Inside and out

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

INSIDE AND OUT

Luke 11:37-41

37 When Jesus had finished speaking, a Pharisee invited him to eat with him; so he went in and reclined at the table. 38 But the Pharisee, noticing that Jesus did not first wash before the meal, was surprised. 39 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. 40 You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? 41 But give what is inside [the dish] to the poor, and everything will be clean for you.

NIV

We could suppose Jesus was actually talking about the dishes or cups and plates, but that is just not the case with Jesus. He never speaks about such mundane subjects, but rather uses parables or illustrations to make a point in a person’s life and their relationship to the kingdom of God. Jesus tells them they might look clean on the outside but on the inside they are full of greed and wickedness. Is this a statement we can apply to our lives as a lesson? Are we also simply concerned about how we appear to others? Do we only want to look like a “Good Christian” on the outside, doing all the right things. Are we standing with arms raised in praise, at least in church, while harboring ill feelings toward another? Are we acting like a believer, but get distracted by the desire of things, or impure thoughts, or any form of greed or wickedness? Jesus was telling them if they gave alms to the poor, that is shared a portion of their goods with the less fortunate, basically getting rid of their greed and wickedness, then they would be clean on the inside instead of just on the outside. Do we satisfy that truth with our tithe? As long as we bring a tenth of our income to the church, can we still have all that greed for the rest of all the things of the world using our ninety percent? Perhaps the truth is even deeper than that. Maybe Jesus was talking about our beings. The fact that we look like we are believers on the outside, but are we believers in the inside. We might appear to give God our heart on the outside, but have we given our heart to him on the inside? If we truly have offered him our whole being, our heart, soul, mind and strength then we will be clean also on the outside. We will be washed clean in the blood of Jesus. Although there is also truth in the giving to the poor, but Jesus also said we will always have the poor among us, so it may well be more a lesson about the giving of that which is in the inside rather than being concerned we look clean on the outside. Greed and wickedness make the inside dirty. No one else, not a single person knows our inside, our thoughts and desires, our lust or greed, what or who we actually are on the inside. Others may know portions of who we are, but for the most part they only know what we show them, with our words and deeds. But God knows our real inside, our true self and we need to be clean inside and out.