Luke 11:33-44: a reflection

33“No one, when he has lit a lamp, puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, that those who come in may see the light. 34The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore when your eye is good, your whole body is also full of light; but when it is evil, your body also is full of darkness. 35Therefore see whether the light that is in you isn’t darkness. 36If therefore your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly full of light, as when the lamp with its bright shining gives you light.” 37Now as he spoke, a certain Pharisee asked him to dine with him. He went in and sat at the table. 38When the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that he had not first washed himself before dinner. 39The Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the platter, but your inward part is full of extortion and wickedness. 40You foolish ones, didn’t he who made the outside make the inside also? 41But give for gifts to the needy those things which are within, and behold, all things will be clean to you. 42But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, but you bypass justice and God’s love. You ought to have done these, and not to have left the other undone. 43Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seats in the synagogues and the greetings in the marketplaces. 44Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like hidden graves, and the men who walk over them don’t know it.”

When a Pharisee is surprised that Jesus does not perform the ceremonial washing before dinner, Jesus uses it to expose a deeper problem: You Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? They were scrupulous about outward cleanness while their hearts were unclean; and, he adds, they tithed the smallest herbs while neglecting justice and the love of God, the weightier matters.

Notice the two related faults Jesus exposes: caring for the outside while neglecting the inside, and being scrupulous about small things while neglecting the great. The Pharisees cleaned the cup's outside but left the inside dirty, an image of a religion attentive to outward appearance while the heart was full of greed. And they were meticulous about tithing tiny herbs while passing over justice and the love of God, straining over small religious details while neglecting what mattered most.

That is a searching double warning for us. It is possible to be careful about the outward appearance of religion, the things others see, while the inside, the heart, is neglected and unclean. And it is possible to be scrupulous about small religious details while neglecting the weightier matters, justice, mercy, the love of God. Examine both. Ask whether you tend to the inside, the heart, as carefully as the outside; and whether you attend to what matters most, justice and the love of God, and not only to smaller matters. Do not clean only the outside of the cup while the inside stays unclean; and do not major on small things while neglecting the great. Give your first attention to the heart, and to the weightier matters of justice and love, without neglecting the smaller; but let the inside and the important come first.

Lord Jesus, you exposed the Pharisees for cleaning the outside of the cup while their hearts were full of greed, and for tithing the smallest herbs while neglecting justice and the love of God, the weightier matters. Search me by that double warning. It is possible for me to be careful about the outward appearance of religion, the things others see, while my heart is neglected and unclean. And it is possible for me to be scrupulous about small religious details while neglecting the weightier matters, justice, mercy, the love of God. Help me examine both. Show me whether I tend to the inside, my heart, as carefully as the outside; and whether I attend to what matters most, justice and the love of God, and not only to smaller matters. Keep me from cleaning only the outside of the cup while the inside stays unclean; and from majoring on small things while neglecting the great. Help me give my first attention to my heart, and to the weightier matters of justice and love, without neglecting the smaller. Cleanse me within, Lord, and help me love what matters most.