselves of that knowledge, but hindered the people from aquiring it.

From that point on,the heat was getting heavy on the Pharisees to entrap Him with His own words. Their hostility was reaching the boiling point. This Man's grace and freedom simply could not be tolerated. He'd have to go.