Jesus gives out some woes (Luke 11:37-54)

Jesus provides six woes, four to the Pharisees and two to the experts in the law.  Here is what made Jesus mad:

Pharisees

- They clean their dishes, but are full of greed and wickedness on the inside.  (similar teaching about food as before)

- They religiously tithe, but neglect justice and the love of God.  

- They love the important seats in the synagogues (go after public approval; a modern corollary might be poll numbers or Facebook "likes")

- They are like unmarked graves (this might be linked to their public approval; the use of "graves" suggests the they are actually dead inside; the use of "unmarked" suggests that the public approval they search for has only left them dead and unknown)

Experts in the law

- They build tombs for the prophets that their forefathers killed, but carry on the tradition and practices of the forefathers did that led to them killing the prophets.  Here, Jesus pronounces judgment about this.  This generation will be morally responsible for the deaths of the prophets by their forefathers.  This might be a reference and prediction of the Jewish revolt that led to many massacres and the destruction of the temple.

- They have taken away the key to knowledge, but have not entered it and rather prevent people from entering it.

These are harsh words.  The fifth out of the sixth is the woes about the way they treated prophets.  Ironically, in this passage Jesus actually sounds like an Old Testament prophet in stylistic terms, in particular Jeremiah.  Jeremiah's style was to pronounce "woes" and judgment on the Jews and their enemies.  Christ is doing something very similar here against the religious establishment.

The effect of all this is as one would predict - it angers the Pharisees and legal experts.  This actually fits the pattern of the prophets that were martyred.