How Clean Are You? - A Reflection on Luke 11:37-41



While he was speaking, a Pharisee invited him to dine with him; so he went in and took his place at the table. The Pharisee was amazed to see that he did not first wash before dinner. Then the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You fools! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? So give for alms those things that are within; and see, everything will be clean for you.


In India, where I am living at the moment, people are very particular about hygiene, especially when it comes to food. It is a standard practice to wash your hands before a meal. The reason for this is because many Indians don’t use cutlery but eat with their fingers. This practice is not unique to India; it is common in many other parts of the world as well. Therefore, if you are invited to somebody’s house for a meal where eating with the fingers is the practice, one of the things you are expected to do is wash your hands before eating. You are likely to see a frown on quite a few faces if you don’t.

 

So, you might think there was little wonder that the Pharisees were amazed that Jesus didn’t wash his hands. But why didn’t Jesus do this? Didn’t he have any sense of hygiene? Well, I am sure he did, but the thing is the Pharisees didn’t wash their hands to get them clean — there was no soap of scrubbing involved. This was just a ceremonial thing which involved dribbling some water down the hands. It really didn’t serve any practical purpose, so why do it? Merely for the sake of appearance. And this was the problem with the Pharisees. Practically everything they did was for the sake of appearances.

 

That can be a problem with us too. It doesn’t matter to us that we lead unholy lives; what matters is that OTHERS think we are leading holy lives, so we put up appearances. This makes us hypocrites. The word hypocrisy comes from the Greek word “hypokrisis”, which means "play-acting", or “acting out” so it’s a pretty accurate description of what we do. But this can be very tedious and exhausting as anyone who has tried to keep up appearances for any period of time can attest to. Wouldn’t it be a lot easier to just lead a holy life if the desire is to be perceived as being holy? If we get the interior right; the exterior will eventually reflect that.

 

Getting the interior right is getting the heart right. And part of this involves caring for others. This often tends to be superficial. If someone talks to us about difficulties that they might be going through, we just cluck our sympathies, but do very little to practically help them out. James asks, “What good is it if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?”

 

We need to put our faith into practice, which is why Jesus made that rather puzzling comment at the end of today’s passage: “So give for alms those things that are within; and see, everything will be clean for you.” What did he mean? In the Old Testament, we find instructions to look after “the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow” (see Deuteronomy 26:12-15) BEFORE we took care of our own needs. We declare two things by this action. One, we acknowledge everything we have comes from God. Two, we acknowledge our duty to our fellow men.

 

If we do this, not only will we be clean inside and outside, we open ourselves to the great blessings that God promises will be ours. 


Watch a video of this reflection by Aneel Aranha here:  https://youtu.be/90_qm-1fNG8

 


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