ReaD Deuteronomy 6:15 & Matthew 23:23-28
Imagine if you had been invited to a tea by somebody really important. The table is set with a silver tea service and beautiful cups. Your expectation is high. The hostess pours the steaming tea into your cup. You lift it to your mouth and sip. The taste is terrible. You look at the inside of the cup and it is smeared with greasy black residue. Yuck!
When Jesus looks at the Pharisees, the teachers of the Law, that’s what He sees. They know the Law backwards and forwards. They keep every detail of practicing the Law and they make sure everyone else does as well. What is so wrong? Why is His condemnation so striking? They have forgotten justice, mercy and faithfulness. They are filled with greed and self-indulgence. Instead of humility they are filled with pride, arrogance and self-righteousness. He calls them blind guides, hypocrites, whitewashed tombs. Not terms befitting the elite of Jerusalem.
In Israel, the Pharisees were the elite, the knowledgeable ones, the correct ones. Is it possible to be so concerned about getting everything “right”, the right words, the right clothes, the right church, that we miss what is inside our cups? Are we straining on gnats and swallowing camels? Are we full of form and missing the heart of the matter? Are we blind to ourselves? Are we so greedy for power and influence that we throw away justice and mercy?
In 2020, in the middle of the turmoil and division over numerous issues, including injustice, I sat down for my quiet time with the Lord. Suddenly tears started streaming from my eyes and the next thing I knew I was sobbing, broken over the injustice our brothers and sisters of color had suffered for generations. I hadn’t caused the injustice, but the Holy Spirit broke me, humbled me over it. I hadn’t caused it but I was part of it. It changed me.
What about your cup? Is it clean on the outside only but with a dirty residue on the inside? Jesus tells us that if we clean the inside of the cup first, the outside will also be clean. In Psalm 51:10, David writes, “Create in me a clean heart, O God.” Is there residue in your cup that needs to be cleaned? A clean heart is the cure for dirty cups. Jesus can clean our cup.
For Reflection:
- Are there any ways in which you might be more like the Pharisees than Jesus? Are there any residues that might be lurking in your cup?
By Jan Everett
