IT'S NOT JUST THE CUP
Luke 11:37-42
37 And as He spoke, a certain Pharisee asked Him to dine with him. So He went in and sat down to eat. 38 When the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that He had not first washed before dinner. 39 Then the Lord said to him, "Now you Pharisees make the outside of the cup and dish clean, but your inward part is full of greed and wickedness. 40 Foolish ones! Did not He who made the outside make the inside also? 41 But rather give alms of such things as you have; then indeed all things are clean to you. 42 "But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass by justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.
If there was ever a group that Jesus did not tolerate, it was the Pharisees. Jesus and the Pharisees were at constant odds with one another. Can you imagine going to a dinner and everything you do and say will be scrutinized? And not only scrutinized, but all the guests, except your disciples, are just looking for you to slip in your words so they can pounce on you.
Jesus went to eat with a Pharisee, akin to walking into a lion's den, and the Pharisee was watching to see if Jesus washed His hands before dinner. But Jesus ratcheted up the tension in the room by addressing His host directly. Jesus told this Pharisee that he and all those like him worried about how clean something was on the outside. But Jesus said their inward part, their heart, was full of greed and wickedness. How's that for direct? Oh, and pass the lamb chops, please.
It seems as if the Pharisees of Jesus' day caught onto the religious ritual of washing but missed the spirit of washing. Was God overly concerned with how clean the cups were? Not nearly as much as He was concerned with the cleanliness of the heart. When tediously washing the outside of the utensils, the Pharisees should have been concerned with the condition of their hearts. Not just the cup but the heart.
The Pharisees were sticklers for making sure they gave a tithe of everything they had. They would even tithe their herbs for cooking. They were focused on the tithe, and that in itself was good, but they passed on doing justice and walking in the love of God. This was Jesus' problem with these guys. So stringent in outward things, so lax in the inward things that mattered most.
APPLICATION
Jesus was a prime example of God placing a priority on things of the heart before any outward ritual. Growing up in my parent's Baptist church, I caught the message of not smoking or drinking. My parents abstained from both. But as a nine year old boy, I remember being very concerned that people were going to hell because they drank a beer. As a young boy, the message that registered with me was that the outward things mattered most.
Now, as an adult, I still don't smoke or drink, but I don't consider my abstinence the basis of my relationship with the Lord. It's my heart before Him that matters most. It's not just the cup, the outward things; it's the inward part, the heart, that we give priority to.
PRAYER
Lord, may my heart before you be the cleanest thing in my life.