In 11:37–54 Jesus wages a full-scale attack on the practices of Pharisees and their scribes. A Pharisee is surprised that Jesus does not ritually wash himself before eating (11:38). The Old Testament did not require this ritual washing, but the Pharisees practiced it because of the defilement one would contract from Gentiles and unclean people. The Pharisees overly concerned themselves with outward matters of cleanliness, failing to see the importance of cleansing from inward sin, especially greed (11:39–40). By giving alms from the heart to the poor, the Pharisees would be moving in the right direction. By cleansing the inside they would be cleansing the outside as well. Jesus then exposes the faults of the Pharisees in three woes. (1) They focus on the minu…