Inside and Out

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO 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

It is interesting the difference between Luke’s account and Matthew's of this exchange between Jesus and this Pharisee. Of course, Matthew’s account is within the seven woes, while Luke records this happening when Jesus accepts the invite to the Pharisee’s home for dinner. It is also interesting that Jesus, when referring to the cup and dish in Matthew’s account Jesus talked about how the Pharisee cleans the outside, but the inside is full of greed and self-indulgence. Luke records  this reference to the cup and dish as pretty much the same way, except he adds the fact that God made our outside, that we were created in the image of God, but that also means that God made our inside, the inner man, who we truly are which makes us in the image of God, body soul and Spirit, three in one. What good does it for us to just appear as a “Good Christian” when we have greed hiding on the inside, or some level of self-indulgence, or some other secret sin that we have not confessed, and repented of? Then, there is this whole idea of accepting and even engaging in the cultural oppression of how the outside looks. The cosmetic industry is over a billion-dollar business monthly while little time and money is spent on our inner selves. Jesus just said that the eyes are the window into the soul, in some sense, using the eyes that are full of light, because the whole body is full of light. The true beauty of a person’s outside comes from the light, the beauty that is within. As we take the time to clean the inside, accepting the light of Christ within, we reflect his glory, our eyes will shine with his radiance and true beauty will be reflected in our eyes. But, the inside must be clean. Because Jesus has washed us in his blood, He did not wash our outside, we do that ourselves, but He has washed our inside, our inner person, cleansing us and making us holy and blameless in the sight of God. Let us not get so distracted by the outside that we forget to live as we are meant to on the inside. Then we will be clean on the inside and out.