NOTES for Luk 11:29-53
In the Gospel we find no angry denunciations by Jesus directed at thieves, extortioners, prostitutes, unfaithful wives, occupying forces, or other sinners. The only class He denounces is the scribes and Pharisees. What had these people done wrong—people who studied the Law, taught others, and were a kind of “conscience of the nation”? Their gravest fault is probably expressed in verse 52: called to lead people to the knowledge of God, they themselves passed by this—the most important thing in human life. Without knowing God, no amount of knowledge about God will have any meaning.