What is on the Inside?
‘When Jesus had finished speaking, a Pharisee invited him to eat with him; so he went and reclined at the table. But the Pharisee, noticing that Jesus did not first wash before the meal, was surprised. 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. You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? But give what is inside the dish to the poor, and everything will be clean for you.” Luke 11:37-41
We stereotype the Pharisees. We think to ourselves “Pharisees sought to be right with God by their rigidly holding to the Law.”
This misses the point. The Law itself offered forgiveness through sacrifice. The Law codified behaviour God demanded of His people. The Law was given by God to His people as the pattern and standard for how to live as God’s people (not to become God’s people; they already were that).
But the Pharisees had lost the heart of relationship. They saw themselves as God’s people because they upheld the Law, but had left behind the grace aspect of God’s call in making them His own. Their path was taking them away from relationship.
When God in Christ stood before them, they completely rejected Him. That was final proof their pathway was darkened.
Jesus’ last sentence (“But give what is inside the dish to the poor, and everything will be clean for you”) leaves most of us shaking our heads. What’s that supposed to mean? Literally it reads ‘give for alms those things that are inside.’ If by ‘give for alms’ Jesus meant something like ‘give over to God for His use’ the sentence is a little clearer.
True godliness means giving over to God for His use our thoughts, intentions and motivations. This is the inside of the cup. God’s light illumines every part of us – the inside and the outside. It’s not one or the other, but both; but it begins on the inside.
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