live inside out

“While Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him, so he went in and reclined at table. The Pharisee was astonished to see that he did not first wash before dinner. And the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? But give as alms those things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you. “But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without knowing it.” One of the lawyers answered him, “Teacher, in saying these things you insult us also.” And he said, “Woe to you lawyers also! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers. Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed. So you are witnesses and you consent to the deeds of your fathers, for they killed them, and you build their tombs. Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute,’ so that the blood of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation. Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.” As he went away from there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press him hard and to provoke him to speak about many things, lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say.” (Luke 11:37-54, ESV)

Jesus is on his way up to Jerusalem. Here he has been teaching and rebuking the crowd that has been following him. Just before the passage we read we see Jesus calling those who follow him evil because they seek for a sign, they seek for something supernatural, they seek for something that will shock, awe, and amaze them.

But Jesus says that no such sign is coming, but that the people will be held to account for not responding to the one who is in their midst.

“When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, “This generation is an evil generation. It seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. For as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. ” (Luke 11:29-32, ESV)

While he is speaking a Pharisee invites him to dine with him. As they walk into his home, Jesus passes right by the stone jars waiting at the entrance to the home and does not wash. These jars held water which was ceremonially clean, and was meant to be used to ceremonially wash your hands before and during the meal. The person would go up to the jar, hold his hands out with his palms up, and a servant would pour water over them with it coming down at least to the person’s wrists. Then you would take your other fist and rub your palm to cleanse it. Then turing your hands over and down the servant would again pour water over them, flushing the water from your wrists down over your fingertips. This made your hands ceremonially clean. For some reason Jesus refuses to participate in this ritual. Luke does not tell us why Jesus refuses, but it caused the Pharisee to be amazed.

Notice it is Jesus’s refusal to participate in the rituals that amazed the Pharisee, not the other things Jesus did.

Jesus gets frustrated and he unloads on this poor Pharisee.

“And the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? But give as alms those things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you.” (Luke 11:39-41, ESV)

The rigorous following of external rituals does not bring you closer to God. When the rituals themselves become the goal then you have missed something important. Jesus gets mad at the Pharisee here because the Pharisee is focussed on the wrong thing, he is focussed on behaviour when he should be focussing on his character.

What is inside is more important than what is outside, because if our hearts are changed they our behaviour will be as well.

We need to live inside out.

Doing the right thing is not enough.

““But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces.” (Luke 11:42-43, ESV)

Sometimes when we read this passage we think that Jesus is cursing the Pharisees and teachers of the law. In his statements he is enacting some kind of judgement on them. This is not really the case. This is more of a recognition of something that already exists.

This is an announcement, not really a pronouncement.

Jesus is basically saying, “How horrible it is for you, Pharisees, because you trust in your own religiosity and not in God.”

“Woe to you! [How horrible it is for you!] For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without knowing it.”” (Luke 11:44, ESV)

You think you are clean, you give the outward appearance of life, but really you are like an unmarked grave. The thriving green grass on the surface hides the death and rottenness within.

“One of the lawyers answered him, “Teacher, in saying these things you insult us also.” And he said, “Woe to you lawyers also! [How horrible it is for you lawyers also!] For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers.” (Luke 11:45-46, ESV)

And you guys, you heap up all these traditions on people which makes it virtually impossible to see God through the rules but you find ways to get around them yourselves.

“Woe to you! [How horrible it is for you!] For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed. So you are witnesses and you consent to the deeds of your fathers, for they killed them, and you build their tombs.” (Luke 11:47-48, ESV)

You pretend to honour the prophets and those sent by God by building momuments and memorials, but really you are building their tombs. You lock them away so that their message does not get out.

“Woe to you lawyers! [How horrible it is for you lawyers!] For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.”” (Luke 11:52, ESV)

In condemning the Pharisees and teachers of the law, Jesus joins the prophets who often rail against a false sense of security which develops because of a ritualistic religiosity.

God doesn’t want the ritual alone, the ritual was supposed to point them to something else.

“Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?” (Isaiah 58:6-8, ESV)

Following God is not about the ritual, its about living in the presence and power of God. It is not primarily about coming to church twice on Sunday. It is not primarily about refraining from work on Sunday. It is not primarily about giving money to the church or other charity. Following God is about developing a closer relationship with him. It is about having the Holy Spirit come and live within our hearts to make us into new people. It is about coming to love the things God loves.

Following God is about learning to let go of our own efforts and allowing God to move us. It is about receiving the new life that God offers us in Jesus.

When we let God work through us. When his desires become our desires, when his loves become our loves, when we begin to break away from the attempt at our own holiness and allow God to change us then God’s glory shines through us.

“Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.” (Isaiah 58:8-10, ESV)

When we realise that the kingdom of God is not for those who think they have earned it, but realise that it is a gift for those who know there is no reason for them to be blessed.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3, ESV)

In Luke 14 Jesus told a parable about the kingdom as a man who made a great feast.

“A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.’” (Luke 14:16-24, ESV)

Jesus is angry with the Pharisees and teachers of the law because they are obscuring who God is with their rules and rituals. If the favour of God rests on those who have made the right kind of confession, who do all the right things. If God blesses those who work hard and keep their noses clean, then God gives us what we earn.

But this is not the God revealed to us in the scriptures. The gospel announcement is that God is love and that he loves us so much that he sent his son to die for us. The gospel is that the people that God takes into his feast, are those who are not worthy, those who understand that there is no reason for them to be present.

The people God calls to this table are those who understand

Before this table it does not matter how much money we have in our bank accounts. Before this table it does not matter how many children we have had or not had. It does not matter how good we think we have things together, or how bad things are starting to fall apart.

Here we all express our need for someone else.

Here we kneel before God’s grace.

Here we accept God’s love.

This table is the preview of the feast that awaits us in the Kingdom of God. A kingdom which Jesus says is for the poor in spirit.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3, ESV)

How horrible it is for those who think they have everything in order, because they are really missing out.

How good it is for those who understand they have nothing without God, because then God gives them what they need.