In this section it appears that the opposition to Jesus goes up a gear. They can’t just ignore what he is doing, they try to discredit him with being inspired by the devil, and then they are looking out for how they might catch him in his teaching. On the other hand, Jesus doesn’t pull any of his punches in this section: Martha is challenged about her choices, the local fathers are called ‘evil’ (11:13), the crowds are called ‘wicked’ (11:29) and the Pharisees (and teachers of the law) are battered with repeated ‘woe to you’! Dare we find ourselves in 11:28?

The Revd. David Hildred