Luke 11:39 (ESV)
[39] 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.”
In a previous blog I noted that Jesus’ own people
rejected him because of previous choices they had made. They rejected the
warning of John the Baptist, leading them to reject the one John introduced to
the world, Jesus the Messiah. A second reason the Pharisees rejected Jesus was
because they did not understand what holiness is. The Pharisees had an external
understanding of holiness. Jesus understood holiness to start internally. In Luke
6 the Pharisees accused Jesus’ disciples of breaking God’s Law by taking a
handful of grain in a field and rubbing the chaff off before eating. Jesus
responded by reminding them of how David had technically broken the law as well
when he was given temple bread for his men. He then made a statement that
really set the off, “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath” (Lk 6:5).In Luke 11, Jesus was challenged by a Pharisee because he didn’t do the proper ceremonial washing before eating. Jesus responded, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness” (Lk 11:39). Repeatedly throughout the gospels the Pharisees accused Jesus of eating with sinners, which he was doing. To them that was unconscionable. Eating with those who were unholy necessarily made Jesus unholy in their minds. In Luke 15, the Pharisees were grumbling that Jesus was eating with sinners. Jesus responded with a story of a lost sheep. In Luke 7 a Pharisee accused Jesus of not understanding what kind of woman was washing his feet. If he did, the Pharisee reasoned, then he would not have allowed her to do so. Jesus responded by telling a story that indicated the woman understood forgiveness and holiness better than the Pharisee.
The Pharisees understood holiness as compliance with the Law of God. They had no concept of sin or holiness as an internal characteristic. Because of their focus on the external, they rejected Jesus. He ran cross-grain to all they held dear. They considered themselves holy because they kept the minutia of the Law. But Jesus revealed their hypocrisy. A cup that is spotless on the outside but filthy on the inside is still filthy (see Luke 11:39).
Jesus rode into Jerusalem on what we now call Palm Sunday to the shouts and cheers of the crowd following him. The Pharisees rebuked him and plotted his death. Why? Because they had previously rejected John and his teaching. But also, because they had an external view of holiness.
I heard a story recently by a preacher about a young man he saw who was someone, from outward appearances, that he would not want hanging out with his daughter. He then noticed that the young man had two children with him. He watched the young man interact with the children as a model father. His first impression, based on external appearance, was all wrong.
How often do we make the same mistake? Holiness starts internally, not externally. Too often we are so anxious to clean up the outside that we miss what God is doing internally. Don’t make the mistake of the Pharisees. Jesus did not come to clean us up from the outside in. He came to clean us up from the inside out. If you get that backward you just might miss what God is up to in the world around you.
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