Divine Dining March 21, 2026 Devotional

LUKE 11:49-54 | ⁴⁹ For this reason the Wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and 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 experts in the law! 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 became hostile to him and began to interrogate him about many things, ⁵⁴ lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say.

2 CHRONICLES 24:22 | ²² King Joash did not remember the kindness that Jehoiada, Zechariah’s father, had shown him but killed his son. As he was dying, he said, “May the Lord see and avenge!”

This "woe" was a warning to those who had decided to judge Jesus. Tradition is the living faith of dead people, traditionalism is the dead faith of living people. The traditionalism of the leaders Jesus found precluded them from hearing the truth and power of His teaching or seeing the holiness of His life. They faced a divine moment of unique opportunity and danger. By misjudging and attacking the Messiah Himself, they brought down judgement on themselves and the nation, joining previous generations of leaders who had martyred God's messengers. The key to knowledge, concerning God's will and ways and the mystery of His person and work in the world, is His Son. The lawyers don't “enter themselves and hinder others” from coming into the kingdom of God. Obsessed with the fate of Israel, they think their religious observance will hasten the kingdom coming, but they miss it when it is in their midst. They could not conceive of a kingdom that was greater than their ethnicity and their separatism.

Notice that the immediate reaction of Pharisees and lawyers fulfills Jesus’ warning.

Gracious God,

Help me cleave to Your Son, the key to life and knowledge, the ruler of Your kingdom.

Amen.