A Pharisee asked Jesus over to eat at his house. Jesus took the invite and sat down for the meal, but apparently didn’t wash up in the way the Pharisee deemed appropriate. The host chided Jesus on his lack of religious practice—bad idea—launching Jesus into some of his own thoughts:

Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also?…Woe to you Pharisees, because you give a God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God.

Jesus knew this man inside and out because Jesus created this man inside and out. Jesus knew of his attention to particularities in tithing. Perhaps this man taught on tithing from the garden and peered over the fences of neighbors to see they did so properly? Perhaps he choose the ten percent himself, pointing out the best fruits and vegetables for his table?

In doing so this proud Pharisee ignored the greater issues of justice and love of God. I don’t think Jesus choose mint and rue out of thin air. Jesus looked inside his host and saw the specific nature of his pious sins.

Sadly, I’m much more like these Pharisees than I like to admit. Their stories aren’t in scripture for me to look at and shake my head, but rather to ponder and consider how I fit in their crowd. Jesus’s words apply to me as a religious teacher just as much as these Pharisees.

I’m good at cleaning the outside. Cleaning the inside? That’s just as hard as it’s ever been.

Luke 11 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022

Photo by Izz R