Inside and Outside

June 4

(Luke 11:37-41 NIV) “When Jesus had finished speaking, a Pharisee invited him to eat with him; so he went in and reclined at the table. {38} But the Pharisee, noticing that Jesus did not first wash before the meal, was surprised. {39} Then the Lord said to him, "Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. {40} You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? {41} But give what is inside the dish to the poor, and everything will be clean for you.”

(Mark 7:14-23 NIV) ““Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. {15} Nothing outside a man can make him 'unclean' by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him 'unclean.'" {16} If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear. {17} After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. {18} "Are you so dull?" he asked. "Don't you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him 'unclean'? {19} For it doesn't go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body." (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods "clean.") {20} He went on: "What comes out of a man is what makes him 'unclean.' {21} For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, {22} greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. {23} All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean.'””

Jesus didn’t follow the Pharisee’s elaborate custom of ceremonially washing His hands before he ate. Their religious ritual had nothing to do with physical cleanness, but was one of many spiritual rules that made them feel godlier than the people outside of their holy huddle. Jesus made no apologies. Instead, He went on the offensive and scolded the Pharisees for worrying about the wrong stuff. It wasn’t pretty. Here’s the Reader’s Digest version: “You and your partners in crime can wash your hands until the skin comes off, but that will never clean out your filthy hearts. Your ceremonial clap-trap means nothing to God. Your cup may look good to the casual observer, but God knows it is full of sin and greed. You’re stingy and you treat the poor with contempt. You fuss about the externals, but God looks at your hearts, which are rotten to the core. You’re just a bunch of “holier than thou” fools.” How’s that for an encouraging and uplifting message? Let’s just be sure we don’t become like those Pharisees! -- Friar Tuck’s Word of the Day