How clean is the inside of the cup?

            In Israel the people would paint the outside of the tombs every year.  This was done so that no one would accidentally defile himself by touching something that was dead or was in the presence of a dead person and become unclean for seven days.  The stark white of the tomb was an extreme contrast to the brown and tan of the desert landscape that surrounded them.  There was no mistaking the unclean for the clean.

The scribes and Pharisees were so righteous in their actions that they were also an extreme contrast to the normal working people around them.  Jesus points out, however, that the comparison didn’t stop with the appearance.  Like the tombs that were beautiful on the outside, they were also full of uncleanness and death.  They looked good when you looked at their actions, but their motives and attitudes were lawless and hypocritical. 

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.  Even so you too outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”  Matt. 23:27-28

Our society is marked by our desire to look good on the outside.  We go to the right school and get a degree or two or three in the right field.  It hardly matters what we actually learned or if we have any aptitude in our given field.  We work hard to drive the right car and buy a house in a good neighborhood, but is it worth the amount of debt we have to carry to pull it off?  As we age, we buy anti-wrinkle creams and invest in face-lifts and private trainers to continue to look young.  A former President said that character doesn’t matter.  As long as we look good and can get the job done, we’re OK. 

As Christians, our standards are to be different.  We are to understand that there are many different ways to obtain an education, and that location isn’t everything.  A pretty face is just that, a pretty face, and no more.  Our standards are supposed to be God’s standards, and so we look for humility, a heart that is tuned to the voice of God, and the fruit of the Spirit evidenced in one’s life.  We count as success the wisdom and knowledge of God that one applies to their life.  We love simply because God loves.  We offer forgiveness and mercy, remembering how much God offered to us. 

Our faith must be lived on God’s terms, lest we also become hypocrites, lumped in with the scribes and Pharisees.  We must learn to see through God’s eyes, to love with His heart, to think with the very mind of Christ.  This is real faith.  This is belief in action.

“…God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”  I Sam. 16:7b