No Whitewashing

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

NO WHITEWASHING

Matt 23:27-28

27 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

NIV

This does not appear to be much different than the cup he just spoke about needing to be cleaned on the inside rather than just the outside. Why would Jesus double down on this concept? Is there a difference between the cup analogy and this one about the tomb and the dead men’s bones? From research by our scholars it appears the tombs of men were annually white washed so to appear plain in order not to touch them. The tombs were considered unclean and anyone who touched an unclean thing would be unclean. So in order to plainly identify wherever a tomb was, it was whitewashed. This also made it appear nice looking, but indeed within was a decaying dead man, or dead men’s bones. This indeed does speak about the same issue as the cup. The teachers of the law and Pharisees made themselves look so spiritual on the outside, appearing to be men of God, but in actuality they were not men of God, they were as dead men’s bones. This may be even harsher then the cup analogy. The fact is not just putting on a Façade, but appearing to be men who are spiritually clean, which would then give the right relationship with God and thus eternal life, but in actuality they were not, and thus they were already as dead to God, condemned to the grave. Of course they were still living under the law as Jesus had not yet gone to the cross. But at the same time others had already accepted him as their salvation. People believed in Jesus and thus were not condemned to the grave, but would be resurrected to enter into his rest. This did not mean those people were any more perfect then the teachers of the law or Pharisees other than the fact they believed on Jesus. If he is our righteousness then he makes us clean on the inside, which in turn would make us clean in the outside. This is somewhat or at least appears somewhat as a mystery. How can we still sin if Jesus makes us clean? Does not sin make us unclean? It still comes down to our own efforts to make us clean, like being whitewashed. It does not matter how much we appear to be godly people. It matters whether we have Jesus living in us, or Jesus living as us. If Christ is in us then we do not have dead men’s bones but rather a new body filled with the life of the Spirit that will one day be resurrected to enter into the rest of God. So let us not simply whitewash our outside, looking all nice and clean. Let us make sure we never forget it is our inside which needs the Spirit dwelling within. Yet sin still wages that war within. At least we can be honest about that, and not pretend, especially to ourselves, but more importantly to each other and God, that we are all pure, holy and clean. In all reality we are but sinners saved by grace. Now should we sin that God’s grace should increase? Absolutely not! We should make an effort not to sin, if that is possible. It seems the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. We want to keep from sinning, but we fail. How can that be? We know we should not make an excuse for the flesh, yet that is our excuse. In this body we simply cannot become perfect free from all sin. There is only one who did that, Jesus. So then it is through our faith in Jesus, not in ourselves, which gives us eternal life. But it still comes down to not trying to whitewash the truth about ourselves. We need to see who we are, and allow others to see who we are, sinners saved by grace. No whitewashing the truth.