Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge;

ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered. Luke 11:52

        So it seems there were these lawyers who kept people from knowing about and thus entering the kingdom. These guys were experts in Mosaic Law which is fine and good but Christ came along as a fulfillment to prophecy and they couldn’t see it. Woe is a strong exclamation of grief.

       Not only will they not enter the kingdom but others will perish with them. So far American laws have not completely crossed into the realm of woe. Yes, we have taken God out of schools but He is still on our airwaves, on our street corners, and freely preached in churches. The rest of the world is not so fortunate. There are oppressed countries, led by a tyrant or a dictator, where being a Christian is illegal and the consequence is death. There are modern day martyrs dying for their faith. Woe to those who think they are the law.

       This was not pleasant news for the scribes and Pharisees to hear. It says they began their plot to trap and kill Jesus. I get a chuckle out of that. This was God’s plan all along and they think it’s theirs as if they’ve won some great victory. But they haven’t. They’ve just made their reservation at the Hotel of Woe, where they will check in and never leave. You might ask, how can this apply to me? The woe was sent on those who withheld knowledge and hindered those seeking it. I would never do that.

     We need to let others know about Jesus. We need to encourage their seeking. The knowledge we have cannot be the knowledge we keep.