Clean on the outside

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. – Matthew 23.25-28

I remember the early days of life in Ireland. We did a lot of visiting in what we might call ‘working class’ parts of Dublin. Everyone we visited would, of course, offer us a cuppa tea. The mugs often looked great on the outside and we quietly sat and drank our tea. But, far too often, when we got to the bottom of the cup there was a thick, dark brown stain. I discovered later that a lot of folks were satisfied with a quick cold water rinse to clean the inside, but they would rub the outside clean with a tea towel and everything looked okay till you got to the bottom of the cup. That lovely looking cuppa wasn't quite so lovely when you got to the bottom of the cup.

Here Jesus uses an illustration a lot like that. The Jews had a very careful dish washing ritual to make sure that the tableware they used was properly cleaned. The scribes and Pharisees Jesus was talking to understood when He said that they ritually clean the outside of the dishes, but the inside is filthy with extortion and self-indulgence. He tells them that they are like beautifully white washed sepulchres, but the inside is still full of dead man’s bones and all uncleanness. On the outside everything looks righteous, but the inside is anything but.

The externalism mentioned yesterday can engender this kind of thinking. I have encountered many believers whose focus in Christianity it to get the outside behaviour right. They teach and preach about what Christians can and cannot do, where they can and cannot go, and what they can and cannot wear.

When this is the focus it is easy to get our eyes off of what is really important. We can begin to think, like these Pharisees, that if we clean up properly on the outside everything will be okay.

But it’s not okay. If you have every finished a cup of tea like described above you know what I mean.

We are what we are in our hearts, not on the surface. Our outsides might match up well with certain rules and standards, but how do our inside match up with God’s standards for righteousness?